Bar headed Geese at Magadi Tank

Magadi, a nondescript village in Shirahatti Taluk of Gadag District,Karnataka is special for an epic avian migration. Every year from December to March this village tank plays host to more than 2000 winged guests from Central Asia . Bar Headed Geese, from central asia like Kazagystan,Russia,Mangolia, Tibet , and also from ladakh region migrate to Indian sub continent to escape winter in their home country.While doing so they traverse one of the toughest bird migration path  crossing the peaks of Himalayas .Thogh there are passes in Himalayas these birds prefer to cross over the mountain range.These birds fly at an amazingly high altitude of nearly 30,000 fts at a speed of nearly 150 kms/hr covering a lap of 700-1000kms per day to scale the himalayan mountain range. remember even helicopters can't fly at this altitude and the temperature at this altitude is -50 degrees or so and air pressure sub atmospheric . The physiology of these birds in adapting to high altitude in extremely short time is amazing. This rapid ascent can kill human beings of high altitude pulmonary edema.After reaching India they pan out to various wetlands from assam to Bharathpur and down south upto Kanyakumari. One such destination in Karnataka is Magadi Tank.A village tank sprawling over 140 acres is the home for these guests for 3 months and at start of summer they fly back to their places. they breed in the mountain lakes of Tibet. I visited Magadi  along with my three other friends to watch these icons of migration which is a living example of tenacity and endurance! The challenging northward migration from lowland India to breed in the summer on the Tibetan Plateau is undertaken in stages, with the flight across the Himalaya (from sea-level) being undertaken non-stop in as little as seven hours. Surprisingly, despite predictable tail winds that blow up the Himalayas (in the same direction of travel as the geese), bar-headed geese spurn these winds, waiting for them to die down overnight, when they then undertake the greatest rates of climbing flight ever recorded for a bird, and sustain these climbs rates for hours on end

The bar-headed goose is known to be well equipped for this incredibly challenging migration. It has a slightly larger wing area for its weight than other geese, which is believed to help the goose fly at high altitudes.Studies have found that they breathe more deeply and efficiently under low oxygen conditions The haemoglobin of their blood has a higher oxygen affinity than that of other geese.

The Bar-headed Goose migrates over the Himalayas to spend the winter in parts of India (from Assam to as far south as Tamil Nadu.^[8] The winter habitat of the Bar-headed Goose is cultivated fields, where it feeds on barley, rice and wheat, and may damage crops. Birds from Kyrgyzstan have been noted to stopover in western Tibet and southern Tajikistan for 20 to 30 days before migrating further south. Some birds may show high wintering site fidelity The bird is pale grey and is easily distinguished from any of the other grey geese of the genus Anser by the black bars on its head

Magadi village is  in Shirahatti taluk ,Gadag District ,Karnataka. It is located 26Kms from Gadag ,11 Kms from Lakshmeshwar,8 Kms from Shirahatti on Gadag-Bangalore Road (SH-6).

Latitude	15.223911° N
Longitude	75.514031° E

We left from Shimoga very early in morning by 4.30 AM and proceeded along Honnali,Harihar then onto NH 4 up to bankapur cross on NH 4. At Bankapur exited NH and drove along SH6 via savanur ,lakshmeshwar to reach Magadi by 8.15 AM. The srawling tank had very few birds that too at a considerable distance. An elderly man on the tank bund reassured us that birds start arriving by next 30 minutes.By 8.45 AM big flocks of birds in varying numbers started descending from horizon. Their formation in shape of > resembled landing of a jet plane in all their majesty.By next 30 minutes there were few thousand bar headed geese all over the Tank.Most of the m were in the middle of tank and started moving to sides slowly.Then we started moving around the tank.to get a better glimpse of bird and to get a nice picture.The only flipside to this is that the sides of the tank are  used extensively by villagers for open air defecation.Bar headed geese have a friendly relation with village people and swim close to shore even if there are are people washing clothes near the tank. But on sighting strangers like us they gradually move away.  The tank is well maintained and fenced on one side There is a bird watching tower and villagers whom you meet will be happy to guide visitors. An islet is created inside the tank with few trees and this acts a home to other water birds .Though Magadi tank is famous for bar headed goose there are plenty of other birds as well. We could sight be a eaters, Drongo,egret,white ibis, pond heron, bush chat, Hoope, sand piper, Painted storks ,grey heron,Golden oriole, asiaticKoel,Myna, purple more hen and black shouldered Kite around the tank area.

There are not many  facilities for visitors and also no entry fees! Fortunately there are no such activities like boating etc. which can disturb the birds. Food and water need to be carried .best time to visit is between December and January.This bird migration to Magadi is an annual event for 16 years !! When we left Magadi it was already 12 noon and in another 4 hours we were back home. It was somewhat tiring to drive eight hours but unusually I was not very tired may be because of the birds! If you consider the way they have travelled to reach Magadi my journey is not near any comparison.I feel God has created all equal. He has given so much to a small bird and given man many other things .He gave these birds ability to fly ,energy to sustain a long flight, adaptability and even ability to navigate great distance! He gave them inbuilt GPS ,navigation,and gave man intelligence to device all these! 

This article has taken useful resourses from:wikepedia.

Magadi has many more birds ,not just bar headed geese, here are some we could get :

Sandpiper

Blue cheaked Bea eater

Bea eater with its catch!

Common Hoope