The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Colony of openbill storks spotted in north Chennai

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 03, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Colony of openbill storks spotted in north Chennai

P. Oppili

The birds were seen near Athippattu Pudhu Nagar railway station

CHENNAI: A large number of openbill storks have colonised an open area near Athippattu Pudhu Nagar railway station, 30 km north of Chennai, to breed this season.

About 500 of the birds can be seen perched on trees inside the bottling plant of the Indian Oil Corporation at Athippattu, on the way to the North Chennai Thermal Power Station.

Locals and naturalists say the birds could have settled down here because it is an inaccessible spot, away from the main roads. However, they are still unaware about where the birds go to feed during the day.

Openbill storks are one of the smallest and commonest of storks. They are smoky grey in colour, with purplish black patches on their wings, tails and mandibles. During breeding season, the grey patches change to white.

The distinct feature of the bird is its curved bill, the mandibles of which do not meet except at the tip. The bill is so modified to supposedly aid the birds' feeding habit. The birds' preferred food is snails, crabs, frogs and a few types of tiny vertebrates. This bird is usually found in inland waterways such as jheels, marshes, and sometimes riverbanks and tidal sludge.

T. Murugavel, Project Co-ordinator, Environment Monitoring and Action Initiating (EMAI), said the openbill storks have been known to breed at Nelapattu, further to the north in Andhra Pradesh and at Vedanthangal in Tamil Nadu. But, this time they were spotted at this new place in north Chennai.

Mr. Murugavel said, "This bird locally migrates depending on the availability of food and habitat, and this could be one of the reasons for these birds adopting this area. We learnt from the locals that the storks were here even during the last couple of years. However, 90 per cent of them are now in non-breeding plumage. Those in breeding plumage are seen collecting nesting materials."

He said that the EMAI had planned to monitor the nesting of the birds in this area this season.

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