The
question in the minds of every bird enthusiast and of those
who are curious is ... Does birds commit suicide?
Birds come in hundreds
to Jatinga and die. Birds are trapped by bird fighting at Jatinga.
They are attracted by artificial lights on dark moonless nights
and are either killed or trapped. A similar light phenomenon occurs
in the Philipines in about the same time and in similar climatic
conditions i.e. on foggy, windy and moonless nights.
While most of
the birds are trapped with what they call "Tawang" in the Philippines
are supposed to be migrants, those at Jatinga are not necessarily
so. True, the villagers of Jatinga killed the birds for their
table. But they treated it as a sport. The villagers do not
betray any sense of guilt. They had countered our shocked disbelief
by asking point blank : "Don't you kill fish in the plains in
a similar manner with the years first flood? They considered
the coming of the birds to be a gift of the Gods.
Birds come in
large numbers from August to October on foggy, moonless nights.
Even in July and November birds appear, but in decidedly fewer
numbers. The time of the phenomenon occuring coincides with
that of migration. This valley falls on the migratory route
of locally migrating birds. That is how villagers get the oppurtunity
to trap them. But still these birds come here every year and
get trapped.
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