As Kashmir embraces autumn with icy whispers foretelling winter's arrival on mountain summits, so too do the migratory birds arriving from Siberia and distant realms.
Over the calm surface of Dal Lake, the red-and-golden chinar leaves mirroring the kaleidoscope above, heralding the arrival of these avian voyagers with distant calls echoing through the air.
Champions of endurance, boarding a journey across the Himalayan range. Their annual pilgrimage to Kashmir serves as a testament to their resilience and survival instincts.
“They have been migrating to Kashmir for ages. I was a kid when I saw them here for the first time,” says an elderly man at Dal Lake.
“Kashmir is like their second home,” he adds.
“Do you think one can bar these birds from flying into our area? No. I wish this world treats humans on a similar line,” he tells The Himalayan Post.
Dal lake among other Wetlands change into a bustling hub for avian bustle during this season.
Migratory ducks such as the northern pintail and the tufted duck join the chorus, murmuring a universal truth that in the grandeur of the world, nature holds no bias.
It's a sonnet to the world, a testament to the shared fragility that unites us all in the poetry of nature.
"In their journey, they soar beyond borders, weaving threads of connection across distant lands under a common sky.”