Bird Watching
The lake was once a big attraction to bird watchers. According to Naturalists, about 176 species of birds (a large number of them migratory birds, including birds from Siberia) with 10,000 to 15,000 of them visited the lake during winter to roost. Organised bird watching expeditions around the lake used to be actively pursued by the Mysore Amateur Naturalists (MAN) Association. In recent years, with the lake getting into a eutrophic state (though since restored), the number of birds visiting the lake has substantially decreased. Now, the number of birds visiting the lake has reduced to about 2,000. They are found to breed in the isolated bird island. The birds now found in the lake (some of the birds are pictured in the gallery) are Spot-billed Pelicans, Little Cormorant, Painted Storks, Openbill Storks, Eurasian Spoonbills, Black-crowned Night Herons and Oriental Darters. Birdlife International has included Kukkarahalli Lake in the list of 38 important Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in the State or Karnataka.
Read more about this topic: Kukkarahalli Lake
Famous quotes containing the words bird and/or watching:
“Nor bird nor beast
Could make me wish for anything this day,
Being old, but that the old alone might die,
And that would be against God’s Providence.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“I marched in with the men afoot; a gallant show they made as they marched up High Street to the depot. Lucy and Mother Webb remained several hours until we left. I saw them watching me as I stood on the platform at the rear of the last car as long as they could see me. Their eyes swam. I kept my emotion under control enough not to melt into tears.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)