Consolidated checklist of birds in the Pallikaranai Wetlands , Chennai , India

Pallikaranai wetlands falls between 12059’N & 80014’E (Fig. 1), located about 20km south of the Chennai metropolitan area and falls in the Kancheepuram District of Tamil Nadu. The wetland runs along the old Mahabalipuram road parallel to the Buckingham Canal throughout its length in the south west of Chennai. The wetland is an extensive low lying area, covered by a mosaic of aquatic grass species, scrub, marsh, and water logged depressions. It has a catchment of 235km2 that includes the urban sprawls of Velachery, Pallikaranai and Navalur. The wetland drains through Okkium Maduvu in Thoraipakkam to the Buckingham Canal, which discharges into the Kovalam Estuary (Care Earth 2002). The area receives 1300mm of annual rainfall (www.wikipedia. com). The most rainfall occurs during the northeast monsoon (September November) and partially from the southwest monsoon (June August). Temperatures vary seasonally; in summer the maximum ranging from 350 to 420 C and in winter from 250 to 340 C (Patnaik & Srihari 2004). A study conducted by Care Earth in 2002, supported by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) found that the area has reduced to about 600ha from an earlier extend of 4000-5000 ha (Care Earth 2002; Joint Committee Report 2003; The Hindu 2006). Further it has reduced to 420ha (Care Earth 2005). A fall of about 30% in the wetland area within a span of three years is indeed alarming. The Chennai metropolis waste dump yard occupies a part of these wetlands, and it has effectively choked over 250 acres of prime marsh lands. In spite of the legalized and illicit encroachments, fast developing real estate ventures and various other developments including information technology parks on the banks of the marsh lands has aggravated the wetland depletion (Azeez et al. 2007a). Realizing the environmental and ecological significance of the area in an expanding metropolis, the government of Tamil Nadu (Gazette notification GO. Ms. No. 52, dated 9 April 2007), declared a part of the Pallikaranai marsh (317.00ha) as a reserve forest (under section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Forest Act, 1882) in order to stall further conversion and protect the urban wetland (Azeez et al. 2007b). Subsequently, systematic and serious action plans are underway to conserve and rejuvenate this wetland ecosystem in a sustained manner. As a part of these efforts, we made a checklist of bird species of the Pallikaranai marshlands. Methods: The study was conducted during February to August 2007 with two intensive surveys carried out for seven and 10 days respectively. The surveys covered the marsh land extending to the adjacent areas that included residential areas and walled campuses. Field survey was done during 0600 to 1000 hr and 1700 to 1900 hr adopting the line-transect method (Burnham et al. 1980; Bibby et al. 1992; Buckland et al. 1993). The opportunistic counts during other times of the day are also included in the checklist. Birds were recorded by direct sighting and calls. We followed the nomenclature and taxonomic sequence of Grimmett et al. (2000). The status of birds was categorized as Breeding Resident (BR), Winter Visitor (WV) and Vagrant (V) based on Grimmett et al. (2000). We also referred to the published and unpublished surveys conducted by different organizations and individuals in the past to complement our checklist (mainly Care Earth 2005, and unpublished work of the fourth author conducted during the year 2000). Result and Discussion: In total, 101 species of resident and migratory birds were recorded from the Pallikaranai marshlands (Appendix 1). Of the total birds seen, 76 species were breeding residents and 25 winter OPEN ACCESS | FREE DOWNLOAD Date of publication (online): 26 July 2010 Date of publication (print): 26 July 2010 ISSN 0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print)

Pallikaranai wetlands falls between 12 0 59'N & 80 0 14'E (Fig. 1), located about 20km south of the Chennai metropolitan area and falls in the Kancheepuram District of Tamil Nadu.The wetland runs along the old Mahabalipuram road parallel to the Buckingham Canal throughout its length in the south west of Chennai.The wetland is an extensive low lying area, covered by a mosaic of aquatic grass species, scrub, marsh, and water logged depressions.It has a catchment of 235km 2 that includes the urban sprawls of Velachery, Pallikaranai and Navalur.The wetland drains through Okkium Maduvu in Thoraipakkam to the Buckingham Canal, which discharges into the Kovalam Estuary (Care Earth 2002).The area receives 1300mm of annual rainfall (www.wikipedia.com).The most rainfall occurs during the northeast monsoon (September -November) and partially from the southwest monsoon (June -August).Temperatures vary seasonally; in summer the maximum ranging from 35 0 to 42 0 C and in winter from 25 0 to 34 0 C (Patnaik & Srihari 2004).
A study conducted by Care Earth in 2002, supported by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) found that the area has reduced to about 600ha from an earlier extend of 4000-5000 ha (Care Earth 2002;Joint Committee Report 2003;The Hindu 2006).Further it has reduced to 420ha (Care Earth 2005).A fall of about 30% in the wetland area within a span of three years is indeed alarming.The Chennai metropolis waste dump yard occupies a part of these wetlands, and it has effectively choked over 250 acres of prime marsh lands.In spite of the legalized and illicit encroachments, fast developing real estate ventures and various other developments including information technology parks on the banks of the marsh lands has aggravated the wetland depletion (Azeez et al. 2007a).
Realizing the environmental and ecological significance of the area in an expanding metropolis, the government of Tamil Nadu (Gazette notification GO.Ms. No. 52, dated 9 April 2007), declared a part of the Pallikaranai marsh (317.00ha) as a reserve forest (under section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Forest Act, 1882) in order to stall further conversion and protect the urban wetland (Azeez et al. 2007b).Subsequently, systematic and serious action plans are underway to conserve and rejuvenate this wetland ecosystem in a sustained manner.As a part of these efforts, we made a checklist of bird species of the Pallikaranai marshlands.
Methods: The study was conducted during February to August 2007 with two intensive surveys carried out for seven and 10 days respectively.The surveys covered the marsh land extending to the adjacent areas that included residential areas and walled campuses.Field survey was done during 0600 to 1000 hr and 1700 to 1900 hr adopting the line-transect method (Burnham et al. 1980;Bibby et al. 1992;Buckland et al. 1993).The opportunistic counts during other times of the day are also included in the checklist.Birds were recorded by direct sighting and calls.We followed the nomenclature and taxonomic sequence of Grimmett et al. (2000).The status of birds was categorized as Breeding Resident (BR), Winter Visitor (WV) and Vagrant (V) based on Grimmett et al. (2000).We also referred to the visitors.40 species were fully aquatic, while 10 were partly dependent on wetlands.Among these species, the most numerous in our records included Little Grebe (ca.700) and Black-winged Stilt (ca.150).In a study conducted during the year 2000, 836 Black-winged Stilts and 834 Cattle Egrets were recorded (J.Subramanian pers.obs.).The Pallikaranai marshlands also include two Near Threatened bird species such as Spot-billed Pelican Pelecanus philippensis and Black-headed Ibis Threskiornis melanocephalus.During our surveys we found one Spot-billed Pelican in the wetlands; however, The Hindu released a report on 06 February 2007 with sightings of nearly 200 individuals in the Pallikaranai marshes.We could observe nearly 70 Black-headed Ibis, another Near Threatened species during the survey.The diversity of avifauna that occur in large numbers here calls for conservation of the Pallikaranai wetlands and prevention from further degradation so that it sustains as wetland for posterity offering the metropolis many ecological services.Conservation of such urban wetlands is essential to sustain migratory bird populations, as it is probably an abode during their migratory route, serving a vital role in the conservation of these species.Unfortunately, there is no laws till date to protect urban wetlands in particular, and we highlight here the urgent need for a policy to conserve urban wetlands and related ecosystems.

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published and unpublished surveys conducted by different organizations and individuals in the past to complement our checklist (mainly Care Earth 2005, and unpublished work of the fourth author conducted during the year 2000).Result and Discussion: In total, 101 species of resident and migratory birds were recorded from the Pallikaranai marshlands (Appendix 1).Of the total birds seen, 76 species were breeding residents and 25 winter OPEN ACCESS | FREE DOWNLOAD Date of publication (online): 26 July 2010 Date of publication (print): 26 July 2010 ISSN 0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print) Raj, P.P.N., J. Ranjini, R. Dhanya, J. Subramanian, P.A. Azeez & S. Bhupathy (2010).Consolidated checklist of birds in the Pallikaranai Wetlands, Chennai, India.Journal of Threatened Taxa 2(8): 1114-1118.Copyright: © P.P. Nikhil Raj, J. Ranjini, R. Dhanya, J. Subramanian, P.A. Azeez & S. Bhupathy 2010.Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium for non-profit purposes, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.