The onset of winter heralds the advent of migratory birds. It is the season when ornithologists flock the birding hotspots with cameras and binoculars, scanning the horizon for a new pair of wings. On one such recent trip to Rameshwaram, bird lovers were lucky to spot the elusive Crab Plover. Standing a little over a feet from the sandy beach, on a pair of delicate slender legs, the beauty of a bird was found digging for crabs. “It was nearly dusk and we had already sighted nearly 40 species during the day. The Crab Plover was a jackpot sighted almost five years after the last record,” says N Raveendran. “For nearly four months every winter, large flocks of shore birds visit Dhanushkodi and Arichal Munai, roosting and making a temporary home on the beaches. A lot of them cross over long distances from Europe and Central Asia and sometimes even from the Arctic belt.”
BIRDS OF THE BEACHES: Brahmini Kite
The Arichal Munai pocket of the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve is an amicable place for a wide range of birds and marine life. “It's a unique marine ecosystem with shallow waters stretching up to three nautical miles into the sea. With an optimum water temperature, ample sunlight and a sea bed rich with minerals and salt, Arichal Munai serves as the perfect habitat for fish to breed and lay eggs, coral reefs and rare marine life such as the Dugong,” says Sathish Nirmal, Forest Range Office, Mandapam.
BIRDS OF THE BEACHES: Crab plover
Many of the coastal birds are nearly threatened, say birders. For instance, the Eurasian curlew and Oyster Catcher have been sighted after a gap of 10 years. “The Eurasian Curlew is the largest wader in the range. It's call is a loud curloooo and spends the winters in Africa, southern Europe and south Asia,” observes Raveendran. Dotted with many small uninhabited islands, the 15 kilometre stretch of the coast from Kothandaramaswamy Temple to Arichal Munai also supports a teaming population of raptors like Brahminy Kite and pelagic birds such as Oriental Skylark and Arctic Skua that migrate through the open ocean and feed on young ones of fish or insect larvae floating on the shallow waters. Some of the birds also feed on dead carcasses of whales and other mammals, acting like vultures on land.
BIRDS OF THE BEACHES: Lesser Kestrel
The most interesting phenomenon among coastal birds is the habit of ground nesting. “We sighted a nest of the Skylark with chicks. They dig a burrow in the beach, bed it with pebbles and twigs and nest right under the open sky. That's why they are more vulnerable to attack by crows, gulls and stray dogs,” says Raveendran.
BIRDS OF THE BEACHES: Slender Billed Gull
However, birders rue mindless tourism at the Arichal Munai beach that's threatening the rich diversity. So much that the number of flamingos have come down in the past decade, which is attributed to the depletion of sea algae. “The newly laid road has opened access to this remote location, which earlier could only be reached by a long tempo safari through the murky waters,” adds Raveendran. “The beach is now littered with plastic waste and it was unfortunate to see birds picking up corks and water bottle caps.”
INLAND DISCOVERIES
Meanwhile, Madurai has seen the arrival of two new passage migrants, this year. “Lesser Kestrel and Slender Billed Gull have been sighted for the first time in the town,” says Udaya Kumar. “They briefly stop over in the water bodies, en route to their destinations. The former winters extensively in Africa, resembles the common Kestrel but has paler claws and longer wings that reach the tail tip. It feeds on insects, small birds and reptiles. While, the gull is a winter visitor to Sri Lanka and feeds on fish and crabs.”
