Their sounds and numbers make their distinctive presence and lifts the
very mood of a person visiting Prayagraj. If people throng and crowd the
Triveni Sangam every year from across the world - not to be left behind,
the gusty seagulls from Siberia come calling for their winter halt in
Prayagraj, the holiest city of India.
Locals say the tradition of winged visitors coming to Sangam is pretty
ancient. With the Siberian seagulls locally known as Ram Bihari the entire
riverfront turns highly scenic and beautiful. The gulls are found in
plenty and is a mesmerizing sight to watch from the boats. As we traversed
in our boat, the Seagulls came flapping and rushing from all sides.
You can even see the gulls swimming along and often come up very close to
the boat as they are looking for food. As we continued on our journey to
Triveni Sangam, we found men in small rowboats selling feed especially for
the gulls. Some youngsters and kids were seen buying and feeding the nosy
and chattering gulls.
As we take a turn in the river, on the right rises the majestic Allahabad
Fort built by Akbar. This is now in the custody of the Indian Army. On the
left side of the fort, especially during the night, one can see the quiet
riverbank stretch lined with rowboats as also some motor boats cruising in
the middle of the river to the sounds of music.
It is during the Magh Mela that some millions of people start congregating at Sangam (from January-February onwards) to spend their time in prayers. But despite the chaos and crowds, the Gulls too come from far off Siberia and arrive in all splendor.
They come in flocks to escape the harsh winters of the Siberian landscape where temperatures sometimes go as low as -72 degrees Celsius. They come in search of food and nesting locations and therefore, one can see a continuous flock of thousands of gulls as we traversed from Ganga to Yamuna.
The gulls travel thousands of miles crossing Mongolia, Tibet, Afghanistan
and then to India in October and then return home only in March-April. The
gulls seem very people-friendly and can be seen sitting on boats not
bothered or scared of the pilgrims and tourists. In fact, our guide told
us that these Siberian visitors present a magical view of the Sangam
throughout the winter season.
Now why are these gulls attracted to the confluence of two major rivers at Prayagraj? With Arctic freezing, the Sangam attracts the Black headed gull species in massive numbers and many scientific studies have been done on their migration pattern.
The wetlands around the Sangam are a perfect breeding ground not just for
the sea gulls but also other species. As we go round looking for them, we
see them skimming the surface of the water for fish. They even take a dip
in the holy waters like the devotees and pilgrims. But it is the sight of
these noisy birds flitting from boat to boat on the fast gushing waters –
it is a sight to treasure.
Since our boatman lured the gulls with flour balls, we found them hovering
over us and perching on the boat sides for more food. Unfortunately, many
people feed them all sorts of junk food and further, discard their plastic
waste which is many times ingested by the birds. The food habits of these
birds have changed due to indiscriminate feeding by pilgrims.
According to local bird watchers, when the birds arrive from Siberia in
the aftermath of flying across many countries, they are pristine white but
gradually the color of their heads change from white to grey to black.
Their wing color is black from inside and white on the outer side. This
progressively gets darker as time advances. Hoping to see these winter
visitors once again, I wondered how these birds flew thousands of miles to
Sangam. It is nothing but sheer endurance and capability of these large
beautiful birds which brought them again and again to these holy waters.
Location map:
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