Where Black bucks share home with Flamingoes

Any one interest in birds and has watched Shekar Dattatri’s documentary Point calimere-Little Kingdom by the Coast would definitely plan a trip to that place. I had Flamingoes on my wish-list of ‘birds to be seen’ since long. This place was one of the largest wintering grounds of the Greater Flamingoes and chances of spotting them were quite high. I planned a trip to experience the little heaven first-hand. After some hit and miss it got materialised last January.

Point Calimere Wildlife sanctuary lies on the Coromandel coast in Tamil Nadu and is virtually a miniature peninsula, protruding into the sea from the mainland. On one side you find the swamps because of its low altitude and on the other two sides you have the sea. It is one of the largest wintering grounds of Greater Flamingoes and plays host to thousands of migratory water birds. The dry scrub forests and the swampy grasslands by the sea are also home for the endangered Blackbuck, chital, Indian Wild pig, Jackal and blacknaped Hare.  It was notified as a sanctuary for the conservation of the Blackbuck as early as 1969. 

It lies in Nagapattinam district and is close to Rameshwaram, the town where Hindus believe that Lord Rama built a bridge to SriLanka. In fact Srilanka is just about 16 kms from here as a crow flies. The nearest small town is Vedaranyam which is poorly connected to the other major towns in Tamilnadu.  From Chennai, one must change buses at Thanjavur, Thiruturaipundi and Vedaranyam. The last leg of 10 kms to Kodikarai could be done in local transport.

Salt being loaded to be dispatched of to far off places.

Disturbed shoreline.

 Salt making is a prime occupation of many people and large swathes of coastal plains are converted into salt pans. These pans are flooded with sea water during the high tides and are allowed to evaporate in the hot sun. Salt pans are rich in crustaceans like shrimp sand crabs and attract a lot of birds. We took the suggestion of staff in the rest house and choose to go some bird watching near these salt pans early morning.  We saw large number of little stints, plovers, in their feeding frenzy and taking to air without any hint and performing acrobatics. 

A pair of Little ringed plovers.

There were many terns and gulls of different kinds but we were desperate to see the flamingo. As it got hotter we were about to give up our search for flamingoes while a man supposedly a guard with the Forest Department appeared. He enquired where we were from and what were we looking for. “Flamingoes”? He enthusiastically pointed towards the island in front of us where he had seen them some time ago. He borrowed our binoculars and gazed towards the sea and spotted a flamingo far, far away from us. All we could see was a spot of pink in the blue waters. We had to strain our eyes to perceive the shape of the flamingo.

The man suggested that we walk on the bund and if luck prevailed we could find more of them.  We walked briskly in that direction for more than a km. Suddenly a group of tall birds appeared to me in the distance. Our excitement went up by folds as we walked towards them. There were about 30 flamingoes, adults and juveniles feeding-we watched them for more than an hour. We also spotted a flock of bar tailed godwits and other birds like marsh sandpiper, red shanks, and green shanks.

A flock of Flamingoes.

After lunch we visited a place called Muniyappan Lake, the area around is supposedly a bird sanctuary. We were busy identifying some waders while a few blackbucks dashed from the background as though to draw our attention. This is one of the very few places where black bucks are so close to the sea. The Tamilnadu Forest department estimates their numbers to be around 150. 

An adult male buck in it's prime.

We trotted among the puddles and saw more groups of Black bucks. These seem to be adept at drinking saline water. In fact they are not very shy and seem quite tolerant to humans. One male casually stood unperturbed at less than 20 feet from us.

 In the far distance were a couple of dark brown horses racing across the mudflats with their tails streaming out behind them. The sanctuary has about 26 of these feral horses.

A walk towards the watch tower on the undisturbed beach becomes even worthier if you have the mind to appreciate some marine life. Snails and crabs and hermit crabs are in vast profusion. From the top of the tower it is an amazing view. The confluence of sea and the land is a breath taking sight. The bird’s eye view clearly shows the coastline changing its course by 90 degrees out right. 

Mudskipper seen during a low tide.

A lobster stranded on the shore.

The beautiful swampy grasslands transform into a different world in the evening light. A whole lot of wild flowers add color to the beauty of the grassland. We enjoyed spotting few more birds, Pacific Golden plovers, more Terns and Gulls, Little Ringed Plovers; whole lot of Larks and Doves, Blue tailed bee eaters and rosy starlings. 

A patch full of invasive species.

This tiny sanctuary in whatever way one looks at it is an area worthy of protection not just for its blackbucks or flamingoes but the sheer diversity it shelters. We went back to the rest house, pledged to come back to this beautiful place again. It was bye-bye Point Calimere early next morning.

Article by Deepika Prasad.