BENGALURU: Will it rain this year or not? Move over, weatherman. Our friends there up in the sky are believed to be able to predict weather quite accurately. Bird observers and farmers look to them for signs of weather change. The streaked weaver birds, in particular, are seen as a forecaster. Their drought-warning system is seen in their nesting behaviour. Recently, a study has been conducted in this regard.
When the weaver birds start nesting earlier than usual and the number of nests is high, are they signalling a drought or storm? The bird observers got their answers in 2016. This behaviour during the odd season was seen in July 2016 and that year Karnataka had seen one of the worst droughts. No doubt the weaver birds took the warning seriously in whatever form it came.
Three years of observation of the behaviour of these birds in and around Chikkamagaluru by a group of bird watchers and conservationists of WildCAT-C (Wildlife Conservation Action Team-Chikkamagalaru) have provided enough insights for scientific studies to predict the unrealiable monsoons.
For over two to three decades, members of the conservation group have been active bird watchers. They have regularly watched and recorded birds and their behaviour in this landscape every season.
A group of six-eight bird watchers of WildCAT-C observed this species and their strange nesting behaviour in and around Chikkamagaluru in 2016. According to WildCAT-C Trustee B M Akarsha, “The birds were seen nesting not only on reeds in lakes and ponds but also very close to houses and gardens in the villages and all possible locations wherever an opportunity for nesting was there. We had never observed such a kind of behaviour in the month of July itself. This led us to question whether the birds were indicating or predicting the onset of a worst phenomenon,” Akarsha says.
The birds perhaps sensed that there would be no opportunity to nest and breed later during the normal breeding season as no grass and reed grow on dry lake beds, she adds. Another member of this group, DV Girish, says they have been bird watching for 30 years now. “These birds do not nest in all lakes. But that year, a very strange phenomenon was seen. We saw strong building of nests and the numbers were very high. If in a normal monsoon year, nest building is between 100 and 300, in 2016, it was between 500 and 1,000. Consequently, we saw the year was so bad that even lakes had all dried up,” he says.
Karnataka was hit by the worst drought in 2016 and hundreds of farmers were driven to suicide facing crop failures and mounting debts. Akarsha says, “The Meteorological Department had predicted a normal monsoon in 2016. But in the Malnad belt of hikkamagaluru, lakes and ponds – the lifeline for aquatic life and the agrarian community – had dried up. No water meant – neither any reeds nor any fresh grass for the birds to build their nests. So they built their nests early.”
Girish adds, “Our observation of building of nests and the spurt in nesting by the streaked weaver birds definitely indicated a lot of things that were happening – low water table, low rainfall, dried up lakes and low water availability in that area. In nature, birds and animals can correctly sense what’s going to happen and so they take preventive steps. Our observations now need a long-term scientific study and an opportunity for studying and predicting the unpredictable monsoons.”
The streaked weaver bird had in fact increased the opportunity to breed in advance and reproduce large number of offsprings. Even if there was any drought-related casualties, at least some populations may survive. However, this bird had gone ahead with the best survival strategy. Akarsha says, “One should look around and see what nature is trying to say. It could be a vital lesson in survival. While further studies will confirm the correlation, there is an invaluable lesson to be learned from the streaked weaver bird.”