Pulicat bird sanctuary to shrink. Will it cost conservation?

The saint-like stillness of tall flamingos standing in the shallow waters and schoolchildren clambering on to bullock carts that wade across the lake to reach the mainland — these are the two common sights at the Pulicat lake bird sanctuary.

For long, the fisherfolk living in islets within the sanctuary have held that efforts to protect the pristine environs for the exotic birds have denied them the fruits of development. Now, some relief is on the way. The state forest department has proposed to exclude 13 villages from the limits of the 153-sqkm sanctuary to allow development works there.

A bridge is being built after the state government obtained special permission from the Union environment ministry; it will be inaugurated next month. “When the sanctuary was set up in the lake lying along the TN-Andhra Pradesh coast, the villages were also included within its limits. The department has decided to exclude 13 villages from the sanctuary’s limits after realizing that it would not be affected,” said a senior forest officer.

Villagers, forest dept were at loggerheads

Providing some relief to fisherfolk living in the area, the state forest department has proposed to exclude 13 villages from the limits of the 153-sqkm Pulicat lake bird sanctuary to allow development works there. The villages have a population of around 20,000. For years, the villagers have been using ferry services or bullock carts to travel among the islands within the sanctuary and reach the mainland.

“The proposal is to exclude 10 villages in Ponneri taluk and three in Gummidipoondi taluk from the sanctuary limits,” said a field officer involved in the survey of the villages. “The villagers have fought with the forest department staff on many occasions as they felt it was stalling developmental activities,” said an employee of the sanctuary.

As the forest department has to clear any proposal for development works within the sanctuary — be it for tourism, public works, rural development or highways — under the Wildlife Act, 1972, it has always faced opposition from the villagers.

Chennai's winged wonders

Arun Shankar and his friends landed in Pulicat at 2 am on Sunday. A member of the Palni Hills Conservation Council and an avid birder, Arun came to the city
to participate in the 3rd HSBC Chennai BirdRace. Alarmingly, his team did not spot even a flamingo in its own habitat, the shallow waters of Pulicat. “There was an oil slick. Make sure the paradise is protected,’’ says Arun.

In the third edition of the BirdRace, experienced and budding birdwatchers raced against the clock to spot, identify, and record as many species of birds as possible in and around the city.

At the end of the day after racing around the city from 6 am to 6 pm, Radha Napolean, a first-timer, was feeling sad despite spotting 69 species of birds. “Pallikaranai is marsh land. Unfortunately it is now prime real estate as well as a dumping ground, which endangers the birds,’’ she said.


The younger generation though was happy. Anita Gandhi, an economics student, was happy to have seen spoon bills, ibis, pelicans. “I saw a kingfisher for the first time. Its different colours were so alluring and attractive,’’ she said remembering the bird’s image. Keertana, at age 8, the youngest captain of 41 teams, said she saw a whole lot of birds in Kovalam and Mudaliarkuppam on Sunday but the golden oriole she saw at her cousin’s house is still vivid in her memory.

Neena Simon was part of the team that won the last year’s race by spotting over 160 birds. This year, she was one of the “green team’’ that travelled by public transport. Their count this year was 111 species. “We saw grey breasted prinia, black napped oriole and grey bellied cuckoo. Sadly, shrikes, very small birds of prey, were missing this year,’’ says Hopeland, the team leader.

The image of the day for Dattari Jr was a flock of 250 open billed storks flying above IIT-M. A jackal, two mongooses and a garden lizard laying eggs rounded off an amazing day. Gayathri has never really noticed birds except for a pigeon or a house crow. Travelling along OMR and ECR, Gayathri, who forced her parents to participate, had a feast to her eyes. “I don’t know the names. It’s good. Yeah.’’

Kailash, an avid birder, was delighted to have spotted the red munia near Vedanthangal. “The scrub jungle there has a lot of woodland birds,’’ he says. A team from Andhra Pradesh reached Pulicat by 5 am. “It was a cloudy day. It was the perfect weather. The diversity was less but the bird count was big,’’ said Durga.

“This is where conservation begins. It begins as fun, then passion takes over,’’ said Preston Ahimaz, a veteran birder. ``Children carry the images all their life. The passion for birding will make them crusaders of conservation in future,'' says V Santharam, director, Institute of Bird Studies, Rishi Valley.

Ioras and Robins

Until two decades ago, species of birds such as Magpie Robins and Common Ioras played in the backyard gardens of spacious homes dotting city localities like Santhome. Now, one can find these birds only in forests, says experts. Similar is the case of the Brahmini Kite. This bird, which was once a common sight in the city, is rarely found due to the high pollution.

In order to create awareness among people about the dwindling bird population and the reasons behind the decline such as pollution and erosion of habitat, the Madras Naturalists’ Society (MNS) is encouraging participation in the forthcoming HSBC Chennai BirdRace.

V Shantharam, director, Institute of Bird Studies, Rishi Valley, who studied woodpeckers for his doctorate in ecology, will be the chief judge at this year’s event, which will be held in the city and its suburbs. It is hoped that conservation efforts will be fostered through the event.

In the 20 years that he lived in the city till 1997, Shantharam had recorded 300 species of birds, mostly on water bodies and scrub forests. Since then, rapid urbanisation has reduced the numbers. Hectic construction activity, pollution and water bodies turning into dumping sites have contributed to the decline.



This will be the third edition of Chennai BirdRace organised by MNS, a 30-year old nature conservation group. Last year, over 40 teams of four persons each participated in the race that begins at dawn and ends at dusk. “The response was amazing. There were eight-year olds and 80-year-olds taking part in the event. Bankers, directors of companies, doctors, managers, academicians and students from corporation schools found time to spot birds and record their presence,’’ says K V Sudhakar, honorary secretary, MNS.

Come January 10, experienced and budding birdwatchers will race against the clock to spot, identify, and record as many species of birds as possible in and around their city. At the end of the day, the participants gather for an interactive session.

“Positioned as a fun event, the bird race is aimed at generating awareness about bird life in their surroundings as well as to garner support for the conservation of nature and environment. Over time, birding gives us a good idea of the city’s bird life and threat to different species,” Sudhakar said.

Can TN show the model for the country in conservation?

The state government will publish and notify the first official map defining the elephant corridors in Nilgiris in the first week of January as directed by the Madras high court, thus setting in motion the restoration of the traditional pathways of elephants. If Tamil Nadu can thus restore and preserve the centuries-old corridors for pachyderms, it will emerge as a role model for conservation in the country grappling with several instances of man-animal conflict.

The forest department has already submitted to the high court a map of demarcated boundaries of the corridor prepared by an expert committee led by chief wildlife warden after field trips, case studies and a thorough interaction with the tribals and NGOs working in Nilgiris biosphere. The map has defined the elephant corridors linking the forests of Bandipur, Mudumalai, Wayanad and Sathyamangalam, rich in bio-diversity and abundant wildlife.
Superimposing the corridor map over the revenue map of TN areas, the government will publish in the local media the survey numbers of lands falling within the corridor to identify and thereafter remove the ‘blocks’. The HC had fixed January 6 as the deadline. The government will publish the maps and notify it, highly placed sources in the government said.

Individuals would be given an opportunity to represent their cases in public hearings for a month once the survey numbers overlapping the elephant corridor are published, forest officials said insisting that the government would have to demolish illegal structures and take over patta lands by providing compensation.
Concerned by the obstructions caused to wild animals in the elephant corridors in the Sigur plateau of the Nilgiris biosphere, the Madras high court had issued orders that all the illegal buildings and unauthorised electric connections and solar fencings in the identified elephant corridors should be removed scrupulously without disturbing the tribals and traditional dwellers.

“The HC judgment should be implemented in its true spirit and should not be diluted for any other reason,” says Ajay Desai, a specialist on elephants. Terming the judgment path breaking, he said proper implementation of the order would have positive impact nationally.

Acting on the HC order, Nilgiris collector would issue orders directing Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) to disconnect power supply to all the illegal and unauthorised commercial buildings having three-phase connections in the first week of January, said sources. In the meantime, the forest department has directed Nilgiris (North) district forest officer to clear solar fencing in the plateau disturbing the movement of elephants.

According to activists over 50 illegal holiday resorts are located close to reserve forests that serve as elephant habitats in the Nilgiris. N Mohanraj, coordinator, WWF, said: “This is only the beginning. The yardstick should be used elsewhere too.’’ He also pointed out that this would open up opportunities for the locals to generate revenue by ecotourism followed by ample possibilities for employment. Dharmalingam Venugopal, director, Nilgiris Documentation Centre, said: “The court order should be implemented ruthlessly. Actions should be taken legally against the violators. It is ‘now or never’ for Nilgiris.’’

emerald tahr

Blogging for conservation? Reporting on environment and wildlife, I was thinking of publishing my stories appearing in paper in a blog. Living in Tamil country, the title is natural. Emerald dove is the state bird. A closer look at the picture reveals the colours of the world in a single bird. The shades of blue for the sky and seas, the green for the forests, black for the universe and a purple grey for the rains, and the sparkling red for the fire beneath the earth's soils. Aptly, it should be titled emerald dove. But I wanted the nilgiri tahr, the state animal to be part of the title. The tahrs roam in the upper reaches of the western ghats close to my home town on the leeward side of the majestic ranges. The colour of the tahr represents everything about earth. Like the earth, the tahrs can't live without the greens. A walk with the tahrs in the wilderness of the grass hills can be heavenly. A flight with the emerald dove through the shola rainforests is equally heavenly.

Therefore, I am.