The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Unseasonal rain keeps birds off Koonthankulam sanctuary

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Thursday, Apr 10, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Unseasonal rain keeps birds off Koonthankulam sanctuary

Staff Reporter

Till March, only 126 nests were noticed

DIP IN NUMBERs: The change in climatic conditions has forced birds to delay nesting at the Koonthankulam bird sanctuary. Here are some of the few birds that have arrived at the village.

TIRUNELVELI: The recent unseasonal rain in the district, thought to have been caused by the changes in climatic conditions, have delayed nesting at the Koonthankulam bird sanctuary.

Thousands of birds that visit Koonthankulam every year start building nests on ‘Thai amaavaasai’ (the first new moon day of the Tamil month of ‘Thai’), and during April, most of the nests will be full of either eggs or chicks. Because of the unprecedented change in climate this time, the birds delayed their visit from December to March. Only a few hundred birds have come to the sanctuary, which has four sprawling tanks with acacia trees, till March.

According to statistics available with the Forest Department, 2,632 nests were noticed in and around Koonthankulam during March 2007; but this year, the number dwindled to 126. The improvement in the climatic conditions, however, has enticed more birds in the past 10 days, taking the number of nests to 3,004. “Had the birds started building the nests in January itself (on ‘Thai amaavaasai’), eggs and chicks might have been destroyed in the unseasonal rain. Sensing the change, the birds have postponed nesting, and almost all nests will carry eggs in the next couple of days,” says S. Paulpandi, a birdwatcher of the sanctuary.

The birds, which normally leave Koonthankulam for other destinations with their young ones after October/ November and come back in January for the next breeding season, may be forced to overstay here till December-end. Hence, it will be interesting to notice whether they will leave Koonthankulam as usual or continue to stay for the next breeding season, too.

The spurt in the arrival of birds has triggered jubilation among the villagers who believe that the arrival of more and more birds will augur better rain.

“Whenever the arrival of birds to our village diminishes, rain in that particular year will be less, causing severe water scarcity,” said panchayat president K. Murugan.

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