Migratory birds return to Chintapalli in Khammam after gap of three years

After staying away for three years due to monkey attacks and habitat loss, migratory birds have returned to Chintapalli village in Khammam district. Officials now plan to declare Dubalamma Tank a notified wetland to protect the birds and their habitat.

Khammam: Migratory birds, which shied away from their habitual summer home, Chintapalli in Khammam Rural mandal in the district for past three years, have returned this year, much to the joy of locals and nature lovers.

For more than 50 years, in the last week of December, pilot birds would travel thousands of miles to the village, observe the weather, and then return in flocks to the village in January. They nest and roost, raising their offspring until June, and then go back.

But the cycle was broken in past three years due to monkey menace that damaged the bird nests, as well as due to loss of habitat, as the locals, to avoid monkeys, cut down huge tamarind trees on which the birds would build their nests. The belief is that the arrival of the birds augurs well for their crops.

“It is a good sign that the birds have not given up their association with the village and have returned,” former sarpanch, Mutyam Chinni Krishna Rao told ‘Telangana Today’. He wanted the government to address the monkey menace in the village to protect the birds, which they treat as guests. Tourists and nature lovers visit the village from January to June to see the birds.

District Forest Officer (DFO) Siddharth Vikram Singh said the department had submitted a proposal to the government to declare Dubalamma Tank, also called Chintapalli Cheruvu, as a notified wetland. Once notified, the tank’s boundaries and buffer zone would be fixed.

“Notifying the tank would help receive central funds for its preservation, besides taking up a biodiversity survey. Shallow wetlands, abundance of food in the tank, and rainfall patterns make the tank an ideal spot for the migratory birds’ summer stay,” he noted.

Fluttering visitors to Chintapalli:

• Painted storks and black-necked storks, classified as near threatened in terms of conservation status

• Asian woolly-necked storks, classified as vulnerable

• Asian openbill storks

• The village is 12 km away from Khammam city on Khammam-Warangal highway

• Visitors coming by bus have to get down at Chintapalli stage and walk 2 km

• Nearest airport is at Hyderabad, 220 km from Khammam