COIMBATORE: A group of birdwatchers during their ten-day survey along the Kousika River — a once-prominent river that has largely disappeared — documented significant bird activity. A total of 98 bird species have been identified, including a group of breeding nests, indicating a pleasant environment for the birds and chicks.
Originating from Kurudi Hill in Coimbatore and merging with the Noyyal River near Vanjipalayam in Tiruppur district, the river stretch was covered by R Karthikeyan, A Neel Anand Mayur, S Yuvaraj, K Selvaganesh and C Divya on foot for about 52 km. Despite pollution, with sewage inflow, encroachments and accumulated garbage, the birders identified not only birds, and the river and its bed as a hotspot for all other living creatures, and appealed to the citizens to protect the river for the well-being of the birds and humans.
Apart from birds, the participants noticed a group of spotted deer; a Russell's viper warming to get morning sunlight; red-wattled lapwing (Vanellus indicus) and Asian green bee-eater (Merops orientalis) in the middle of the river stretch, which is almost dry now. Moreover, they were stunned after noticing the Indian grey hornbill, which was breeding in a peepal tree (Ficus religiosa), and brisk movement of the Indian hare (Lepus nigricollis), etc.
"For every kilometre, the Kousika river tells us a different story. We saw cattle egrets search for their food in piled-up garbage, and also a black-winged kite was hovering over the garbage to catch its target. Though I was born in Tiruppur and settled in Coimbatore district, I was never aware of such richness of the river, though it was disturbed by the public by dumping garbage and letting sewage," said Divya Chandran, who was part of the birding exercise after being inspired by bird enthusiast K Selvaganesh's earlier walk along the river.
Divya told TNIE that she is planning to release a video explaining the biodiversity of the river in Tamil to make people aware, as she did earlier in English, which attracted hundreds on her social media handle.
"I have engaged in the exercise without any expectations. However, I was amazed after coming to know about the presence of birds and other living creatures. During the survey, we spoke to some of the villagers who admitted that they saw clean water flowing three months in a year decades ago, and now they rarely see the water flowing. We welcome the step initiated by the members of Kousika Neerkarangal as part of reviving the groundwater and irrigating nearby agricultural land. Villagers have to cooperate by not dumping waste and not letting sewage water into the river."
K Selvaganesh said that they are planning to take school students on a field visit along the river to show the abundance of birds and insects as part of preserving them. Like Siruvani,Noyyal and Bhavani, the Kousika River is also an important river for farmers and a lifeline for birds.