Kolleru Lake comes alive as winged wonders descend

Since the archetypal days of January unfolded, Kolleru Wildlife Sanctuary has transformed into a surviving and breathing tapestry of wings, calls, and soundless glides.

As the wintertime prima roseate mildly implicit the immense wetland, revealing a sanctuary live with movement, the seasonal reunion of nonmigratory birds and long-distance travellers who had crossed continents to find refuge successful its waters became much vivid.

As dawn broke implicit the lake, tiny flocks of Ashy Prinia (Prinia socialis) darted done reed beds, their quiescent beingness contrasting sharply with the overwhelming dominance of the wetlands’ signature species, the Asian Openbill (Anastomus oscitans).

With a recorded colonisation of 1,004 birds, the openbills formed dense feeding congregations, turning mudflats into scenes of relentless activity.

Ducks dominated unfastened h2o expanses. Mixed flocks of Northern Pintail (Anas acuta), Gadwall (Mareca strepera), Spot-billed Duck (Anas poecilorhyncha), and different Anatidae taxon collectively ran into respective thousands, rising successful synchronised waves whenever disturbed, a surviving objection of wetland harmony.

The wetland’s ecological extent is reflected not lone successful abundance but besides successful rarity. Just 3 birds of Baillon’s Crake (Zapornia pusilla) were sighted,  a reminder that Kolleru besides shelters taxon that thrive distant from attention.

Nearby, Black Ibis (Pseudibis papillosa) moved deliberately done shallow waters, portion elegant Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) added iridescence to the wintertime palette. 

Kolleru came live with Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava), counted astatine an awesome 699, their changeless question mirroring the dynamic pulse of the sanctuary. Ground-level play unfolded arsenic Yellow-wattled Lapwings (Vanellus malabaricus) defended territories with crisp alarm calls.

Migratory shorebirds made their seasonal assertion connected the lake’s fringes. Bar-tailed Godwits (Limosa lapponica) probed the mud with tireless precision, accompanied by Wood Sandpipers (Tringa glareola) and Common Sandpipers (Actitis hypoleucos), reinforcing Kolleru’s relation on the Central Asian Flyway.

Divisional Forest Officer (Territorial) B. Vijaya Suneetha told The Hindu that Kolleru Wildlife Sanctuary recorded a full of 96,195 birds belonging to 116 taxon during the archetypal week of January, reaffirming its presumption arsenic 1 of South India’s astir important wintering grounds.

The migratory birds volition proceed to flock astatine the sanctuary till Maha Sivaratri festival. As the temperatures volition commencement rising thereafter, the migratory birds would alert backmost to their autochthonal places, she said.