History

The Mystery Behind the Suicidal Birds of Jatinga

Jatinga happens to be a small village located in the Dima Hasao district of the beautiful state of Assam in North East India. The beautiful mountains and the lush green forests will make anyone fall in love with this place at first sight. However, the strange thing here is that Jatinga is popular in the world for an entirely different phenomenon. This phenomenon is not related to its scenic beauty but the migratory birds which arrive here every year. These birds come here and commit mass suicide– yes, you heard it right! In fact, some of the local birds or also join the migratory ones and commit their so-called hara-kiri.

Jatinga migratory birds
Image credit: YouTube

This entire phenomenon of bird suicide in Jatinga has been a hot topic among numerous ornithologists and other scientific researchers for years. Every year, between the months of September and November, groups of birds commit suicide between 7 pm to 10 pm. This usually takes place when the entire area is gripped under cloud, mist or fog. Even some local birds like the heron and kingfisher take part in this mysterious phenomenon.

Now, as has been already mentioned above, this entire thing has been a subject of research for many people for years. These people have come up with their own theories about the bird suicides in the area. According to a study, the birds commit suicide because their natural habitat gets destroyed owing to the occurrence of floods in this area during this particular time. Moreover, the village of Jatinga happens to be a migratory path for the birds too.

migratory birds
Image credit: amarujala.com

Another reason given by a different study suggests that the birds get attracted to the light sources of the area as it’s the time when a lot of fog or mist hovers in the atmosphere. In fact, most of the birds die after hitting the light sources itself. And the strange fact here is that they do not even attempt to save themselves of fly away after hitting the particular source. Now, there’s yet another sad thing that happens during this time. As the local people are well – aware about this annual phenomenon, some of them try to bring down the birds by using bamboo poles and catapults thereby hurting them or even getting them killed. So, we can consider this to be yet another fact for the massive deaths of the little creatures.

The older generation of the village relates this phenomenon to something evil and supernatural. However, the Gen-Y people in the village have a totally different theory about the same. According to them, the birds do not commit suicide actually. They are actually killed due to some other circumstances happening in the area during this time. The birds actually lose their sight because of the endless fog and hover here and there until they find a light source. In this process, they end up hitting electric poles, tress and even buildings because of which they get killed.

Jatinga
Image credit: ScrollDroll

Every year, this eerie and strange phenomenon takes place in the village thereby leaving people shocked and baffled. As soon as the sun sets in the evening, flocks of birds fly in full speed towards this area and end up hitting buildings, poles, etc. and end up getting killed. While some of the villagers consider this to be an evil phenomenon, a few others consider the birds to be the gift of Gods. However, some of them end up trapping the migratory birds themselves which is definitely not acceptable. But with the advent of time, things have changed and the people have changed themselves too. However, the reason behind these mysterious deaths of birds has not been solved yet.

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