KOHAT: The climate change and drying wetlands are badly affecting the migration of Siberian birds whose number has drastically shrunk to around 6,000 from 60,000 per year in wetlands during winter in Kohat.

The sub-divisional wildlife officer, Kohat, Munsif Ali told this correspondent on Friday that many species of native birds were also disappearing due to the change in weather as they could not bear the harsh summer in the mountains where water was also in short supply.

The migratory season of Siberian birds has started with the arrival of small flocks on daily basis to the four wetlands. He said that at present early migration season 30 to 40 waterfowls had been arriving daily in the major wetland of Tanda Dam compared to past when their number was very high during the same season.

A professional hunter, Bashir Ahmed, said that his team had started polishing and greasing their double barrel guns for shooting. Answering a question, he said that the best time for hunting was early in the morning when birds came down to drink water.

He said that hunting at dams was difficult as the birds swam close to the mountain out of the reach of hunters who could not catch them even after killing.

They were only visible with binoculars in the dams as their colour was also dark. He said that it was easy to hunt them in lakes and ponds.

The wildlife officer regretted that due to climate change, industrialisation, emissions of Sulphur oxides and cutting of forests the birds had curtailed their miles long journeys and started making stopovers on the way from Siberia in different countries.

He said that the birds also stayed at Dharwazai, Ghurzandi and Darmalak and some other lakes and streams.

He said that geese, swans, cranes, and 36 species, including mallard duck, ruddy shelduck, common teal and shoveller duck, from Siberia had started arriving, but they were very few in number compared to past.

He said that due to warm climate the birds could not travel long journeys and stopped on their way to Pakistan and India. He said that the migration period would complete in December after which the birds would start their journey back for nesting in January 2019.

Mr Ali said that to discourage indiscriminate hunting of birds the government had raised the price of hunting licence from Rs2,000 to Rs3,000 per gun a day. He said that the hunting period picked up during November and continued till January. He said that they had to cut the hunting bag quantity from 20 to 10 so as to stop killing of migratory birds.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2018