Jacana bird faces threat in Kanyakumari wetlands

NAGERCOIL: The polyandrous jacana in the Kanyakumari wetlands in deep south is facing an imminent threat due to pollution of water bodies.

Experts say that two types of jacanas have their habitats in Kanyakumari wetlands — the bronze winged jacana and the pheasant tailed jacana.

They build floating nests on water and trot on the waterweeds that float on water. The bird has another name – ‘lily trotter’. Its small body with long, sharp legs enables it to walk on the waterweeds, said S.S. Davidson, managing trustee of the Tribal Foundation, Nagercoil.

About 15 years ago, jacana was found in large numbers with a population of more than 1,000 in the Puthery lake, Erachakulam, Theroor lake, Manickaputhery Kulam, Suchindrum lake, Paalkulam and minor ponds in the district.

“But owing to encroachments by illegal constructions in Puthery lake and Suchindrum, bird population has come down drastically now, he claimed.
A joint survey conducted by the Tribal Foundation and Enviro Link, Nagercoil, recently revealed that jacana population now is a mere 200.

The survey also found that encroachments of the banks of ponds, draining waste water and dumping of solid wastes into water bodies were endangering the bird.

“People throw disposable small oil sachets in the water while they bath in the ponds. Some people use the area near the banks as open bars and throw drinking water sachet into the ponds. Birds are tempted to eat the plastic and eventually die,” pointed out Davidson.

“The International Union for Conversation of Nature (IUCN) listed the jacana as being extremely vulnerable. What this means is that unless we take steps to save the jacana it will soon enter into the list of threatened species like the house sparrow,” said  M. Rajesh, assistant professor, Zoology department, American College, Madurai.

Wildlife activist K. Mohanraj of Coimbatore observed that this trend is prevailing across TN, mainly due to the encroachment of water bodies. “Government should maintain a biodiversity registry in all villages to register these birds and take steps to preserve them,” he added.

Davidson suggests joint action by the Forest department, district administration and villagers to save this bird, an environmental heritage of the district.