Winged tourists arrive in droves

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A flock of over 200 bee-eaters, all with a blue-green plumage, chestnut throat and a pretty blue tail, marked the beginning of the tourists of the winged variety to the city. The Punchakkary-Vellayani wetlands, in the outskirts of the city, has once again become a temporary home for migratory birds.   The group of Blue tailed Bee-eaters were found perched on wooden poles around the ‘pandal’ of bitter gourd, feeding on pests and other insects, thereby executing their ‘natural’ job as biological pest-controllers. “This is the first time that we bird watchers came across such a large number of these birds in one single group,” says A K Sivakumar, educational officer at the state office of the WWF.  It’s not just the Blue-tailed bee-eaters, a whole lot of migratory birds such as Rosy Starlings, Common Sandpipers, Wood Sandpipers and Whiskered Terns have all made an appearance in this wetland complex of paddy fields, marshes and lake. They will spend their non-breeding time here from October to February till the weather gets hot.    Rosy Starlings, a member of the myna group, in flocks consisting individuals from seven to fifteen were spotted here settling to their winter home for a few months. “These cute black-headed pink birds are now in dull bluish grey non-breeding winter plumage and they feed on insects and worms on small trees and bushes of the wetland. The farmers here are benefited by the pest control abilities of these birds,” said Sivakumar.    Along with Sivakumar, bird watchers Biju P B and Bharat Krishnan, also of WWF-India, sighted Common and Wood Sandpipers which are the regular migratory birds in small groups. These birds once seen here in thousands are now less than hundreds as they lost their feeding ground, the open ploughed paddy fields which are rich in small aquatic insects and other organisms.    A flock of around thousand Baya Weavers, Black Headed Munias, White Ibis, Oriental Darters, Purple Herons and Lesser Whistling Teals were the other important birds seen at Punchakkary.