Jatinga, Assam
Jatinga is a village near Haflong, Assam. This place became famous for mysterious "mass suicide of birds". phenomenon. During nights of late monsoon months, a mysterious behaviour of birds takes place in Jatinga. When there is fog, mist or cloud, local birds starts to fly towards light sources. Their ultimate fate is death and that’s why it was termed mass suicide of birds. Famous naturalist E. P. Gee first documented this phenomenon in 1960s. The phenomenon is unusual but it is not actually a suicide. The birds are killed by villagers. Jatinga is 9Km away from Haflong and is situated at the junction of the roads leading to Lumding, Silchar and Haflong.
What is Jatinga Bird Suicide?
Jatinga bird suicide phenomenon is witnessed in the months of September and November. During moonless and foggy dark nights, flying birds come crashing to the ground or light source with no prior warning whatsoever. Best timing is between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Common belief is that birds commit suicide in Jatinga. But the reality is something else. Due to unknown circumstances, birds starts to get disoriented and seek solace of light source. Those birds fall easy prey to the villagers, who attacks them with bamboo poles or catapults.
But why birds starts to behave abnormally in Jatinga? Renowned ornithologists such as Dr. Salim Ali, Dr. S.Sengupta and A. Rauf have already carried out researches on this subject. Several interesting facts are revealed by different studies. For example: only 44 species of birds are attracted to the light sources and all of them are local bird species, not migratory ones. Another interesting fact is that birds are attracted to light only in an well-defined 1.5 km long and 200 metres wide strip of area. According to Dr Sengupta, weather conditions in Jatinga make changes in the magnetic qualities of the underground water in this area and disturbs the physiological rhythm of the local birds. But he failed to justify his opinion. On the other hand, ornithologist Dr Anwaruddin Choudhury blamed high velocity wind for the unusual behaviour of birds. According to him, mostly juveniles and local migrant birds are disturbed by high velocity winds and the fly towards light to take refuge.
Even after several scientific studies, abnormal behaviour of birds in Jatinga still remains a mystery.