At six on Sunday morning, a group of 30 active bird lovers gathered at the Samanatham tank. The rains the previous Saturday had dampened the earth and a pair of beetles rolled a ball of dung down the slope of the tank bund. A flock of little grebes, a cute kind of water bird with red and white markings on the head, fluttered their wings and forayed into the water from the karuvelam thickets surrounding the tank. They flapped and beat the water sending ripples across. The common coots swam rather silently plunging their heads in-and-out of the frothy water, the night herons perched sleepily on the tree branches and the red wattle lapwing called frantically seeing the bird watchers. A number of other birds flew across the cloudy sky and the tank looked like nothing less than a bird sanctuary.Just10 kilometres off the city, the area of Samanatham and Kilankulam surrounding Avaniyapuram is dotted with tanks that surprisingly holds water for most part of the year. “The area has over 25 kanmois that have feeding channels from the Vaigai. Unfortunately, sewage water is also let into these tanks. But, they are supporting bird life in the city,” says Tamil Dasan, a member of Naanal Nanbargal Kuzhu, an environmentalist group that organises bird watching events in the area.
Bird watchers say that Madurai falls on the migratory routes of birds and is a resting place for them. During the season of migration from October to March, birders identified over 165 species in the area, including 60 species of resident birds such as water and bush birds, warblers and raptors.
Birdwatcher N. Raveendran who has done a field-study in the tanks surrounding Avaniyapuram and Tirumangalam for the past two years says, “I have spotted more than 500 pairs of stilts in the Kilankulam tank during November. Their call would sound like a cacophony on the Ring Road.” Raveendran photographs these birds and sends them to E-Bird, a bird census organisation. “Until two months ago, one could see hundreds of pelicans and painted storks at Samanatham,” says Prabhakaran, another bird watcher. “They must have migrated to the coastal plains of Ramnad by now. Similarly, the gull-bill turns are a migratory species that can be spotted only for two-months here.” Birds that can be seen in the area round the year are little and intermediate egrets, darters, cormorants, grebes, peacocks and spoonbills.
During the event, birders also identified seven new winter visitors -- Common Sandpiper, Eurasian Collared Dove, Comb Duck, oriental Turtle Dove, Night Heron, Barn Swallows and Blue tailed Bee eaters. “Some of the birds are local migrants that come from northern India, east coast and the Western Ghats in Kerala. Some rest here on the way to Ramnad, while some are headed to Kanyakumari,” suggests Raveendran, who later gave a presentation on ‘birds of Madurai’. Hunting birds that are found in the area include Marsh Harrier, Shrike, Black shoulder kite and booted eagle.
“Certain birds native to the region are hardly spotted these days,” says Ilanchezhian of Osai environmental group. He cites the example of the house sparrow. “Some of the tiny bush birds are captured, caged and sold as pet birds in the market. The tri-coloured Munia is a common victim of this practice. People clip their wings and make them pets. But it’s a wild species and should be let to be free,” says Raveendran. “The bird also dies in a few months as it loses out on the protein sources that it feeds on in the wild.” One such caged bird was released into the naanal bushes at the end of the event. Birding enthusiasts also express concern over the native varieties of birds that have nearly become extinct these days such as the Vanjathirudi Kazhugu, Vargu Kozhi, Kaana Mayil, Kavudhari and barn owl.
