Migratory birds flock to Harike wetland:-

With the advent of winter, birds from Siberia, Kazakhstan, Europe and other low temperature regions, including India, have started converging in a number of clusters at Harike, India’s second largest wetland, in Tarn Taran district. The reason behind the migration of birds is that lakes in those regions tend to freeze in winter.

The winged guests are expected to stay at the wetland till March.

The WWF, Wild Life and the Forest Department, which oversee the wetland, conduct the study and make arrangements to prevent poaching incidents.

The birds that had been spotted at the wetland include northern shoveler, pintail, pied avocets, gadwal, godwits, red shank, sandpipers, peregrine falcon, osprey, marsh harrier, coots, common pochard and ferruginous duck from Central Asian flyway.

In January, as many as 91,025 birds were spotted in Harike against 1.23 lakh in January last year.
The wetland and the lake were formed by constructing headworks across the Sutlej in 1953. Since then, the wetland, spread about 41 sqkm, has become a favourite destination among rare varieties of avifauna.

Harike Wetland (also known as Hari-ke-Pattan) is largest wetland in northern India. It borders of Tarn Taran Sahib and Ferozepur district of Punjab. The wetland and the Harike lake were formed by constructing the headworks (dams) across the confluence of the Beas and Sutlej rivers in 1953. It supports rich biodiversity which plays a vital role in maintaining the precious hydrological balance in the catchment area. It was designated Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance in March 1990. It has provides ecological support to migratory fauna and number of globally threatened species such as Indus dolphins and Gharials.