Several thousands of winged visitors have descended on the thick vegetation atop umpteen mounds sticking out of a vast water spread at the Vaduvur Bird Sanctuary.
For the next few weeks, as many as 126 species, including 36 species of water birds, will be nesting and breeding on the hundreds of trees spread over the nearly 40 mounds.
Though the most visible are open billed storks, a good number of several other species including spot billed pelican, little cormorant, darter, little and large egrets and blue-winged teal could be seen in good numbers during the nesting and hatching period, according to Forest Guards stationed at the sanctuary.
The pavement laid around the lake that extends to a length of about five kilometres turns into a walking track for visitors from Thanjavur and other major towns during weekends.
There is a robust growth of plankton for healthy breeding of fish, the main food source for the birds in the lake. The task of the Forest Department has been made easier by the Eco Tourism Management Committees that comprises members of the farming community in the surrounding villages. Farmers play an active role in conservation since the droppings of the birds enrich nutrients in the water that flows out for irritating swathes of fields in the surroundings, say the Forest Department staff.
Nourished by the Cauvery river, the lake on an expanse of 216 hectares is the source for direct irrigation of 1,200 acres and indirectly benefits a few more thousands of acres through two outlets.
According to farmers owning fields in the surroundings, the water holding capacity of the lake would have expanded substantially had the government allowed them to take the nutrient rich top soil.
The Government’s nod to farmers to take top soil from water bodies earlier this year does not cover bird sanctuaries.
The tank of Ramar Temple adjacent to the lake, for instance, could be deepened as farmers could take the top soil.
Ever since the Vaduvur Bird Sanctuary came into being in 1992 on the land handed over to the Forest Department by the temple management, no large-scale deepening had taken place, farmers said pointing out that the depth of the lake that was just four to five feet needs to be increased by at least a few feet more so as to make it hold enough water through summer months as well for birds to extend their duration of stay.
