Migratory birds from the Arctic breeding grounds and other temperate regions of northern high latitudes
migrate southward to the wetlands located in the tropical countries, including the wetlands located in India, to
escape from the extreme colder climate of the northern winter. On the onset of summer these migrants start their
return migration to their northern breeding grounds. These migratory birds annually spend only 25% of their
time at their place of origin where they breed and 40% at their wintering (the site where they spend the winter)
sites. As these birds travelling long distances varying between a few thousands kilometers up to 14,000 km
between their breeding and wintering sites depend upon their breeding and wintering destinations, they spend
considerable time (30-40%) for their southward and northward journeys which varies not only between species but
also between different geographical population of the same species. These migratory waterbird species utilizes
several wetlands located between their breeding and wintering sites as stopover sites during their northward and
southward journeys.