TIRUCHY: The Vaduvoor Bird Sanctuary, which is busy since the month of October has started witnessing arrival of the avians from Russia, Siberia, Myanmar, China, Malaysia and the Arctic region as the season is at its peak in the sanctuary for migratory birds as well as local species for its availability of feeding is in abundance.
Vaduvoor Bird Sanctuary is composed of small man-made reservoirs interconnected by an ancient network of canals and fed by the sub canals in Tiruvarur recharged through the Mettur reservoir.
The rooted floating aquatic plants distributed through the reservoir provide habitat for around 158 bird species, including spot-billed pelican (Pelecanus philippensis), black-headed ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus), Eurasian wigeon (Mareca Penelope), and northern pintail (Anas acuta).
Similarly, the aquatic submerged and terrestrial vegetation in and around the wetland provide foraging and breeding habitat for the birds.
According to the officials, the sanctuary commonly attracts around 30,000 to 50,000 birds from different continents during the months between October and February.
At present, the little and middle egret and herons are nesting in large numbers. The bar-headed goose has also been spotted in large numbers.
There are several attractions including the park, watchtower, bicycles or exploring the sanctuary by pedalling and binoculars are also supplied on request.
After Vaduvoor bird sanctuary was listed in the Ramsar site in 2022, the importance of the lake has become noteworthy. The officials have desilted and deepened to ensure availability of more water to soothe the birds even during the summer season.
UNESCO identified sites
There are as many as 14 Ramsar sites available in Tamil Nadu among them three are from Delta region.
Point Calimere in Nagapattinam was enlisted in 2002 while the Vaduvoor Bird Sanctuary and Udayamarthandapuram Bird Sanctuary both in Tiruvarur district were enlisted in 2022.
A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention which is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran where the convention was signed in 1971.