JOIN USHave you ever seen a wide variety of birds together, all in one place? On the outskirts of Ankasamudra village in Hagaribommanahalli taluk, the Ankasamudra lake attracts many birds such as painted storks, grey heron, comb duck, egrets, grebes, cormorants, and ibis. Here you will find them breeding and building nests amongst their preferred trees, the Acacia nilotica (Karijali). The ancient lake brimmed with water until 1980 but it soon became dry as many dams were built in the catchment area. Some people began to encroach the lake, which compelled the Forest Department to plant Acacia nilotica trees extensively in the dry lake.
The villagers also supported the plantation drive through Village Forest Committees. As the trees and their long thorns grew, it attracted many birdstowards the lake for roosting. Yet the lake remained dry except for rainy days. In spite of the presence of Tungabhadra Reservoir, underground water depleted in the region.
An ideal lake
The village faced water scarcity for its crop as well as for domestic purposes. More than a decade ago, a lift irrigation system was installed to fill the dried lake from the backwaters of Tungabhadra Reservoir. This resulted in an increase in the ground water levels and farmers began growing crops during summer also.
Low water level and thorny trees provide an ideal roosting location for birds. They feed in the backwaters of Tungabhadra dam the whole day and return to the lake by evening for roosting on the thorny trees. However, when the lift irrigation system was damaged, the lake turned dry for many years.
The local shepherds cut the branches of trees to feed their goats and litter the thorny branches everywhere in the lake. Thus, the entire lake bed gets converted into a bed of thorns, providing extra security to the roosting birds.
“For the past three years, the local Gram Panchayath has started filling the lake using six motors and tendered out the lake for fishing to earn extra income,” says M M Shivakumar, a member of Hagaribommanahalli Taluk Panchayath and a resident of Ankasamudra.
Consequently, birds such as the spot-billed duck, comb duck, and little grebe, began nesting in this lake.
Deciding points
The important factors deciding the nesting area are the thorny tall trees, shallow water, less disturbance, availability of food, ideal nesting sites and minimum human activities which drive away natural enemies like cats, snakes and raptors. It is the only place found in the entire Hyderabad-Karnataka region for such nesting birds.
It is strange to see the nesting of painted storks and night herons in this part of Karnataka as they are known to nest in Ranganatittu and Kokkare Belluru of South Karnataka. Gudavi and Attiveri are the other popular nesting spots of large birds like storks and ibis.
The vast water body that spread in 378 sq km in the backwaters of Tungabhadra Dam is also a cradle for breeding birds.
Need of the hour
It has become extremely important to provide protection to the nesting birds from poachers and possible disturbances. The North Karnataka Birders Network (NKBN) has been observing the roosting birds in this lake for more than a decade and is now urging the Forest Department to protect this lake by employing guards and declare the lake as a community conservation reserve.
The local chapter of The Society for Wildlife and Nature (SWaN) has appointed private guards to watch and ward the lake. It has conducted meetings with the youth, elected representatives and conducted awareness programmes in the villages to enlighten them about the richness of the avifauna of their locality. It has planned to conduct a series of awareness programmes for students and villagers in the surrounding villages with the help of Abheraj Baldota Foundation. The elected representatives, taluk level and district level officials visit the lake on a regular basis and plan to further improve it. They are planning to survey the entire lake and consolidate boundaries after evicting encroachment.
The Taluk Panchayath of Hagaribommanahalli has prepared an action plan to plant thousands of trees in the fringes of the lake to help the roosting and nesting birds.
SWaN, with the active involvement of the local community, is in a dialogue with the Government and wants to declare the entire lake as a “Community Conservation Reserve”.
At a time when we have lost a large number of wildlife in the name of development, conservation efforts like this come as a relief .