Jatinga

For the Assamese language film, see Jatinga Ityadi.

Jatinga
village
Jatinga Location in Assam, India Show map of Assam Jatinga Jatinga (India) Show map of India
Coordinates: 25.1149°N 92.9437°E / 25.1149; 92.9437
Country	India
State	Assam
District	Dima Hasao
Government
• Body	Gram panchayat
Languages
• Official	pnar/haflong hindi
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
Vehicle registration	AS 08-

Jatinga (Pron: ʤʌˈtɪŋgə or ʤæˈtɪŋgə ), a village on a ridge, is located in Dima Hasao district, Assam, India. It is 330 kilometres (210 mi) south of Guwahati^[1] The village is inhabited by about 2,500 Khasi-Pnar people and a few Assamese. It is well-known for being the location of mysterious bird deaths.

Mysterious bird deaths

At the end of the monsoon months especially on moonless and foggy dark nights between 6 p.m. and 9:30 p.m usually in the months of September and October, birds are not disturbed by the locals but out of the dark northern skies will start to descend as they are attracted to lights. These dazed birds are captured using bamboo poles by the locals.^[2] The local tribals first took this natural phenomenon to be spirits flying from the sky to terrorize them. This phenomenon is not confined to a single species, with tiger bittern, black bittern, little egret, pond heron, Indian pitta, and kingfishers all being affected,^[3] as well as hill partridge, green pigeon, emerald dove, necklaced laughingthrush, black drongo.^[4] The birds are mostly juvenile, according to Assam's best known ornithologist, Anwaruddin Choudhury.^[5]

The late naturalist E. P. Gee brought this phenomenon to global attention in the 1960s. He drove to Jatinga with famed ornithologist Salim Ali.^[6] The cause of it is likely to be disorientation at high altitudes and high speed winds due to the widespread fog characteristic at the time.^[4] The zoological survey of India sent Sudhir Sengupta to unravel this mystery. The most recent description of the phenomenon and its comparison with similar incidents elsewhere in Malaysia, Philippines, and Mizoram is found in the book The Birds of Assam by Anwaruddin Choudhury. He concluded that the birds, mostly juveniles and local migrants, are disturbed by high velocity winds at their roost. When the disturbed birds fly towards lights as refuge they are hit with bamboo poles and killed or injured.^[7]

Conservation groups and wildlife officials in India have taken steps to prevent wanton killing of birds across India. Bikash Brahma, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of Dima Hasao, stated the killings as well as the number of birds arriving at the village has been declining gradually since the last few years.^[4] Much of this is due to loss of habitat caused by "development and environment degradation".^[5]

See also

• Dima Hasao district
• Kaziranga National Park
• Tourism in Assam

References

1. Choudhury, A. U. (7 September 1986). "Bird killing at Jatinga", The Sentinel.
2. "Jatinga Bird Mystery". District Government of Region of North Cachar Hills. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2007.
3. "Assam Tourism: Jatinga". Assam Tourism Travel Guide. Archived from the original on 19 June 2009. Retrieved 14 January 2009.
4. "Birds decreasing in Jatinga 'suicide spot'". The Statesman. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
5. "Fewer birds at Jatinga". The Statesman. 27 July 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
6. Gee, E. P. (1964). The Wild Life of India, Collins, London.
7. Choudhury, Anwaruddin U. (2000). The Birds of Assam. Gibbon Books & WWF-India, Guwahati. 240 pp.