CHITRAL: There has been a great influx of migratory ducks in Chitral valley over the last three weeks due to rains.

The duck shooting season is in full swing in the area, where artificial lakes are raised to lure ducks.

The 300 kilometers long stretch of the Chitral River is also a hunting ground.

The Baroghil Pass areas of Chitral in the north is the starting point of the Indus watercourse through which the migratory birds from Siberia travel to the plains of Pakistan in the winter season.

Prolonged wet spell causes great influx of Siberian birds

Hunters told Dawn that the rains caused ducks to descend in local lakes, while good weather helped them continue their journey to the country’s plains.

Gul Ashraf, a hunter from Torkhow valley, said at the start of the season, hunters were upset at the arrival of migratory ducks in small numbers due to scanty rains but things changed for the better in the middle of February.

He said he knew many, who hunted as many as 20 birds in a single day in local lakes.

The hunter said the ducks descend in lakes in the nighttime for which hunters left homes well before dawn as ducks resumed their journey when visibility increased.

He said ducks traveled in flocks, so sometimes they all became victims of hunters, who targeted them using modern weapons.

Sahibgar Khan, a hunter from Kosht village, said in the past, hunting ducks was the pastime of the royal family’s members but currently, all and sundry hunted ducks.

“The duck hunting has become a status symbol. The wealthy people afford it to raise artificial lakes at heavy expenses,” he said.

The hunter said ducks thronged the region towards the end of the season to the delight of hunters, some of whom killed them in large numbers.

According to the latest World Wildlife Fund for Nature data, around 1.2 million migratory birds used the Indus flyway passing through Chitral and a large number of them descended in the valley during the long flight.

Biodiversity specialist Ejaz Ahmad said a fabulous species of ducks came to Chitral in the season some of which were globally known like Siberian crane, pintail, bar-headed geese, teals and mallards.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2015

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