A national treasure

THERE’S a lot that is mysterious about the scarlet ibis. Scientists have long mapped its pathways and habits as one of the world’s truly great migratory birds.

And yet, as is the case with so much in relation to the environment, there’s a great deal we still do not know for sure.

Where the bird gets its brilliant, unmistakable colour is debatable; its relationship to the American white ibis is unclear; and how migratory birds like it travel across vast distances with such precision is subject to much conjecture.

This month marks the start of an incredible annual ritual: the scarlet ibis’s flight between Venezuela and Trinidad. This migration occurs each year from October to March.

Photographers who ventured into the wildlife sanctuary at the Caroni Swamp a few days ago encountered an extraordinary sight: scores and scores of these incredible birds setting the mangrove ablaze.

Today, as the world observes World Migratory Bird Day, we pay tribute to one of our spectacular national birds and note the continued need to protect it from a host of challenges relating to our activities.

It is no exaggeration to say the scarlet ibis is a national treasure.

A contingent from the National Geographic Society of the US’s explorer network visited the Caroni Bird Sanctuary a few days ago. Even the acclaimed Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood has written fiction featuring this bird and the sanctuary at Caroni.

And yet the ibis faces many threats.

It begins with the very habitat it occupies. Climate change has disrupted the delicate balance in nature, including at mangroves. As dramatically demonstrated this week, human development is also authoring all manner of ill effects.

Bird migration is a miracle. These birds travel thousands of miles to find the best ecological conditions and terrains for breeding, feeding and nurturing young. But more and more things done by humans are threatening this miracle, such as increased levels of light pollution (the focus of World Migratory Bird Day is the need to recognise how light pollution adversely affects birds).

More palpable, perhaps, in the local setting is the direct threat to the bird posed by poaching. A few years ago, a series of reports ripped open the realities of this practice in our country, resulting in tremendous outcry and stronger protections.

Though it provided a welcome relief to some of our green spaces, the covid19 pandemic also risked putting much enforcement activity on hold, including that within environmentally sensitive spaces. Such activity needs to be ramped up.

The upcoming COP27 climate summit is likely to be dominated by the need for net-zero economies. But the environmental imperatives now faced by our planet are vast and complex. They are brought into closer focus by the majestic beings now flying over the swamp.