Majuli island attracts more migratory birds

The island develops a large number of beels (shalow water bodies) and other low-lying areas when the waters of the Brahmaputra recede after monsoon is over every year, thus facilitating the breeding of birds of various species during the winter months, Sharma added.

Birds that have arrived on the island this winter include white-winged wood duck, whistling teal, pelican, great crestd greeb, whit-eyed pochard, black-napped oriole, and the long-legged buzzard.

Incidentally, Majuli is one place where the use of chemical fertilisers in cultivation fields is the least, thanks again to the mighty Brahmaputra that leaves behind rich alluvium when it swells and floods the island every year.

“But the most significant factor is that the people of the island are very kind to the birds. The islanders are by and large all followers of Vaishnavism propagated by Sankaradeva in the sixteenth century, and this has further made them become friendly to the winter visitors,” said Mahendra Dowerah, Divisional Forest Officer, Jorhat.

But with the increase in population and the resultant pressure on land, some people have now started scaring away the birds that feed on their winter crops, informed Dowerah.

“To stop this, the Forest Department has launched an awareness campaign in the island involving NGOs, Vaishnavite satras (monasteries), students and farmers, and the birds are safer,” Dowerah informed.

Majuli has a total number of 148 beels, of which 15 belong to the state Revenue Department, while the remaining 133 are looked after by the respective local village panchayats.

“Saving them and helping them breed being one aspect, the very presence of the winter visitors can be also used as an added attraction for tourists,” Sharma added.

“I have seen how kind the islanders are towards birds,” said Charu Kamal Hazarika, a Mumbai-based film-maker who had shot a film on Majuli last year. “I have myself filmed how young children keep vigil over nests of the birds and even put back chicks that fall out of the nests,” he added.

Majuli, which is being actively considered for declaration as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, gets a large number of tourists between October and April, which is also festival season for the islanders. The Vaishnavite satras, together with the art and culture preserved and practised in the satras are important tourist attractions of Majuli.