One of the things that I love about Chennai is how commonly one can see water birds here. Wherever you go in the outskirts of the city there is always area covering marshes, swamps, lakes or creeks that are home to an abundance of water birds. While commuting to work, I get quite a nice view of such marshy areas that are around Pallikaranai and Sholinganallur. If you have an eye for birds, then you can easily get a glimpse of birds such as bittern, egret, cormorant etc. Undoubtedly, there are many gems hidden among dense growth of reed and other water plants which, in order to be found out, require proper birdwatching trip and it would definitely be worthwhile. However, it is not yet possible for me to organise such a trip so I satisfy myself with mere glimpses that I get while communing in bus, but the view of birds from there itself is quite nice, to say the least. On one such through-bus-window birdwatching, I sighted a large water bird. It looked like a pelican but I wasn’t sure. But, the doubts were cleared when I got a nice and clear view of birds that were pelicans all right, flying or standing in group in the middle of a middle-sized lake. I have had seen pelicans in zoo before, but to see them in wild, in their natural habitat was a wonderful experience for me. I later researched a good deal about birds of Chennai and found some really nice resources1 to go through. The pelicans that I had spotted were Spot-billed Pelicans (Pelecanus philippensis). Just the other day, I am quite sure that among common water birds such as Little Egret, Darter, Little Cormorant etc, I got a view of Purple Swamphen. And, yesterday, the sandy area just near the dumping site in Pallikaranai was filled with large flock of small birds whose identity is yet obscure to me.
It feels nice to know that conservation efforts are being carried out to protect such a diverse homeland to so many species of birds despite the continuous pressure of a metro city to make the place go extinct in a wink, what with a large area being exploited as dumping ground. I am hopeful that the efforts being made to protect the area and make it available to birdwatchers to enjoy in near future will be successful as the government continues to carry out thorough, well-constructed plans for it.
If there is one thing I would love to do before I leave this city (which I might or might not depending on work), it would be to go on for a birdwatching trip around all the popular birding sites including Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary, IIT Madras Campus, Theosophical Society Gardens etc. But, for now, I think a distant view of birds in Pallikaranai marsh will have to do to quench my proper-birdwatching thirst.
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