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Every year, as the seasons change, millions of birds undertake one of nature's greatest journeys. Some travel only a few hundred kilometres, while others fly thousands without recognising political borders or national boundaries.
Instead, they follow ancient migration routes known as flyways, natural aerial corridors shaped by geography, climate and the availability of food and resting sites.One of the world's most important of these routes is the Central Asian Flyway (CAF). Spanning around 9,000 kilometres, it connects the breeding grounds of northern Eurasia with the wetlands, forests, grasslands and coastlines of South Asia. Supporting hundreds of migratory bird species across 30 countries, the flyway has become a vital lifeline for birds travelling between Europe, Asia and the Indian Ocean each year.
A migration route that crosses mountains, deserts and oceans
The Central Asian Flyway stretches from the Arctic Ocean and Siberia southwards through Central Asia before reaching countries including India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.Rather than following a single narrow path, the flyway consists of a network of interconnected habitats where birds can rest, feed and breed during different stages of their migration. These include high-altitude lakes on the Tibetan Plateau, the wetlands of Kazakhstan, India's floodplains, coastal estuaries and mangrove forests.
According to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), the flyway supports more than 600 migratory bird species, including cranes, geese, ducks, shorebirds, raptors and songbirds. Many of these species depend on the same chain of wetlands and stopover sites every year, making the health of each habitat critical to the success of their migration.
Home to some of the world's highest bird migrations
One of the flyway's most remarkable features is that it includes the migration route of the bar-headed goose, a bird famous for flying over the Himalayas, where it has been recorded at altitudes exceeding 7,000 metres.
At these heights, oxygen levels are only a fraction of those at sea level, yet the species has evolved specialised lungs, efficient blood circulation and powerful muscles that allow it to survive one of the most demanding migrations on Earth.Other iconic migrants using the Central Asian Flyway include the Siberian crane, greater flamingo, Amur falcon, black-tailed godwit and numerous species of ducks and waders that winter across the Indian subcontinent.Researchers continue to study these migrations using satellite tracking, GPS transmitters and bird-ringing programmes, revealing increasingly detailed maps of the remarkable journeys birds undertake every year.
Why protecting the flyway matters
Because migratory birds rely on multiple countries during a single journey, conserving the Central Asian Flyway requires international cooperation. Wetland destruction, pollution, climate change, illegal hunting and habitat fragmentation threaten many of the stopover sites birds depend upon to rest and refuel.Recognising these challenges, countries across the region have worked together through the Central Asian Flyway Action Plan, developed under the Convention on Migratory Species, to improve habitat conservation, strengthen scientific monitoring and coordinate protection efforts across national borders.Scientists emphasise that safeguarding the flyway benefits far more than birds alone. Healthy wetlands help reduce flooding, improve water quality, store carbon and support fisheries and local livelihoods. Protecting this vast aerial highway therefore preserves not only one of the world's greatest wildlife spectacles but also ecosystems that millions of people depend upon every day.
