The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Indian Great Horned Owl breeding successfully

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 10, 2007
ePaper


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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Indian Great Horned Owl breeding successfully

P. Oppili

Six eggs hatched, young ones coming out of the nests

IN A NEW ENVIRONMENT: The month-old chick of the Indian Great Horned Owl in Nanmangalam Reserved Forests on Friday. — Photo: S.Thanthoni

CHENNAI : Naturalists are thrilled at the successful breeding of the Indian Great Horned Owl in Nanmangalam Reserved Forests on the southern suburb of the city.

K.V.R.K. Thirunaranan, founder of Nature Trust, who is studying the ecology of the bird for the past three years, said the breeding season of the endangered predator bird species was between November and March. The breeding is significant this time round because in the last couple of years not more than two of three eggs had been hatched at the Nanmangalam forests.

This season members of the Nature Trust saw two nests of five and three eggs in each. Of these six eggs were successfully hatched about a month ago and the young ones have started coming out of the nests, he said.

Mr Thirunaranan said available records showed that the Indian Great Horned Owls were living in the Nanmangalam Reserved Forests for over 12 years due to lesser disturbance from humans. He said members of the Nature Trust had sighted nearly a dozen Indian Great Horned Owls in this place.

The owls had chosen a secluded rocky patch in the forest, which was located above an abandoned quarry. It would be very difficult and dangerous for people to reach the nests.

However, due to movement of people inside the forests, one could see a lot of garbage, particularly polythene water sachets and broken liquor bottles. Asked about this, M. S. Ramadhas, Range Officer, Tambaram, said they were patrolling frequently to check unwanted elements in the forest area. He said steps were being taken to increase protection to the area, which would help in better breeding of this Owl species.

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