Whistle, shrill, trill and screech — sounds that largely define calls by raptors. Though hardly deafening, these sounds drown the strident voice of pragmatism. During the wintering season, to watch a range of raptors, Chennai residents have to travel far and wide, heading out of the metro’s bustle. Time has to be freed up. Transport has to be arranged. When the voice brings these up, diehard raptor enthusiasts turn a deaf ear to it.
Now, this voice has an added layer to it — the exhortation of staying safe from the novel Coronavirus — and it still remains ignored.
With the wintering season under way, Chennai’s raptor enthusiasts make trips to raptor hotspots in surrounding districts, and of course, with unmistakable efforts to keep the virus a raptor’s huge wingspan away.
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Rama Neelamegam names three locations — Mamandur (89 km away) in Kancheepuram district; Kaveripakkam (98 km away) in Vellore district; and Nemam (31 km away) in Tiruvallur district — as exerting a magnetic pull on raptor enthusiasts.
Recent sightings of the Lesser Kestrel are among reasons that have been drawing them to Kaveripakkam.
“I wanted to see the Lesser Kestrel, and so went to Kaveripakkam; I organised my own cab,” says Rama. “In these raptor places, we do not get out of the car. Only rarely do we leave the car. Even then, all of us have our small boundaries that we enclose ourselves in.”
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Birders usually undertake a joint trip in one car but now, this practice is avoided.
Subramanian Sankar, a resident of Nanganallur, points out how a group of birders undertook a trip to Pulicat, each travelling in their own vehicle, and how in the field, they maintained social distancing.
“It was almost a month ago, and while we were exploring a new place, near Pulicat, with social distancing, we were greeted with the sight of a Common Buzzard,” elaborates Subramanian. “Considering it was many years ago that the Common Buzzard was last sighted in and around Chennai, this is a significant find.”
Raptor hotspots are now much-visited, as Aravind AM recently found out.
“On the way to Vellore, I thought I would go to Mamandur lake where the Indian Peregrine Falcon has been sighted. But I was not able to see it. As that trip was not specifically made for bird-watching, I was late, having arrived at the lake around 8.30 a.m.,” says Aravind.
From photos of the Indian Peregrine Falcon killing a pond heron doing the rounds in birding circles, Aravind found out that many birders had made a successful trip to Mamandur earlier in that day, around 6.30 a.m.