Forest dept adds more wetlands for bird census

Among the long distant waders, pacific golden plover, Common Redshank, Wood Sandpiper and Marsh Sandpiper were recorded in Coimbatore and Tirunelveli district. Overall, the waterbird population recorded was lesser due to the prevailing high water condition in most of the wetlands, chief wildlife warden Shekhar Kumar told DT Next.

This phase focused on a synchronised survey covering 339 wetlands from 25 districts in Tamil Nadu. This comprised of 14 inland water bird sanctuaries including the historical water bird sanctuary such as Vedanthangal near Chennai. Salem hosted 97 inland wetlands which was the highest followed by Chennai with 28 wetlands. A synchronised survey is done to get a roughly accurate estimate on the population of both resident and migratory water birds while looking at the species richness and species diversity, the warden said.

Due to heavy rains this year, all resident and migratory birds are seen to have scattered and spread to most other wetlands rather than their traditional areas. The near threatened and uncommon Oriental Darter are seen in their maximum numbers from Koonthankulam, Vedanthangal and Vaduvoor bird sanctuaries.

Vulnerable species like Common Pochard and River Tern are the two species recorded during this census which are listed under the IUCN Vulnerable category. About 20 individuals of Common Pochard has been recorded in a satellite wetland of Koonthankulam Bird Sanctuary. Earlier, this species was recorded from Karaivetti bird sanctuary in small numbers. This sighting now accounts as a range extension of this diving duck. River tern which commonly prefers dam sites was recorded from the Anamalai Tiger Reserve. Among all the districts, Tirunelveli district was recorded with the highest population of waterbirds with numbers exceeding 33000 of 41 waterbird species. Koonthankulam bird sanctuary and its satellite wetlands attracts about 2000 Bar-headed Goose which is the highest recorded in this census.