Chilika lake                                                               

                                          Copyright infringement is not intended

Context: Lakhs of migratory birds fly down from other parts of the globe to Odisha’s Chilika lake, the largest wintering ground for birds in the Indian subcontinent.

• In 2020, for the third successive year, the Chilika lake hosted over a million birds, and the area around it recorded more than 12 lakh mostly migratory birds.
• The lake hosts birds migrating from thousands miles away, including from the Caspian Sea, Lake Baikal, the Aral Sea, remote parts of Russia, the Kirghiz steppes of Mongolia, Central and Southeast Asia, and Ladakh and the Himalayas.

About Chilika lake:

• It is a brackish water lagoon, spread over the Puri, Khurda and Ganjam districts of Odisha state on the east coast of India, at the mouth of the Daya River, flowing into the Bay of Bengal.
• In 1981, Chilika Lake was designated the first Indian wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.
• It has been listed as a tentative UNESCO World Heritage site.
• It is the largest salt water lake in India.
• The lagoon is also home to rare and endangered Irrawaddy dolphins.
• Nalbana Island of Nalbana bird sanctuary is the core area of this Ramsar designated wetlands of Chilika Lake.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/carcasses-of-migratory-birds-seized-near-chilika-lake/article38038481.ece