All is not lost!

CHENNAI: When Shasank Vasudevan went to the US for his MS in Electronic Communication, not only did he acquire a degree that earned him a lucrative job, he also became an avid bird watcher after joining a nature society in Colarado. But there was little scope to further his hobby after he returned to Chennai in 2007, as “much of the environment necessary for the birds had been destroyed by rapid urbanisation”.However, thanks to the concerted efforts of nature enthusiasts, who received help from the state government, bird watchers such as Shashank now say that things are beginning to change for the better.According to Gnanaskandan, an avid bird watcher and member of the Madras Naturalists Society, the habitat restoration activities have had such an effect that the group is now adding two to three new species of birds to its Chennai list every year.While places such as Pallikaranai and Vedanthangal are popular spots for bird watchers, he says lesser known places such as Mudaliarkuppam backwaters, the Kelambakkam backwaters, the Siruthavur lake and the Nanmangalam reserve forest were showing clear increase in number of bird sightings.Nirmal Kumar, who did his PG dissertation at the Salim Ali Institute of Ornithology, says that the Adyar estuary, which was restored recently, had made great changes to the landscape of the city by providing a comfortable place for the birds to rest.“You would start seeing a huge jump in the number of birds visiting the birds in the coming years once the trees that have been planted achieve full growth,” he says.Bird watchers say that species that were unheard of in the city such as the Fulvous whistling ducks, dark sided fly catcher and orange breasted green pigeon have been spotted in places like Pallikaranai and Nanmangalam and their numbers are growing by the day, indicating an healthy ecological environment.