They come from across the Himalayas……flying high

They come from across the Himalayas……flying high

These days , hundreds of Ruddy Shelducks are flocking to Sukhna Lake, Chandigarh and other water bodies in the region for their wintry sojourn. Have you wondered from how far they come from and how?

Well they fly at altitudes, more than eight times higher than the tallest building on the earth so far i.e . Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Burj Khalifa is 829.8-metre-tall (2,722 ft). With the help of satellite tracking a team from the University of Exeter has claimed that ruddy shelducks fly as high as 6,800 meters (about 22,000 feet), allowing them to fly across some of the highest mountains, but certainly short of Mount Everest whose official height has been determined as 8,848 m (29,029 ft). However, studies are being conducted to determine if they can fly even more higher. They rank only next to Bar-headed Geese in the flight.

Strictly speaking, ruddy shelducks aren't really ducks, they can best be described as duck-like waterfowls that share characteristics of both ducks and geese. This translates into that they live on the water's edge and tip over in the water like ducks do, yet they also feed on grass like geese. Even though they look more like ducks, but are actually slightly larger than them having longer legs.

There are many other incredible things that are attributed to this wonderful bird besides their remarkable cruising altitudes abilities, they can easily adjust to thin mountain air as they breed on plateaus that are as high as 5000 meters. Another unique aspect of this bird, unlike their relatives, is that they lay eggs in rock cavities and caves. They even move their young ones to abandoned foxholes for raising them up.

Even their courtship is equally unique. The males impress their chosen ones by nose-diving through the air while emitting noisy screams with nasal trumpet tone being the most common. Being monogamous , the relationship is a lasting one as the couple remain faithful to each other. It is said that the couple meets only during the day time and remain separated during the night. Some people claim that this is because of the curse of a sage who felt disturbed by their screams. Many folklores , stories and even songs have been woven on this. 
In Tibetan culture, Ruddy Shelduck is considered as a scared bird. It is a symbol of love. In a local legend, Ruddy Shelducks move always in pairs, one male with one female. If one of a pair died, the other would look for the partner with lament. If it couldn’t find the partner in the end, it would bury its head in a cave and hunger to death. The outlook of Ruddy Shelducks is yellow which is a symbol of dignity and luck. 
In the Jataka Tales, there is a story of it conversing with the crow conveying :

“When leading a homeless life, one must do with affection
Without a good character, on must do without companions
When one commits offence with women, one must do 
without capacity for deeds of lasting worth.”

In Sanskrit, it is called Chakravaka and finds numerous references in ancient Sanskrit Literature, being an embodiment of eternal love, nocturnal separation and then union. In Ramayana too , the bird is mentioned as that it beautifies the rivers such as the Ganges, Godawari and Pampa. There are references in Rigveda as well as Mahabharata where Chakravakas denotes the two- wheels of the chariot, one cannot do without the other.

In a stub published by Indianetzone, Chakravaka is a Brahmani goose and the name of a wise counselor in the Pancha Tantra. Hiranyagarbha, the king of the water-fowl was anxious to make war, when his minister, Chakravaka made many speeches to prevent it, suggesting that victory was ever doubtful.

While searching for inputs, I came across a beautiful song , “ Chakravaka Pakshi Viyogi” sung by Suman Kalyanpur. Even though I do not know Marathi, the song had a very soothing effect. 
These migratory birds come from Southeast Europe and Central Asia . In India it is also called Brahminy duck. It is called Chakkva in Punjabi and Surkhaab in Faarsi