A few hundreds of migratory birds -- painted stork and grey pelican -- appear to have stayed back for the rest of the year in Kolleru lake despite the end of the annual breeding season between April-end and early May.

Thousands of grey pelicans and painted storks make the freshwater lake their winter home and return along with chicks by mid summer.

The painted stork prefers to migrate from the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia region to Kolleru lake. Similarly, the grey pelican also migrates from the same regions. In recent years, the number of migratory birds which prefer to stay back after the end of the breeding season has increased.

Kaikaluru Ranger Vijaya has told The Hindu that about 900 painted storks, including chicks, and at least 1,600 grey pelicans, did not return to their respective habitations.

“It’s a sign that these flocks of birds made the Atapaka Bird Sanctuary their home for the rest of the year,” she says.

More visitors likely

Availability of prey and habitation for survival are said to be the key factors. The presence of the migratory birds in the lake is sure to attract more visitors.

“The two species have been spotted throughout the year in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka,” says Indian Bird Conservation Network (Andhra Pradesh Chapter) senior bird watcher K. Mruthyumjaya Rao.