Birders in Mumbai are puzzled over why thousands of migratory waders that flock to the city’s coastline have not yet left for their vast breeding grounds that stretch from the Himalayas through Tibet, China, Mongolia and beyond, including up to the Arctic Circle. The journey is perilous and often takes weeks, and the birds are known to set off by March. By now, they ought to have courted and been in the thick of bringing up families, not hanging around all dressed to kill in the Mumbai wetlands.

What might be the reason, then, for the delay? Is it the prolonged summer? Is it something to do with wind patterns? Is it climate change? Or, are we simply reading and thinking too much into and about the issue? Now that the rains have broken, we have to wait and see what happens. Normally, day length........

© Indian Express