Open dumping of waste in Okhla attracts Cattle Egrets. They come here daily to feast on food at rubbish sites.
If you move around in Jamia Nagar then you must have noticed that at some open trash sites in Abul Fazal Enclave, Shaheen Bagh and Noor Nagar, birds hover around the garbage looking for food.
Of them, two birds are a common site, Eagle and Heron & Egret family (Ardeidae) . It is exactly difficult to identify them but for some bird watchers it is a challenge taking their photos or videos. After grabbing a photo of this bird at Noor Nagar open garbage dumping spot, he forwarded it to a well-known birdwatcher TK Roy for identification and he identified it as Cattle Egrets.
Okhla-based bird watcher Irfan Ansari, who even made a video of the Black Kites foraging for food in the garbage dump at Abul Fazal Enclave, told the OT over phone that it is normal to see these birds at sunrise and sunset daily.
“The main reason that one could see these birds at open garbage sites is that they come looking for food, including animal waste. Many shopkeepers dump chicken waste which has turned out to be food for these birds. You can see them sitting on walls and buildings,” said another bird watcher.
