This annual bird migration began with around a hundred cranes in the 1970s, when a local couple started feeding pigeons.

[3] Phalodi is a railway station on the broad gauge line and connects all important towns in Rajasthan.

In September, a dozen demoiselle cranes (called kurja in Rajasthani) also joined the other birds.

Some of the villagers joined him in building a chugga ghar ("bird feeding home"), with a granary and a fence.

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.

The cranes fly into specially created rectangular enclosures of 50x60m, at the edge of the village, called locally as chugga ghar's, where they have a breakfast session which lasts for about 90 minutes.

Their flights, in the setting of the conventional mansions (some of them are heritage buildings being converted to tourist lodges) of the village, present brilliant photo-ops for the large number of tourists who flock to the village for bird watching.

After feeding, the cranes, in large congregations, are seen at some of the water bodies (ponds) and sand dunes to the north of Khichan.

The cranes fly in different directions in small family flocks, in a disciplined order led by the female, followed closely by two young ones with the male forming the rear guard.

They roost in far away agriculture fields and return to the same water bodies next day, early in the morning.

Previously, monetary donations from local people and visitors were managed by Kuraj Samrakshan Vikas Sansthan, a society established in Khichan for crane protection and care.