Annual bird migration ends across state as mercury soars

Interestingly the joint study by the state foresters with bird watchers has found that three predominant bird species – Cattle Egret, Pond Heron and Common Kite that moves close to the life of humans are leaving Chennai during the month of May and are again back to action by the month of June.

“The last flock of birds like Cattle Egret and Pond Heron are now missing from Chennai skies after developing breeding plumage. Our volunteers recorded about 1,800 Cattle Egret and hundreds of Pond Heron this season in the Pallikaranai marshland. A few weeks back they were noticed with breeding plumage and now these summer breeders have migrated away from Chennai,” said KVR K Thirunaranan, founder, The Nature Trust.

The usual common kite that makes sorties over the dump yards and Pallikaranai marshland is also now missing from the radar of bird watchers.

The annual observations and the documented migratory graph pattern since 2010 shows that the Cattle Egret and Pond Heron moves out of Chennai ahead of May. Again from June, the Egrets are back in Chennai wetlands, particularly Pallikaranai. The Egret and Heron population slowly builds up during southwest monsoon with a healthy count during October. Both these birds are summer breeders and our bird watchers have not found their nesting sites in Chennai, Thirunaranan, noted.

“Cattle Egret and Pond Heron are considered to be the best friends to farmers and the symbiotic relationship of Egret and buffaloes are classic examples of ecosystem models. They consume a lot of ticks and insects that affect the farmland and the farm animals,” explains G Kamaraj, senior biologist of Tamil Nadu Forest Department.

Though the other wading and migratory birds have been studied in detail, the birds that help us to fight pests and insects are not studied in detail, Kamaraj said adding that there is a need for more studies on birds like Egret, Heron, Kite and Crow as they are part of the human ecosystem.