As part of the recently concluded Pongal Bird Count, over two dozen birders from Madurai Nature Forum and volunteers from Lady Doak and The American College in the city went bird watching in the five districts of Madurai, Theni, Virudhunagar, Sivagangai and Ramanathapuram. They returned with some beautiful photographs and sightings of rare and new species of migratory and resident birds. “We also identified a number of birding hotspots. The survey was conducted in water tanks, farmlands and areas in the periphery of cities and towns,” says N. Raveendran, a birder.
In Madurai district, the tanks around Tirumangalam support a healthy birdlife, say the birders. Nesaneri, Kallikudi, Avaniyapuram, Sivarakottai, Kunnathur, Vandiyur, Arittapatti, Samanatham and Thenkarai tanks are rich with birds and one can spot a wide range of winged visitors from water birds to raptors and warblers. Vettangudi, Vettankulam, Chozhapuram and Keezhpathi in Sivagangai and Valinokkam, Chitrakudi, Mela Selvapuram and Kanjarakulam in Ramanathapuram are the other places where the survey was undertaken.
Other than the Common neighbourhood birds such as the bulbuls, mynahs, munias and sunbirds, the bird watchers were lucky to count few rare winter migrants. A startling moment during the survey was at the Kunnathur Tank on Sivaganga Road, when the volunteers came across a peregrine Falcon in flight. “The bird is one of the fastest in the world. It dives at a speed of 380 km/hr to catch the prey. Peregrine Falcon migrates from Europe and far west. However, this is the first time, it has been sighted and recorded in Tamil Nadu,” says N. Raveendran.
The recent rains has helped water birds like the pelicans and painted storks to stay put in the tanks around the city. “They are domestic migrants but this year the birds have extended their stay. The pelicans especially can be found in many of the tanks around the Ring Road,” says Anand Sundaram, a bird watcher. Green bee eaters, Red naped Ibis, Common coots, Glossy Ibis are commonly seen in the areas surrounding towns and urban pockets.
Other rare sightings in the Pongal Bird Count include the Chestnut Bellied Sandgrouse that lives on grasslands or farms, Laggar Falcon that was found nesting in the rocky hillocks of Arittapatti near Melur, Little ringed plover and Common Snipe, a shy bird sighted at Valinokkam and Great Spotted Eagle, a migrant from Europe and Central Asia recorded at Vettangudi. “We saw the massive Eagle circle over the Karuvelam thickets where the open billed storks had nested. It shooed away the storks and fed on one of their young ones. It was a rare sight,” explains Raveendran.
The MNF members are happy to have witnessed a flock of seven thousand of the exotic birds at the Valinokkam beach. The congregation is part of the pink wall, the east coast of the country welcomes every year. The birds fly in from Iran to Rann of Kutch in Gujarat from where they travel and settle at Chilika in Odisha, Pallikaranai and Pulicat near Chennai and along the coasts at Turicorin and Ramnad.
The highlight of the survey is the White Stork, a rarest find, identified by the birders at Urappanur tank near Tirumangalam. “The lone bird was found amidst the weeds in the tank. We looked through our binoculars several times in disbelief to confirm the bird,” says Raveendran. “It migrates from Africa and Central Asia and is found during winters in Central India. For a very brief period, it visits the south. The last record was at Kanchipuram and we have recorded it for the first time, in the southern districts.” The birders have uploaded over 200 species in the ebird online portal as part of the survey.
