Sulur Lake is filled to the brim. Coconut groves border the lake making it picturesque. But, it is green bushes in the middle of the glistening lake that is in focus. A team of eager youngsters listen out in rapt attention to the sound of a bird. “That is a red wattled lapwing,” exclaims G. Manoj Kumar, a young bird watcher. At a distance, a bird with an artistic neck, resembling a snake, flits past. “It's a darter,” scream the students. Hence, the name paambuthaara in Tamil. Soon, a painted stork takes flight. A grey heron follows. A white-breasted kingfisher flutters by. And, a number of Common Coots ( naama kozhi ) join the party.
Recording data
The memorable outing with birds was made possible by HSBC India Bird Race, a first of the kind event in the city. Brought by Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology (SACON), HSBC and Yuhina Eco-Media (a Mumbai-based organisation specialising in natural history and environment), it gave an opportunity for experienced and budding birdwatchers, to spot, identify and record as many species of birds as they could.
Split into 20 teams (a record number), it was a dawn-to-dusk outing at various lakes across the city. S. Vani and her team visited lakes in Singanallur and Sulur. They spotted pied Kingfishers, egrets, cormorants, jungle babblers, myna, purple moorhens and the count is already 54 species. “I spotted five fly catchers at Singanallur Lake. And, a number of cotton pygmy goose (teals),” adds Manoj. They identify the birds by their beaks, other physical features, calls and by the nature of flight. “That is a spotted dove,” Manoj identifies. “These colourful creatures make us happy. We take notes about them even while travelling, at college, and homes too,” say the students. A lot of these college students started watching birds from their school days. They observe a drastic fall in the number of birds. “We no longer see the hoopoe (it resembles a wood pecker and makes a hoopoe sound, hence the name).” Rampant pollution of water bodies and commercial fishing (which leads to shortage of food for the birds) are some of the contributing factors. “All the tanks are polluted. Pelicans usually come in thousands. This time, we saw them only in hundreds. And, if you want to see a house sparrow, you have to travel to villages, where you have tiled roof houses that facilitate nesting, and the availability of paddy grains,” says V. Ramnarayanan of OSAI, an NGO that works for environment conservation. The OSAI team recorded 62 species. “We spotted kestrels, the winter visitors, and the white eyed buzzard in Kalapatti and Vedapatti tanks,” says V. Ramnarayanan. And, a female Montagu's harrier, which is grey in colour. “Thankfully there are open areas in Kalapatti. Once housing sites appear, the birds will go away.” His team also documented the presence of the Asian paradise fly catcher and the black headed cuckoo shrike at the Forest College grounds. Biology teacher R. Selvi and Sultana of Salim Ali Naturalist Forum (SANF)had a magical spotting of 200 peilcans at the Ukkadam Lake.
At the interactive session in the evening at hotel City Tower, it was only bird talk. “There were a lot of freaky birds,” says Mansur Ahamed of Environment conservation Group ( ECG), who spotted a gull in Kovaipudur. Thirumeni C.K. and his team covered an area of 200 kms and logged 42 species across Anaikatty, Pilloor and Mettupalayam. He proudly shows off a photograph — the ravishing Asian fairy blue bird, spotted at the Pilloor dam. The other exotic bird included a blue faced malkoha (with a distinct eye pattern and a black tail) in Anaikatty. Conservator of Forests, Dr. V.T. Kandasamy made an appeal to “conserve the habitat. Plant trees, facilitate nesting of birds in your houses and the surrounding areas.” Dr.P. Pramod, senior scientist of SACON said, “SANF members participated in a big way and we had representations from organisations such as OSAI and ECG too. Though SACON's SANF motivates beginners into the colourflul world of birds, this is an opportunity to learn the finer points of bird watching from experts.”
“In cities, we see only waste. Urban ecosystem is a no man's land,” said Dr. P. A. Azeez, director of SACON. “Such activities create awareness about the habitats of the birds. We need to maintain the wet land ecosystem and protect the unsung heroes.”
