The flow dynamics at the Perumbakkam wetland seem to have changed. And this situation has impacted where birds pitch tent.
This change should not raise eyebrows: it was on the cards.
The Perumbakkam wetland is a major component in a combination of natural and man-made system that carries rainwater through a series of “conveyor belts”(which includes Okkiyam Maduvu and the Buckingham Canal), ultimately draining the excess water into the sea.
In the past few years, Perumbakkam wetland has come under greater focus as a conveyor of rainwater. To facilitate the movement of rainwater, Water Resources Department ensured a deep and wide earthen channel cuts through the western section of the wetland.
That could partly be contributing to a situation where water does not accumulate in the southern and south-western sections of the wetland at levels they used to.
This might not have hindered the birds’ connection with the wetland, only altered the details of that connection, as the accumulation of water has increased in another side of the wetland as a naturally-ocurring compensatory mechanism.
It is however necessary to keep an eye on how anthropogenic activities, even the essential and positive ones, impact habitats of this kind.
Ornithologist V. Shantaram notes that through citizen science, there has to be continual documentation of how anthropogenic activities impact a habitat so that when the balance begins to tip unfavourably towards environment, it does not go unnoticed.
Get those stones out of this patch
This patch near River View Residency needs to be cleaned. The images were taken on January 8, 2024. | Photo Credit: PRINCE FREDERICK
By virtue of its location, a patch at a neighbourhood in Karapakkam has been serving as a sit-out for birds.
Located in River View Residency (a seven-street neighbourhood), this short patch runs adjacent to a bund of the Pallikaranai Marsh.
In what was designed as a crude form of a stormwater-carrying network, grey water would be carried from the households in the neighbourhood — largely apartments — and drained into this patch. This route included open drains and huge concrete pipes. Waste water can be rich in nutrients and a variety of bird species were making the most of the situation.
Over the years, documentation of avian species from this patch was coming in thick and with impressive frequency during the winter migratory season.
But this was destined to be a temporary patch from the word go as sooner or later it would be recast in a different mould to fit the civic body’s template for development.
What was expected came to pass. Greater Chennai Corporation constructed stormwater drains in the neighbourhood and the network culminated at the edge of the Marsh, draining into it.
The old massive concrete pipes were discontinued.
While the construction of the stormwater drain can be considered salutary, the dishevelment of the patch that followed it cannot be. Huge stones lie in exactly the space that used to attract many avian species.
Reportedly, GCC will soon work on this patch as part of its plans to benefit residents of the neighbourhood. Until that happens, this patch should be kept spic and span for the avian guests.
