Life and death in Kaliveli's salt pans

Driving between Chennai and Pondicherry, approximately 30 km before you reach the former French enclave, you cannot but notice a small inlet channel from the sea passing below a narrow bridge and then expanding into a vast lake stretching all the way to the western horizon. This is Kaliveli, the second largest natural lake in southern India (after Pulicat Lake in Andhra Pradesh) and unfortunately among the most neglected wetland ecosystems of the eastern coast.

Kaliveli is connected to the sea by the Yedayanthittu estuary from which there is a considerable intake of sea water. Along its large catchment area are numerous tanks and channels that pump in fresh water especially during the monsoon (October to December) and hence this wetland has a salinity gradient useful for a large array of waterbirds, amphibians, reptiles, molluscs and fishes. Estimates of the exact size of the wetland vary (a substantial portion of the lake is a seasonal wetland) and a documentary film by FERAL puts it as 70 sq km. Kaliveli is classified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) and is an important wintering location and stopover point for winter migrants. Wildlife biologist K S Gopi Sundar once counted over 300 White Storks (Ciconia ciconia) at Kaliveli.

A large area of the wetland, especially the eastern edge along the East Coast Road, has been converted to salt pans. Initially, while driving past the pans on my way to Mahabalipuram and beyond, I used to be fascinated by the sculptural beauty of the salt heaps stretching all the way to the horizon, snow-white pyramids neatly placed in a vast chequered landscape of neatly squared salt pans. It was sheer photogenic geometry. Soon I was to become familiar with their more disturbing aspect, ecologically speaking.

A gravid female Fan-throated Lizard

Spider carrying an egg sac

Remains of a dead tortoise

The body of a snake, consumed by the brine

A crab seems very much at home in the salt pans

In July last year, Gopi and Swati were in Pondicherry and we went over to Kaliveli. As we entered the salt pans we noticed the absolute absence of birds. Barring a few Black-winged Stilts before the bund, we saw no no birds amid the rows of salt pans. Except for some Fan Throated Lizards (Sitana ponticeriana) – among them a number of gravid females -- and some crabs peering out of their burrows along the water channels, everything we saw was dead. There were dead fish in the water channels (closer to concentrated brine than water) no doubt trapped in the channels during the high tide, a dead tortoise, dead snake, dead dragonflies and thousands of shells of dead mollusks. Almost every form of life which had ventured into the salt pans had been quickly snuffed out by the brine. As we walked through the pans towards the edge of the lake trying to get a closer view of the Greater Flamingos that we had seen as pink specks from the road, we came across a remnant mangrove patch along the border of the lake, trying to spread outwards towards the pans but brutally kept in check by human intervention. The entire area of the salt pans was once a mangrove forest, and was later chopped down for the salt industry, thus depriving the east coast of a rich mangrove and estuarine ecosystem that would have rivaled those of Pichavaram, nearly 100 km south.

The salt pans have extended the area of the brackish water further into the lake and have thus alerted the salinity gradient of the lake. The ground water is now so brackish that some salt pans are no longer dependent on the intake from the sea; they simply pump the brine up from the ground.

Painted Storks and Openbill Storks forage beyond the salt pans while the brackish shallows beyond the mangroves play host to Greater Flamingos

A last stand of mangroves

Mangrove forests like these once covered the east coast

It has taken remarkable official apathy to destroy a rich natural wetland ecosystem (Kaliveli continues to be without legal protection). Not even “tourist infatuated” bureaucratic machinery has been able to see the potential of a well-protected, incredibly rich birding area so close to a tourist hub.

Text and photographs by Sahastrarashmi


Further reading:
A manual on Kaliveli (PDF) from the Foundation for Ecological Research, Advocacy and Learning (FERAL)

Wordless Wednesday - Walking on Water

Photo: Sandeep Somasekharan

In Sarus Crane country, a bushel full of lifers

Between November 21 and 25, I was in Rae Bareli, a place whose name most of us remember only during the elections (it happens to be the constituency of the Gandhi family). Rae Bareli and Unnao districts are in the heart of the Gangetic plain. The countryside is characterised by flat, dusty terrain: thickets of thorn scrub and acacia, marshes and reed beds, saline mudflats, occasional orchards and a great abundance of wetlands and foodgrain cultivation - wheat, bajra, lentils, paddy, sugarcane and water chestnuts among others. The soil is a fine, powdery yellowish dust, which motor vehicles whip up into enormous clouds. Trapped in the mist, it lingers, hindering both visibility and breathing. But there is no doubt that it is fertile soil, being rich in silt washed down by the rivers. We birded every day, sometimes rising as early as 4:30 AM to be earlier than the earliest bird. Winter has set in nice and firm over northern India, and the mercury hovered around 10 degrees C on some days. We covered many of the wetlands of the districts as well as a sampling of orchards. In the reed beds and alkaline scrublands of Samaspur Bird Sanctuary, we went looking for winter arrivals. Since my trek to the Garhwal Himalayas, I have not added so many lifers on a single birding trip. Of these, our standout sightings are the Red-necked Grebe at Samaspur, the Richard's Pipit at a very disturbed wetland near Khiron and the Steppe, Imperial and Bonelli's Eagles. We got a very good look at a Red-necked Falcon, and an obliging Wryneck posed for my video camera. Among the grass stalks and reed beds, Bluethroats displayed their painted chests with aplomb. Prinias - Jungle, Plain and Graceful - joined Zitting Cisticolas and Common Stonechats in creating that ever-mellifluous marsh chorus. At Samaspur, the Striated Grassbird announced his territorial claim with a pretty little song, and much fluttering and displaying. Warblers were alive in every bush. We had a couple of excellent views of the Greater Whitethroat. Wagtails - Grey, Yellow, White and Citrine - were everywhere. And our resident White-Browed felt a little edged out, methinks. The migrant waders fed busily. There were Storks and Ibises, Little Ringed Plovers, Little and Temminck's Stints, Sandpipers (Common, Green, Marsh and Wood), flocks of Ruff, Redshanks and Greenshanks, as well as visiting White-tailed and Grey-headed Lapwings. We detoured to the banks of the Ganga at Dalmau to catch a glimpse of a handsome resident - the River Lapwing. The little guys were at their best. I had the best look I have ever had of the Red Avadavat, picking seeds off the ground only feet away from my feet. But most of all, I acquainted myself with the reigning monarch of these wetlands - the enchanting Sarus Crane. We counted (as part of a census) over a hundred Sarus cranes. This is a sentient creature - let me tell you that. No bird can inspire so much respect. Several times, as I stood watching a pair of Sarus (often less than 50 feet away), I have been struck by the dignity with which this bird carries itself. There's a certain indulgence and aloofness about the Sarus that can only come with immense power and pedigree. Mostly, they mate for life and bring up one or two chicks every year. I was lucky to see plenty of chicks - from downy, tottering ones a few days old to some that were as tall as their parents. More on that later in a separate post. Enough said. Here's the species list:

1. Ashy Drongo
2. Ashy Prinia
3. Ashy-crowned Sparrow Lark
4. Asian Barred Owlet
5. Asian Koel
6. Asian Openbill
7. Bank Myna
8. Barn Swallow
9. Black Drongo
10. Black Ibis
11. Black Kite
12. Black Redstart
13. Black-headed Ibis
14. Black-headed Munia
15. Black-headed Oriole
16. Black-shouldered Kite
17. Black-winged Cuckooshrike
18. Black-winged Stilt
19. Blue Rock Pigeon
20. Bluethroat
21. Blue-winged Leafbird
22. Bonelli's Eagle
23. Booted Warbler
24. Brahminy Starling
25. Bronze-winged Jacana
26. Brown Hawk Owl
27. Brown Rock-Chat
28. Brown-headed Barbet
29. Cattle Egret
30. Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch
31. Chestnut-shouldered Petronia
32. Chiffchaff
33. Citrine Wagtail
34. Common Coot
35. Common Flameback
36. Common Iora
37. Common Kestrel
38. Common Kingfisher
39. Common Moorhen
40. Common Myna
41. Common Peafowl
42. Common Pochard
43. Common Redshank
44. Common Sandpiper
45. Common Stone Chat
46. Common Tailorbird
47. Common Teal
48. Coppersmith Barbet
49. Cotton Pygmy Goose
50. Coucal
51. Crested Lark
52. Crested Pochard
53. Darter
54. Egyptian Vulture
55. Eurasian Collared Dove
56. Eurasian Spoonbill
57. Gadwall
58. Graceful Prinia
59. Great Egret
60. Greater Whitethroat
61. Green Bee Eater
62. Green Sandpiper
63. Greenish warbler
64. Greenshank
65. Grey Francolin
66. Grey Heron
67. Grey Hornbill
68. Grey Wagtail
69. Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker
70. Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher
71. Grey-headed Lapwing
72. Hoopoe (Eurasian and Indian subspecies)
73. House Crow
74. House Sparrow
75. House Swift
76. Hume's warbler
77. Imperial Eagle
78. Indian cormorant
79. Indian Robin
80. Indian Roller
81. Indian Silverbill
82. Intermediate Egret
83. Jungle Babbler
84. Jungle Prinia
85. Large Grey Babbler
86. Large-billed Crow
87. Large-billed Pipit
88. Laughing Dove
89. Lesser Whistling Duck
90. Lesser Whitethroat
91. Little Egret
92. Little Grebe
93. Little Ringed Plover
94. Little Stint
95. Long-tailed Minivet
96. Long-tailed Shrike
97. Marsh Harrier
98. Marsh Sandpiper
99. Northern Shoveller
100. Oriental Honey Buzzard
101. Oriental Magpie-Robin
102. Oriental Skylark
103. Oriental White-eye
104. Paddyfield Pipit
105. Paddyfield Warbler
106. Painted Stork
107. Peregrine Falcon
108. Pheasant-tailed Jacana
109. Pied Bushchat
110. Pied Kingfisher
111. Pied Starling
112. Plain Prinia
113. Plum-headed Parakeet
114. Pond Heron
115. Purple Heron
116. Purple Sunbird
117. Purple Swamphen
118. Red Avadavat
119. Red-necked Falcon
120. Red-necked Grebe
121. Red-throated Flycatcher
122. Red-vented Bulbul
123. Red-wattled Lapwing
124. Red-whiskered Bulbul
125. Richard's Pipit
126. River Lapwing
127. Rose-ringed Parakeet
128. Ruff
129. Rufous Treepie
130. Rufous-tailed Shrike
131. Sand Lark
132. Sarus Crane
133. Scaly-breasted Munia
134. Sind Sparrow
135. Small cormorant
136. Spotbill Duck
137. Spotted Dove
138. Spotted Owlet
139. Steppe Eagle
140. Streak-throated Weaver
141. Striated Grassbird
142. Tawny Pipit
143. Temminck's Stint
144. Verditer Flycatcher
145. White-breasted Waterhen
146. White-browed Wagtail
147. White-tailed Lapwing
148. White-throated Kingfisher
149. Wire-tailed Swallow
150. Wood Sandpiper
151. Woolly-necked Stork
152. Wryneck
153. Yellow-crowned Woodpecker
154. Zitting Cisticola

Videos and photos coming soon.