I visited Vedanthangal bird sanctuary on 28th December 2011 a day before cyclone Thane brushed Chennai. Vedanthangal bird sanctuary located approximately 80 km from Chennai. In a big tank/pond with trees up to 30'000 birds nest here. The two square kilometer of open water are surrounded by paddyfields.
Vedanthangal sanctuary serves as a nesting home for many species of
water birds. Egrets, Grey Heron, Open-billed Stork, Darter, Spoonbill,
White Ibis, Night Herons, Grey Pelican, Pintail ducks
and Cormorants are some of the breeding birds that visit the sanctuary. Breeding season starts in October and ends in March. Best time is December and January.
A small entrance fee has to be paid (Rs.5, Rs. 25 for camera and Rs150 for video camera) to enter the sanctuary. Good place to shoot birds and you can rent binoculars in the shops near the entrance. Its a beauty to watch these birds fly around .........
Some of the birds identified by me are:
Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala)
Painted Storks are large and colourful birds found in South India.
Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)
Black-crowned night herons are very aggressive and steal eggs and young of other heron colonies.
Asian Openbill Stork (Anastomus oscitans)
Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
Grey Herons have long necks and powerful bills for a long and strong reach. They usually wait on the mud or at the water's edge to snatch passing aquatic prey.
Spot-billed Pelican or Grey Pelican (Pelecanus philippensis)
Indian Pond Heron (Ardeola grayii)
Eurasian Spoonbill or Common Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)
Black-headed Ibis or Oriental White Ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus)
White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis)
Little Cormorant (Phalacrocorax niger)
Rufous Treepie (Dendrocitta vagabunda) Indian treepie
