Andhra Pradesh

A rare spectacle at highway to enjoy

NAWABPET (Krishna dist.): The visiting birds have turned the otherwise drab water tank into a natural spectacle. An unusually large number of birds have been flocking to the Nawabpet water tank that is on the Vijayawada-Hyderabad highway, just five km away from Nandigama town, in the past few days.

People travelling in cars and two-wheelers are breaking their journey at the water tank to watch and appreciate the spectacle the water birds have to offer. The stretch of highway along the tank has become a frequent witness to traffic jams caused by vehicles stopped by people who want to enjoy the rare sights.

The birds, most of them cranes and a few pelicans, are flocking to the water tank to mop up fish left behind by contractors who own fishing rights.

The water in the tank has been recently depleted to harvest the fish.

Hundreds of painted storks have descended on the tank from nearby roosting spots to feed on the fish. The drying of Uppalapadu water tank, where the painted storks roost in large numbers, is another reason for the birds flocking here in large numbers.

The Nawabpet tank was converted overnight into an observatory for studying the behaviour of the painted storks. While a group of birds stood hunched up and inert or sauntering about in quest of fish and other aquatic animals, another group waded in the shallow water moving forward with neck craned down and the bill immersed and partly open swaying from one side to the other with a scythe-like action to catch the fish.

Yet another group of storks stand with their wings spread out, as if prayer to dry their wings.

Painted storks are distributed all over the sub-continent, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. Though the painted stork resides in these parts, ornithologists say that they migrate locally based on the season, conditions of heat, drought or floods and by their resultant effect on the available food supply.

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