Officials conduct bird census

The annual bird census was carried out at the wildlife sanctuary at Point Calimere in Kodiakkarai in the district today.
The sanctuary, situated in a 20 sq km area of dry evergreen forests in the district, serves as the abode for a good population of black bucks, chitals, feral horses, wild boars, olive ridley turtles and about 200 rare species of birds.
Point Calimere forest area was declared as a wildlife sanctuary in 1967.
The lagoons in this area, with rich fish population attract thousands of migratory birds from countries as far as Siberia. They visit the sanctuary during October and stay up to March every year.

A variety of birds including blue jay, egret, myna, brahmini kite, curlew, brown headed gull, flamingo, teal, black-tailed godwit, whiskered tern, blue tailed bee eater, red shank, little stint and painted visit the sanctuary every year.
The forest department conducts bird census every year to keep track of the count of winged visitors. The census was conducted with the help of volunteers drawn from colleges, non-governmental organisations and research organisations.
Results of the census would be known in a few days after compilation of data, Forest Department sources said.