Andhra Pradesh’s Uppalapadu sanctuary spruced to welcome migratory birds

The Uppalapadu Bird Sanctuary, located near Guntur City in Andhra Pradesh, is one of the hot favourite destinations of migratory birds. Nearly 30,000 of these visitors from 25 different countries around the world visit the place to spend the winter season, that is between September and March, and also breed.

To facilitate these birds to stay and reproduce, the forest department officials of the UBS have taken steps to weed out hyacinths which choke the pond.

Among the birds that come to the sanctuary are openbill storks, spot-billed pelicans, coots, glossy ibises, white ibises, spot-billed ducks, little cormorants, little grebe, bronze-winged jacana, purple swamp hen, white-breasted water hen, cattle egret, intermediate egret, comb duck, and northern shoveler, from Australia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Pakistan.

The overgrown hyacinth weeds need to be removed as they hamper the birds in getting required food and water. As machines cannot be used for this purpose as it will disturb the birds, it has to be done manually.

This exercise started in November and it took three months to remove these weeds. The birds can now move around freely and fish without any difficulty while making the pond water fresh in the process.

The officials are also planting more trees to ensure that the growing number of birds can be accommodated and have also installed 14 artificial perching stands for nesting.