The flamingo phenomenon: Why photographers and birders flock to Pulicat lake

Fisherman M Yuvaraj bustles astir his fibreboat, filling substance successful the engine, and checking if everything is successful order. He adjacent throws successful an umbrella successful lawsuit it rains. It is astir 4pm erstwhile helium pushes his vessel adjacent to the slope of Pulicat lake. The 57-year-old is not mounting retired connected a sportfishing trip. He is taking a radical of america to spot flamingoes.

Pulicat is the 2nd largest brackish waterbody successful India, adjacent to the Chilika successful Odisha. The lagoon that straddles Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh is location to a protected vertebrate sanctuary with birders visiting done the year.

While Yuvaraj chiefly catches prawns and a fewer varieties of food for a living, helium is the go-to idiosyncratic for galore birders and photographers visiting the lagoon town. “I regularly instrumentality photographers from Chennai, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and adjacent Mumbai connected my boat,” helium says, rowing america on the Buckingham Canal, past a lone Asian openbill. He takes astir 4 teams a week to spot and photograph migrant birds, the main attraction among them being greater flamingoes.

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What draws them to the lagoon?

According to Chennai-based Nature lensman Munish Palaniappan, Pulicat is simply a photographer’s paradise. “The lighting crossed the immense expanse lends itself to melodramatic photos,” says Munish, who besides holds photography workshops. “Shooting birds present during the aureate hr [minutes earlier sunrise and sunset] is an experience,” helium says, adding that the historical larboard town’s proximity to Chennai is an added advantage.

Munish, who has mentored implicit 100 photographers implicit the years, brings them to Pulicat to amusement them the ropes. The still, endless waters from wherever 1 tin observe birds from adjacent quarters, is simply a bully spot to larn vertebrate photography, helium says. There are assured sightings of greater flamingoes done astir of the twelvemonth but Yuvaraj says that they alert distant during the monsoon months since determination is an summation successful the h2o level.

For respective birders, visiting Pulicat is an yearly ritual.

When the airy is right

Bengaluru-based bundle technologist K Kishore Kumar has been going to Pulicat each twelvemonth implicit the past 5 years. He usually visits during weekends with 2 different birding friends, staying astatine a wedding hallway successful adjacent Ponneri. “Yuvaraj takes america connected his vessel during sunset connected Saturday erstwhile we get to photograph the birds with airy falling connected our backmost portion we look the flamingoes,” helium says, adding that they marque different travel astatine sunrise the pursuing day. “The airy past is simply a beauteous golden with the prima falling connected the airy pinkish feathers,” helium says.

Yuvaraj, whose begetter and gramps excessively went sportfishing successful the waters of Pulicat, knows the names and behaviour of astir winged visitors that halt by his hometown. “I picked this up from the birders,” helium says. Most of them program their enactment astatine Ponneri oregon Gummidipoondi. “A batch of bully hotels person travel up successful the adjacent towns,” helium points out.

Sri Vidhya and her hubby V N Maheshwar from Coimbatore are regular visitors. “There are respective wetlands successful Coimbatore wherever we bash birding, but I cannot explicate successful words the happiness I acquisition erstwhile I spot a ample flock of flamingoes,” she says, adding that this makes the agelong thrust worthy it. “Pulicat besides gets immoderate uncommon birds specified arsenic the oystercatcher, white-bellied oversea eagle, and osprey,” she says.

Renuka Vijayaraghavan, different birder and lensman from Coimbatore who has visited Pulicat 5 times truthful far, comes not conscionable for the flamingoes, but for different birds specified arsenic bar-tailed godwits, brownish and lesser noddy, and crab plovers.

“Flamingoes are the lone birds that are successful specified a beauteous shadiness of pink,” says Chennai-based Karthik Ramamurthy, who takes Nature-lovers connected guided birding trips crossed India and abroad. He takes respective teams of birders and photographers to Pulicat each year. “I’ve brought radical from Mumbai and Delhi, isolated from Kochi,” helium says. All of them travel for the swathes of pink.

Colour theory

Where does the pinkish successful the flamingo travel from? “They are pinkish owed to their diet, which primarily consists of algae and tiny crustaceans (like brine shrimp), affluent successful earthy pigments called carotenoids,” according to NVK Ashraf, elder advisor with the Wildlife Trust of India. “Flamingoes are fascinating birds,” helium adds: “They nutrient harvest milk, a nutrient-rich substance that is agleam reddish oregon pinkish successful colour, to provender their chicks.” Munish says that the greater flamingoes that sojourn Pulicat alert down from the Rann of Kutch successful Gujarat, a bulk of them stopping astatine Mumbai. “They alert backmost to Gujarat for nesting,” helium adds.

While birding astatine Pulicat vertebrate sanctuary is mostly unorganised, Munish feels immoderate attraction from the Tamil Nadu Government volition help. “If specified trips are regulated, it volition payment a batch of people, alternatively than conscionable a tiny web of birders,” helium says.

The flamingoes, meanwhile, are blissfully unaware of each the attraction they are getting. We spot them erstwhile our vessel comes to a halt aft 30 minutes of chugging on shallow waters. Yuvaraj turns disconnected the motor to propulsion the vessel adjacent capable for america to respect a flock of immoderate 250 birds without them feeling our presence. The upwind carries their calls towards us: they dependable similar ducks, but much musical.

We are not present to photograph the birds, but to simply spot their delicate pinkish feathers and long, graceful necks.

After implicit 45 minutes, the flock moves away. Yuvaraj revs up the engine; it is clip to caput backmost to the enactment and permission the pinkish behind.

Pulicat is astir 60 kilometres from Chennai. There are regular buses from Chennai to the town. The champion clip to spot flamingoes is from 4pm to 6pm and 4am to 6am. Yuvaraj tin beryllium reached connected 9710518040.