CHENNAI: Summer is here and several birds that had flocked to wetlands in the city during the winter for breeding have begun the ‘return migration’ home.
Ornithologists say painted storks, white ibis, pelicans, open-billed storks and cormorants among others travel up to 500 km, while duck species such as northern pintail, shoveler, garganey, common teal, Eurasian wigeon and Gadwall fly more than 10,000km, some over the towering Himalayas, to reach their homes close to Siberia.
A few other migratory birds like little stints, blacktailed godwits, marsh sandpipers, wood sandpipers, common sandpipers, green sandpipers and little stints, which are known as waders, travel even further, sometimes double the distance travelled by the duck species. They land in Pallikaranai and Perumbakkam marshlands only after the departure of storks, pelicans and cormorants.
Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) deputy director S Balachandran said painted storks, white ibis, pelicans, open-billed storks and cormorants, mostly local migrants, arrive in wetlands in the state as early as October and leave by April. Their departure depends on the water and feed availability.
They settle down in mud flats found in places like Kodiakkarai in Vedaranyam of Nagapattinam district, Kel Sevalanur in Ramanathapuram and Koonthankulam in Tiruneveli, said Balachandran. Chennai-based bird watcher K V R K Thirunaranan said hundreds of storks, cormorants and pelicans moved out of the Pallikaranai and Perumbakkam marshlands, facilitating the arrival of waders (birds that feed on insects and other organisms in shallow waters).
Currently, bird-lovers brave enough (due to the ongoing lockdown) to trek to the Perumbakkam or Pallikaranai marshlands can lay their eyes on a large number of waders like little stints, common sandpipers and green sandpipers, says Thirunaranan. are some of the species to name a few, he said.
-
Download
The Times of India News App for Latest City News
-
Subscribe
Start Your Daily Mornings with Times of India Newspaper! Order Now
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/migrants-begin-winging-their-way-out-of-chennai/articleshow/75242791.cms
