The sighting of a lone Great thick-knee at the Kadalundi-Vallikkunnu Community Reserve last week has enthused researchers studying the annual migrant bird visits to the estuarine sanctuary.
Sujesh P.K. and Athira T.R., who have been studying the foraging habits of the shorebirds reaching Kadalundi from thousands of miles afar to escape the harsh winter, said Great thick-knee, also called Great stone-curlew, was sighted at Kadalundi for the first time in 14 years.
“We were so excited to find a lone Great thick-knee near a couple of Eurasian oystercatchers during an observation last week. It is a sign that new migrant species have begun to prefer Kadalundi,” said Ms. Athira.
She said Great thick-knee, though a local migrant, had not been reported at Kadalundi since 2005. “We have the complete data of migrant species that reached Kadalundi during winter in the last 14 years. Although the presence of several rare species was reported, it’s the first time we could see an extremely sensitive Great thick-knee in the sanctuary,” she said.
Mr. Sujesh said they could observe the ‘VIP’ only from a good distance because of its sensitive nature.
“It was feeding voraciously on small crabs in the mudflats using its powerful beaks,” said Mr. Sujesh. The researcher duo had found a few Bar-tailed godwits and Eurasian oystercatchers at Kadalundi a couple of months ago. Both those birds have been listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as near-threatened species. “Those birds, particularly Bar-tailed godwit, are not among the common migrants reaching the Kerala coast during winter,” said Mr. Sujesh.
Researchers upbeat
A bird known for long, non-stop inter-continental migration, Bar-tailed godwit too has given fresh hopes for researchers by re-emerging at Kadalundi after many years. Ms. Athira and Mr. Sujesh demanded that efforts be made to prevent all kinds of waste, particularly poultry and slaughter waste, from reaching the community reserve.
The waste gets caught in the mangroves, inviting scavenger and predator birds to the region. Waste is the predominant reason for the presence of crows and kites in the sanctuary. “Crows and kites scare away the migrants, however large the visitor birds are. Ridding the mangroves and mudflats of waste is the best way to handle the threat the migrant birds face from crows and kites,” said Ms. Athira.
Published - January 19, 2019 11:39 pm IST
