Kendrapara: Migratory birds have embarked on their homeward journey from the wetland spots in the Bhitarakanika National Park after their four-month winter sojourn.

These birds fly thousands of miles to reach Bhitarkanika to escape the harsh winter in the Himalayan region. They stay in the national park for four months before flying back home.

The national park played host to more than one lakh migrant aquatic birds from trans-Himalayan region this year, registering a rise in the number of winged guests than the preceding year. Harsh cold and snowfall in the trans-Himalayan region has resulted in the exodus of large number of migrant species to the national park.

This apart, lack of human interference, congenial environs and rich food reserve attract the avian visitors here.

While 76,268 winter migrant birds had made their way to the national park last year, the recent census findings put the number of birds at 1,12,937, showing an impressive 48 per cent rise, said the divisional forest officer, Bimal Prasanna Acharya.

The first batch of migratory birds reached the park in October. Now, the birds have begun leaving in batches.

"We hope that more birds arrive before the advent of next winter," said the forest officer. Though the birds like shoveller, pintail, gadwal, wigen, common pochard, garganey, tuffed duck, common teal, coot have started leaving, other species such as curlew, pipit, white eye and other birds have not shown any urgency to leave yet.

Earlier, the enumerators had spotted two rare groups of winged species - mallard and comb duck- of the central Asian origin from wetlands of the park. These species were sighted for the first time come under the rare and threatened category. This apart, the enumerators also sighted more than 10,000 bar-headed geese.