White-bellied sea eagle spotted at Kakinada

KAKINADA: A conservation biologist found the movement of juvenile white-bellied sea eagle (Hailacetus Leucogaster) at Kakinada Coast. The Adult Sea Eagle birds appeared moderately at Kakinada coast. Though nobody took the photographs of the sea eagle at the coast so far, the Nature Volunteer and Guardians of Earth Foundation vice-president Mannepuri Srikanth took the pictorial evidence of the sea eagle in the coast.

Mr. Srikanth used to visit wetlands and sea coast areas around Kakinada coast in the early morning hours for his research purpose. “On finding them, he clicked the white-bellied sea eagle and black kite birds with his camera. There are no photographic records of such birds in the recent past. I spotted these two birds near Coromandel Fertiliser plant,” he claimed. The sea eagle is a raptor belongs to the family Accipitridae and has a wide distribution range on the sea coast of Mumbai, south to the East Coast.

White-bellied sea eagles are previously reported on Andhra University campus in Visakhapat-nam in 1999 and also in 2015. The sea eagles are added to checklist by direct sighting by two scientists in Kakinada, but they did not document any photographic evidence’’ said Mr Srikanth. He said that this is the recent photographic record of white-bellied sea eagle after 15 years in Kakinada region. He said that a study is needed to track the nesting sites of the sea eagles in Kakinada coast and its surrounding areas.

EGREE Foundation  state coordinator K. Tulsi Rao said that the white-bellied sea eagles are in moderate in EGREE (East Godavari Reverine Estuarine Ecosystems) area. He said that these birds are usually nesting in long trees near the shores and caves in hills. The sea eagle can feed on sea snakes and fishes. It can catch snakes in the seas easily with its sharp nose and legs. He gave a pat to Mr. Srikanth for grabbing a rare photograph of these birds.  

Conservation Biologist P. Sathiya Selvam said that the white-bellied sea eagles are found  and recorded for past six years, after EGREE Foundation starts its conservation work. These birds are usually adults but that clicked is a juvenile.