THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The annual heronry count, jointly conducted by the Social Forestry Wing of the forest department and WWF India, has found that the capital is home to more heronries than last year. The heronry count - which aims at counting ‘apparently occupied nests’ of herons, egrets, and other colonial water birds - is regarded as an effective and accurate way to determine the breeding population of water birds in an area.
It is learned that monitoring the population of heronries can indicate the health of the aquatic ecosystem, both in freshwater and brackish water. This year, the count was carried out by 30 WWF volunteers, and they observed 27 active heronries from 32 known ones as part of the survey. The volunteers counted 742 nests belonging to seven different species of water birds during the survey.
Around 10 per cent of the nests were abandoned, indicating early breeding of some species. The predominant tree species hosting the heronries were teak, mango, copper pod tree, tamarind tree, rain tree, peepal, banyan tree, etc.
Most of the nests were housed by the Vizhinjam Heronry, with 173 nests. Rajaji Nagar near Housing Board Junction, Kumarichantha near Poonthura, and Kazhakkootam are some of Thiruvananthapuram’s other notable nesting areas. The survey found that six distinct locations - Kumarapuram, Kannettumukku, Vellayani Jn, Maruthoor, Panavila Jn, and Kanyakulangara - had no heronry, which could indicate desertion or a different nesting season.
“The majority of the nesting stages that the five teams observed were those of chicks and fledglings, indicating that this year’s nesting may have begun a little earlier. So, we are seriously considering holding the exercise in June next year rather than July as is customary,” says A K Sivakumar and Govind Girija, coordinators of the heronry count in Thiruvananthapuram. WWF-India has been conducting Heronry count in Thiruvananthapuram district since 2016.
Birds Number of nests