Thousands of flamingos continue to gather on Indian lake amid lockdown

Thousands of pink flamingos continued to gather in Mumbai, India, today after the coronavirus lockdown caused cleaner air and water.

Footage from an apartment in the Seawoods Complex in Nerul overlooking the creek in Navi Mumbai shows the beautiful birds gathering.

Environmentalists pointed out that although flamingos migrate to the area each year, this year has seen unusually high numbers.

They believe that cleaner air and water - one of the positive side effects of the Covid-19 restrictions - has allowed more birds to make the journey.

According to Nathuram Kokare of Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary, residents are seeing an unusually large number of flamingos around Mumbai because of “less polluted water and air” and “improvement in the quality of the algae”, their primary food.

One Indian news publication, The Print, reported that the Bombay Natural History Society has predicted as many as 25 percent more had migrated than last year, and said that as many as 150,000 may have made the journey to the wetlands.

Some residents have even used their arrival to approach the authorities and argue for more work to be done to provide a healthier environment for the flamingos every year.

Areas, such as this wetland, would typically see lots of construction, but this has come to a halt during the coronavirus crisis as all of India's 1.3 billion population remains under lockdown, and have been since March 24.

Harsh Goenka, who lives near the Navi Mumbai water, tweeted his delight at seeing the flamingos.

He wrote: 'While humans are locked inside, flamingos are putting on quite a spectacular show for the residents of Seawoods Complex in Nerul, Navi Mumbai!'

The flamingos migrate to Mumbai in October to March from Rann of Kutch in Gujarat and Sambhar Lake in Rajasthan - sometimes even as far away as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Israel.

They then fly out in June.