Annual bird census begins in Tiruvarur district

TRICHY: The annual bird census began in three places in Tiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu on Friday to access the diversity of migratory and resident birds in this region.
The two-day census is conducted by the forest department along with Biodiversity Conservation Foundation (BCF), Trichy. A 30-member team is carrying out the bird census in Muthupet Lagoon (mangrove forest ecosystem) and Vaduvur and Uthayamarthadapuram bird sanctuaries in the district.
“There was a slight decline in arrival of birds last year following cyclone Gaja. However, original impact of the cyclone can be ascertained only this year based on the migratory pattern of the birds,” said S Ramasubramanian, conservator of forest, Thanjavur circle.
“Teams from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) University, Periyar EVR College, Trichy, and ornithologists from across state are taking part in the census,” said BCF founder director and conservation scientist A Kumaraguru.
One of the teams carrying out the census.
According to him, the migratory season starts in January and birds have started arriving in the central regions of Tamil Nadu from Rann of Kutch in Gujarat.
He said data collected during the census would be analysed to know the status of the bird sanctuaries, based on the arrival of birds.