The Pacific Golden Plover is yet another wader that was sighted in thousands in Kolleru Wildlife Sanctury (KWS) towards the end of the birding season this year.
The Golden Plover is migratory and winters in South Asia and Australasia (Australia, New Zealand and surrounding islands). A few of them winter in California and Hawaaii, USA, and therefore the name the Pacific Golden Plover
The wader breeds in the Artic tundra, northern most parts of Asia, towards Alaska. This bird forages for food on tundra, fields, beaches and tidal flats, usually by sight. It eats insects, small crustaceans (snails) and some berries.
Census
Birdwatchers’ Society of Andhra Pradesh team led by the secretary of the society Shafaat-Ulla during the annual Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) done in January reported three types of waders – the Black-Tailed Godwit, Black-Winged Stilt and the Glossy Ibis --in large numbers in the Kolleru Lake.
Mr Shafaat-Ulla said that number of ducks like the Teals, Pochards, Pintail were less this year because there was less water in the lake.
The conditions in the lake were ideal for the waders with large stretches of being converted into mud flats.
The ducks which need deeper water were seen only in pockets.
The Black-Tailed Godwits which breed in Iceland and Siberia visit the lake in November and should leave in February, but they have been known to over stay. More then 20,000 Godwits were recorded this birding season.
Though a few Golden Plovers are seen every now and then in Kolleru Lake in smaller numbers, the birds prefer wintering in water bodies and estuaries on the coast. They are seen in large numbers in Coringa National Park.
Thousands of these birds were, however, recorded in the Kolleru Lake which is considered to be relatively inland. The maximum recorded in the AWC was 12 birds according to former Assistant Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) P.Gracious.
