Awaiting winged visitors: The floods have adversely affected the arrival of water-based migratory birds to the Thattekkad bird sanctuary. | Photo Credit: H_Vibhu more-in The Thattekkad bird sanctuary has started attracting tourists after remaining closed for days following the recent floods. Usually migratory birds start arriving at the sanctuary during the initial days of October. However, this time around, certain species of birds have already started arriving by mid-September, pointing towards possible climatic changes. Timely intervention by the Forest Department has helped bring back the sanctuary from the verge of destruction. With the Periyar in spate during the recent floods, waterbodies inside the sanctuary were choked with plastic waste and slush. As soon as water started rising in the Periyar following the opening of the shutters of dams, python, king cobra, hedgehog, tortoise and peacocks were released from their cages to the nearby forest. Clean-up work Restoring the sanctuary to its previous condition was also taken up simultaneously alongside post-flood relief works. It took about ten days to clear the place of slush and plastic waste. Range officer Mani Sudarsham credited the eco-development committee and officials for tirelessly working towards cleaning up the sanctuary. The officials are now working overtime to ready the sanctuary to host migratory birds. The riverbank on the stretch between Thattekkad and Koottikkal and around five kilometres upward of Thattekkad has been replaced by sandbars. Similarly, sandbars have rolled out to almost 300 to 500 metres from the forest to the river, posing hurdles to many animals. Tourism potential Authorities, however, remain confident that the flood may not impact the tourism potential of Thattekkad though it may not be easy to remove the slush and sand piled up in the lake. The fury of the Periyar and the Kuttampuzha river has inflicted great damage on Thattekkad. Thattekkad hosts mainly two types of migratory birds – forest-based and water-based. The floods had adversely affected the arrival of the latter, said Sugathan, a birdwatcher. Usually, migratory birds visit Thattekkad between October and February. Around 322 varieties of birds visit the sanctuary every year compared to the 523 types of migratory birds reaching the entire State. Water-based migratory birds started coming to Thattekkad in large numbers since the Bhoothathankettu dam was built in 1964. With the commissioning of the dam, the catchment areas of Periyar Valley had turned into a lake, attracting around 32 variants of water-based migratory birds. Their ecosystem remains hampered by the recent floods, which has left the elevated areas largely unaffected, thus leaving the ecosystem for the forest-based migratory birds intact. Food chain This has damaged the food chain of the water-based migratory birds. It used to be easier for visitors to spot water-based migratory birds when compared to their forest-based counterparts since the latter remained hidden behind the trees.

Stay updated with all the Latest Kochi headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.