An ambitious plan is under way to educate the visitors frequenting Chintapalli, the famous nesting spot for painted storks from far-off lands, about the avian guests, including their nesting and food habits.
The plan initiated by the Forest Department aims at conserving the habitat for the winged visitors and transforming the village into a hub for bird-watching.
It envisages installation of five display boards with the pictures of painted storks and basic information about them at several vantage points in and around the village.
In the midst of nesting season with a sizeable number of painted storks already camping at Chintapalli, the Forest Department has set in motion its plan to spread awareness on the feathered guests.
The initiative assumes significance in the backdrop of dwindling tamarind tree cover and increasing menace of monkeys posing threat to the nesting activity of painted storks. A team of four artists from Jannaram in Mancherial district, adept in wildlife paintings, has been roped in for the work.
A display board would come up near the State-run school close to the core nesting site of the painted storks, one at the entrance of the village and another abutting the Khammam-Warangal highway, said Ravi Kumar, Section Officer, Kusumanchi Section, Forest Department.
Artists from Jannaram are engaged in drawing impressive images of painted storks (Mycteria Leucocephala) with brief information about their origin, important aspects of their life, and their seasonal migration to Chintapalli, he added.
Plans are afoot to rope in the services of expert monkey catchers to trap the simians in special cages and release them into the wild, Mr. Ravi elaborated on the plans to check monkey menace at Chintapalli.
