The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Painted Snipe sighted at Koonthakulam Bird Sanctuary

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 08, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Painted Snipe sighted at Koonthakulam Bird Sanctuary

P. Oppili

The bird is normally found near paddy fields, marshlands

RARE SIGHTING: A Painted Snipe laying eggs under a bush. — Photo: T.R.A. Arunthavaselvan

CHENNAI: Painted Snipe, a rare bird, was sighted recently at Koonthakulam Bird Sanctuary in Tirunelveli district.

T.R.A. Arunthavaselvan, wildlife photographer and naturalist, who sighted the bird and took pictures of the bird's nest, said sighting of this bird had become very rare due to habitat destruction.

According to him, Painted Snipes could be sighted only in southern Tamil Nadu, where a large number of water bodies were found. The bird is normally found near paddy fields, marshlands or swampy areas, and it mainly feeds on worms on the paddy field.

With more and more people in western districts taking up cultivation of cash crops such as sugarcane instead of traditional paddy, the Painted Snipes were forced to find alternative sites. Similarly, dried up water bodies or their destruction for converting them into residential areas had led to the disappearance of this bird, Mr. Arunthavaselvan said. As far as Painted Snipes were concerned the male bird does the incubating and baby sitting work. Salim Ali's "Book of Indian Birds" says that the female is polyandrous and the dominant partner in the courtship ceremonials. She also fights rival hens for possession of an eligible cock.

Snipe's population is distributed throughout the India up to 1,500 metres in the Himalayas, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar. These birds are both resident and locally migrant in nature.

Available data shows that the bird feeds on worms, molluscs, paddy grains, vegetable matters besides insects.

The female lays between three and four eggs, which are yellowish stone colour blotched and streaked with brown. Snipes build their nests on marshy ground, vegetated pools and stream banks.

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