Birds decreasing in 'suicide spot' of Jatinga

Guwahati, July 20: Assam's Jatinga village, known the world over as the "suicide spot" of birds, may lose the tag as the number of winged guests flying into the place has reduced drastically over the past few years. "Bird arrival is very scarce these days at Jatinga and the number of birds being killed by villagers has also come down," eminent ornithologist Anwaruddin Choudhury said.

Choudhury, dubbed the "Birdman of Assam", has done field surveys to understand the mysterious behaviour of the avian species in the tiny hamlet nestled in the North Cachar Hills near Haflong.

Bikash Brahma, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of Dima Hasao, also agreed, saying not only killings but also the number of birds arriving at the village has been declining gradually since the last few years. "Earlier birds were killed but due to the awareness campaign run by the forest department such incidents have reduced substantially now," he said.

The birds are drawn by light typically produced by a combination of fog, mist and cloud during the months of September-October during moonless nights.

After reaching the village they get disoriented and unable to fly they hit the walls and fall easy prey to hunters who attack them with bamboo poles. This phenomenon is often wrongly known as suicide by birds.

PTI