It is one of the unresolved mysteries of nature why this place named, Jatinga, in the North-East India region attracts birds from high sky to the ground on special weather conditions and the birds of various species fall prey to hunters and tribal villagers! Jatinga is a small village in the North-Cachar Hills of Assam where few thousands villagers of the Jayantia tribe live.

Jatinga Bird - Courtesy ZAHID AHMED TAPADAR @flickr

Jatinga was first inhabited by a tribe called Zeme Nagas in 1890 under the discretion of the Dimasa king who was the sovereign ruler. They were the first to witness the mystery when their camp fires attracted various birds. They considered this as the act of some evil spirits and the frightened tribes deserted the settlement. The Jaintias, who moved in around 1905 under their leader Lakhanbang Suchiang, tumbled upon the mystery while venturing into the valley at night with lightedtorches to round up stray cattle. The bamboo torches attracted showers of birds which the Jaintias regarded as a “gift of God”. The first mention of this mystery is found in the Wild Life of India (1957) by the British tea planter andorinthologist E.P. Gee. “The whole thing is extraordinary” Gee wrote. He notedthat the bird death took place only at this spot. Even when lights were put up in nearbyplaces, the phenomenon did not occur. He also noted that some conditions are necessary for the phenomenon to take place. In the following years, this phenomenon was referenced as “Birds committing suicide”.

This mysterious phenomenon takes place only in the later days of rainy season from September to November. During moonless and foggy dark nights between 6 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., flying birds come crashing to the ground with no prior warning whatsoever. Curiously, most of the doomed birds do not attempt to fly away after they land near the lights. They look dazed and disheveled, perhaps due to the trauma of the whole shocking experience. This is not confined to a single species but around 50 birds species fall prey to this nature’s mystery. Tiger Bittern, Black Bittern, Little Egret, Pond Heron, Indian Pitta and Kingfishers are some of the species to name.
Another interesting point is that, this phenomenon does not occur in the whole valley but only in a well-defined strip, 1.5 km long and 200 mts. wide. Invariably the birds come in only from the north and attempts at placing the lights on the southern side of the ride to attract the birds have failed. Another fact is that no long distance migratory bird gets attracted to the light traps. Some common resident birds like grouse, hornbills and imperial pigeons do not get caught at Jatinga. The directionless, hapless birds fall prey to the villagers after they land into the ground.

Jatinga Hills - Courtesy ZAHID AHMED TAPADAR @flickr

Various studies have been conducted to unravel the causes behind this phenomenon. But the root cause of this mysterious behaviour of the birds is not yet determined. Conservation groups and wildlife officials in India have taken steps to prevent this wanton killing of the birds, creating awareness in the illiterate villagers. Since then, the amount of birds killed have decreased by about 40 percent. However, there is still need of more research to unravel the real cause behind this un-natural phenomenon.

<h4 class=”shadow-bringer shadow”>Bar-headed Goose</h4>The birds are the most expert migratory animal on earth and they can overcome any obstacles on their way even it is the highest obstacle on earth, the Everest. Yes, it is very true for one migratory bird, Bar-headed Goose. This Asian goose is now considered as the highest flying bird in the world.

The Pretty Bar Headed Goose - Photo Wikipedia

A recent GPS survey reveals that the bar-headed Goose starts migrating from their breeding home at central Asia (Mongolia) and covers  more than 5000 km in two months to reach the low lands in India. These low lands are grazing grounds for the birds in winter as the grass on the high altitude dry up. The total migration takes around two months, as they take frequent stop.

The most interesting and puzzling thing about their migration is that they cross the highest mountain range on Earth, the Himalayan, in a single flight within eight hours. They choose the toughest and highest route of the Himalayan crossing the Everest to reach their destination. The GPS study records that the geese fly over 6,500 meter (22000 feet) in the Himalayan range. But there are reports of the birds flying over the mount Everest at around 30000 feet.

Bar Headed Goose - Anser Indicus @BBC photo

Another very contrasting fact about the Bar-headed bird is that unlike other high flying birds that reach high altitude by soaring and gliding up, the Bar-headed goose reaches the extra-ordinary height by smartly flapping their wings. This is the reason why these geese don’t depend on the tail-wind on the Himalayan range, in fact they deny the winds and starts climbing up high altitude when the wind blows out. The bird’s body is specially made to meet this exceptional capability.  More red-blood cells and more capillaries than normal birds deliver their muscles more oxygen than others.

Though their flying and migration nature is confirmed, yet it is still not known clearly why these birds take such a hard route. There are lower passes available in the Himalayan range, that could have given them easy passage.  A hypothesis suggests that the geese choose to fly over rather than around the Himalaya is that the birds have been doing so for millions of years—long before the mountains reached their current heights.

The new year brought mystery and tragedy to the southern state of United States of America, Arkansas. The land of mountains, valleys, forests and rich wildlife has seen massacre of birds, fishes due to still unknown and mysterious cause.

A poor dead black-bird in Arkansas

This mysterious event first occurred in the small town of Beebe on the day of New Year. Within an area of just one-mile diameter, birds started falling out of the sky. The tragic event stunned thousands of people in the town. Within few hours the number of falling birds increased to more than thousand.  It was like a doomsday event in movies, the red-winged blackbirds, grackles, and starlings fell all over from the skies filling the roads and walkways. The death fall that started at around 11:30 pm just on the New Year Eve, gave the residents a horrifying experience. The total number of deaths of those poor birds may cross five thousands.

Adding more to it, Arkansas River saw another strange and unexplained event. On a 20-mile stretch between Ozark and Clarksville the river washed up hundreds of thousands of dead drum fish. This new report made the locals of Arkansas crazy and they are horrified at these unnatural incidents.

Dead drum fish at Arkansas river

Scientists are still not in a position to find the exact cause of these two incidents. This inability of the scientists has compelled common people to think out of the track and consider these events to be the act of supernatural.  Some believe these two incidents are not just coincidence, they have hidden meaning. There are more speculations like alien acts, ghostly affair, or some conspiracy theory etc.

But it may not be a strange event for the scientists. These are definitely two independent accidents happened at the same time in the same area.

The fish death can be explained easily as some disease, similar to what The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission believes. Because the fish are from the same species, it is highly possible that some unknown disease stroked them. The possible cause of any pollutant is ruled out because, it would have killed all the fished but not only one species.

The recent lab result on the birds also says that there is no involvement of poisonous material. It has been discovered that the birds all suffered from blunt force trauma. Authorities have stated that the incident could have possibly been the result of hail, lightning, or even trauma from fireworks. And this is absolutely true and is considered as a regular event in other parts of the world. Jatinga, a small village in North-East India sees this event every year during winter. Any torches or fire, on special weather condition of the region, attracts birds of some specific species. The birds fly down straight from the high sky at night and fall prey to the fire or torch. This was considered as a “Gift of Gods” by the tribal of the region historically. This is well explained in this website already. The Arkansas bird death is pretty much similar to this and can be related.

The Arkansas events are definitely two independent accidents happening at the same time in the same place, creating chaos among people. But in reality, the birds’ deaths can be explained as a known incident similar to Jatinga bird suicide, while the fish deaths can be considered as an act of some deadly disease.  We hope scientists will soon resolve the mystery with firm results.