Jatinga
{{For|the Assamese language film|Jatinga Ityadi}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name = Jatinga
| other_name =
| nickname =
| settlement_type = village
| image_skyline =
| image_alt =
| image_caption =
| pushpin_map = India Assam#India
| pushpin_label_position = right
| pushpin_map_alt =
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Assam, India
| coordinates = {{coord|25.1149|N|92.9437|E|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = {{flag|India}}
| subdivision_type1 = State
| subdivision_name1 = Assam
| subdivision_type2 = District
| subdivision_name2 = Dima Hasao
| established_title =
| established_date =
| founder =
| named_for =
| government_type =
| governing_body = Dima Hasao, Jatinga Constituency
| unit_pref = Metric
| area_footnotes =
| area_rank =
| area_total_km2 =
| elevation_footnotes = 600meter above sea level.
| elevation_m =
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| population_as_of =
| population_rank =
| population_density_km2 = auto
| population_demonym =
| population_footnotes =
| demographics_type1 = Languages
| demographics1_title1 = Official
| demographics1_info1 = Pnar, Assamese
| timezone1 = IST
| utc_offset1 = +5:30
| postal_code_type =
| postal_code =
| registration_plate = AS 08-
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
Jatinga (Pron: ʤʌˈtɪŋgə or ʤæˈtɪŋgə ), a village on a ridge, is located in Dima Hasao district, Assam, India. It is {{convert|330|km|mi}} south of GuwahatiChoudhury, A. U. (7 September 1986). "Bird killing at Jatinga", The Sentinel. The village is inhabited by about 2,500 Khasi people. It is well known for being the location of mysterious bird deaths.
Mysterious bird deaths
At the end of the monsoon months especially on moonless and foggy dark nights between 6 p.m. and 9:30 p.m usually in the months of September and October, birds are not disturbed by the locals but out of the dark northern skies will start to descend as they are attracted to lights. These dazed birds are captured using bamboo poles by the locals.{{cite web
|url=http://nchills.gov.in/NCHILLS-JATINGA.htm
|title=Jatinga Bird Mystery
|accessdate=9 July 2007
|publisher=District Government of Region of North Cachar Hills
|archive-date=8 June 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170608070637/http://nchills.gov.in/NCHILLS-JATINGA.htm
|url-status=dead
}} The local tribals first took this natural phenomenon to be spirits flying from the sky to terrorize them. This phenomenon is not confined to a single species, with tiger bittern, black bittern, little egret, pond heron, Indian pitta, and kingfishers all being affected,{{cite web
|url=http://www.assam-tourism.com/jatinga.htm
|title=Assam Tourism: Jatinga
|accessdate=14 January 2009
|publisher=Assam Tourism Travel Guide
|url-status=dead
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619095805/http://www.assam-tourism.com/jatinga.htm
|archivedate=19 June 2009
}} as well as hill partridge, green pigeon, emerald dove, necklaced laughingthrush, black drongo. The birds are mostly juvenile, according to Assam's best known ornithologist, Anwaruddin Choudhury.{{cite web| url= http://www.thestatesman.com/mobi/news/northeast/fewer-birds-at-jatinga/78270.html |title= Fewer birds at Jatinga| work=The Statesman| date= 27 July 2015| accessdate= 14 February 2016}}
The late naturalist E. P. Gee brought this phenomenon to global attention in the 1960s. He drove to Jatinga with famed ornithologist Salim Ali.Gee, E. P. (1964). The Wild Life of India, Collins, London. The cause of it is likely to be disorientation at high altitudes and high speed winds due to the widespread fog characteristic at the time.{{cite web| url= http://www.thestatesman.com/mobi/news/northeast/birds-decreasing-in-suicide-spot-of-jatinga/76791.html |title= Birds decreasing in Jatinga 'suicide spot'| work=The Statesman| date= 20 July 2015| accessdate= 14 February 2016}} The zoological survey of India sent Sudhir Sengupta to unravel this mystery. The most recent description of the phenomenon and its comparison with similar incidents elsewhere in Malaysia, Philippines, and Mizoram is found in the book The Birds of Assam by Anwaruddin Choudhury. He concluded that the birds, mostly juveniles and local migrants, are disturbed by high velocity winds at their roost. When the disturbed birds fly towards lights as refuge they are hit with bamboo poles and killed or injured.Choudhury, Anwaruddin U. (2000). The Birds of Assam. Gibbon Books & WWF-India, Guwahati. 240 pp.
Conservation groups and wildlife officials in India have taken steps to prevent wanton killing of birds across India. Bikash Brahma, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of Dima Hasao, stated the killings as well as the number of birds arriving at the village has been declining gradually since the last few years. Much of this is due to loss of habitat caused by "development and environment degradation".