Winged visitors sojourn begins

​Khammam: Much to the delight of the bird watchers, painted storks, the red-legged cranes in local parlance, returned to Chintapalli for yet another six-month sojourn. If not for the presence of these winged guests every year, the otherwise sleepy village Chintapalli would have remained nondescript.

For several decades, the painted storks believed to come from Siberia and Himalayan ranges made the tamarind trees in Chintapalli village under Khammam Rural mandal their nesting spot. Beginning to flock the village from the last week of December extending to the first week of the January, the storks start their nesting and breeding activity thus turning the tamarind trees a hub of procreation.

Normally, the breeding season of the birds begins in the winter shortly after monsoons. These large wading birds with their pink tertiary feathers (flight feathers) on their wings forage in shallow waters.

They mainly feed on fish and frogs in the fresh waters available in the nearby tanks. Albeit, the village has been a haven for the winged guests, the dwindling number of tamarind trees due to some indiscriminate felling by the locals in last few years had its impact on the migration of these birds. The migratory birds didn’t keep their date with the place in 2014 and 2015.

Against this backdrop, they returned to the village much to the joy of old timers in Chintapalli villages. The locals here believe that arrival of these winged birds is a sign of good rains. Speaking to The Hans India, 52-year-old farmer Devisetty Sashaiah of the village said: “Much on the lines of locals’ belief, it rained well in 2016. The number of birds visiting the village came down over the years.”