One Smoggy Morning at the Sultanpur National Park
The weather cleared up yesterday,
the second of November, and I thought that it would be the right time to make a
trip to the Sultanpur National Park, barely fifteen kilometres from my house on
the New Railway Road, Gurgaon. My plan was to reach the spot before seven in
the morning and so I left at about a half past six in the morning.
By the time I reached the
National Park, however, the weather had worsened. It was a non-working
Saturday and I had thought of getting some good snaps of migratory birds like
ducks and black-necked storks, but then it was not to be! The smog was so bad
that even the sun was barely glowing! I had two alternatives, either return
home or slog it out and hope to capture some of the resident or local bird
species perched on the tree branches lining the footpaths.
I had planned to spend barely an hour
at the National Park but ended spending three hours! Instead of doing a half-way tour, I ended up doing a whole circuit! However, I guess I would not be
wrong to state that it was worth it as I was able to capture some prime
examples of inter-species cooperation including an emotional contact between
Asian Antelopes.
The Sultanpur National Park is an
enclosed area with many species of birds and mammals living there. It would be
a treasure trove for scientists willing to study how different species of
animals and birds live together in an enclosed environment sharing dwindling
resources of food water and space. There are, incidentally many Asian Antelope
and Oxen vying for limited resources. Of the dogs, however, I spotted none
although I did spot a male Antelope with an injured right flank.
A matter of concern, moreover, is
the rampant loss of trees and the absence of water bodies beside the main lake
in the National Park. A reduction in the number of ponds and other water bodies
would result in reduced numbers of migratory birds arriving at the Bird
Sanctuary. Also rather surprisingly, a number Iron Pilings had been bolted into
concrete foundations to construct hides for birders to be able to take
photographs of birds in the lake. Unfortunately, this construction activity,
coming so late in the year could also have scared away migratory birds coming
in to nest! The need of the hour is to grow more trees and get more water into
the area. Replenishing the dried-up ponds with water and planting more
trees will make the National Park more viable for migratory birds to settle in
for the winter. If this is not done, then the Government might have to write
off Sultanpur National Park, de-notify it so that apartments might be built there.
Anyway, who cares about forests,
wetlands and scrublands! All that people care for today are real-estate lands,
land from which more money can be made from constructing residential flats than
from entry tickets to a National Parks. There are, today more casual visitors
in National Parks than those who’d really like to spot birds! You get more of
couples, married or ready to get married coming over for a chance of a quick
hug or a snuggle amongst the trees, noisy families coming over for a change from
the hustle and bustle of the city with the only motive of having ‘fun’. They
often end up scaring away wildlife leaving nothing but clod heaps and garbage
heaps for the unaware to trip into!
What caught my attention on this the trip was the tenderness shown to each other by the Asian Antelopes, the tolerance
shown by the Parrot towards the squirrel that seemed to have taken over the
former’s nest, and the patient manner in which the Egret waited for the Ox to
turn over the grass so that it could pick on the insects. This rather comfortable
inter-species relationship speaks volumes about what we need to do in order to build
up a culture of tolerance amongst ourselves!
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