Thousands Of Flamingos Turn Mumbai Waters Pink Amid India's Lockdown

These beautiful birds typically inhabit the area for their breeding and feeding season, which begins in September and lasts until the end of May.

This year, however, locals have been stunned with the sheer amount of flamingos that have turned up in Mumbai.

Deepak Apte, director of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), told the Times that the outbreak has managed to have a positive effect on the migrating flamingos.

While the waters are usually disrupted by construction work, fishing, and general activities involving people, "the lockdown is giving these birds peace for roosting, no disturbance in their attempt to obtain food, and overall encouraging habitat,” he explained.

With such huge numbers swarming Mumbai, the flamingos have begun spreading out beyond Thane Creek and have been spotted in wetlands and other areas where they typically wouldn't appear.

"They are being reported from places where they have earlier been reported less in number because there is no human activity there now," Rahul Khot, assistant director at BNHS, told CNN.

“Residents are cooped up at home spending their mornings and evenings at their balconies taking photographs and videos of these relaxed birds," one local, Sunil Agarwal, said.

"The lockdown will at least prompt people to focus on what is around them, which they had been taking for granted, and hopefully this site will be declared a flamingo sanctuary soon.”

In New Delhi, troops of monkeys have reportedly been taking advantage of the city's now-empty streets, and in Mumbai, peacocks have been spotted perched on top of cars, flaunting their elegant plumage.

Perhaps most spectacularly, around 40 endangered Gangetic dolphins have been spotted back in the Ganges, drawn back to their natural habitat due to the sudden lack of human activity and reduced pollution level in the water.

h/t: Hindustan Times, CNN