#Khichan is a village in #Rajasthan state of India. It is located in the Phalodi tehsil of Jodhpur district. The village is known for a large number of demoiselle cranes that visit it every winter. This annual bird migration began with around a hundred cranes in the 1970s, when a local couple started feeding pigeons. Other villagers joined their efforts, and as of 2014, Khichan now hosts over 30,000 demoiselle cranes from as early as August each year to as late as March of the following year. In the 1970s, Ratanlal Maloo, a native of Khichan who had been working in Odisha, returned to the village. Since he did not have a lot of work, his uncle gave him the job of feeding pigeons. Being devout Jains, Ratanlal and his wife accepted the task. Ratanlal would carry grain sacks to the feeding place, and his wife would help him spread the grains on the ground. A number of pigeons, sparrows and squirrels started coming to the place; peacocks also occasionally visited the place. In September, a dozen demoiselle cranes (called kurja in Rajasthani) also joined the other birds. These birds had been seen visiting the farmlands of Kheechan earlier. During September-February, around 100 cranes came to the feeding place. During the next winter, around 150 cranes visited the place. As the cranes grew in numbers, the local dogs started hunting them. So, Ratan Lal asked the village panchayat to allot him some land on the outskirts of the village. Some of the villagers joined him in building a chugga ghar ("bird feeding home"), with a granary and a fence. Several Jain traders supported the initiative by supplying grains. What started initially as a few dozen visiting birds has now become a major migration with thousands of cranes visiting the village year after year, during the period of August to March, and the number is reported to be increasing. This is attributed to the organised and natural feeding done by the village community, twice a day during the birds entire sojourn to the town in the months of August to March, with November to February being the peak season.


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