A parallel Margazhi festival: Where birds call the tunes

Being on the Central Asian Flyway, the Pallikaranai Marsh draw birds from Eurasia for their winter sojourn. The exodus from the northern climes towards Pallikaranai includes gulls, plovers and waders, and their presence is strikingly noticeable in the period (December-January) which in Chennai is known as the Margazhi Music Season.

Hence, annually, Care Earth Trust organises a whiste-stop tour of birding hotspots in and around Chennai around this time, calling it Margazhi Pallikaranai Thiruvizha. The annual exercise is in its fourth edition. A press release notes that this year, in addition to the curated wetland walks, a couple of special additions have been planned.

Before information on the special additions, her is a run of the regular field visits.

December 18: Bird-watching walk at the Nanmangalam Reserve Forest

December 24: Bird-watching walk at the Nanmangalam Reserve Forest

December 25: Bird-watching walk at the Pallikaranai Marsh (TNFD Interpretation centre, behind ELCOT)

December 31: Bird-watching walk at the Pallikaranai (TNFD Interpretation centre, behind ELCOT)

January 1: Bird-watching walk at the Adyar ecopark (Tholkappiar Poonga)

Now, on to the two special additions.

One, “Sketching on go: Field journalling at Vedanthangal” on January 7, 2023, for schoolchildren.

Along with watching birds at the Vedanthangal bird sanctuary, participants will be encouraged to sketch birds on the spot, says the press release. One need not possess artstic skills to sign up for this programme. Nevertheless, a special mentor would be tasked with making quick drawings and rough field sketches of species spotted by participants.

Two, “Margazhi Kankaatchi: Visual art showcase” on January 8.

Participants are encouraged to visually describe what they observe around them through the walks – as photographs, quick field drawings, paintings or sketch recreations.

For the finale, photographs and sketches made by participants over the course of the month will be displayed at a visual exhibition, the ‘Margazhi Kankaatchi’ at the Pallikaranai Ecopark on January 8, the release reveals, adding that the top three entries stand a chance to win some prizes.