Guests from Siberia start arriving in Veerapuram

Veerapuram (Sathya Sai): The villagers of Veerapuram in Chilamattur village are looking forward for the arrival of their annual bird guests any time now. The Siberian birds arrive in a pregnant mode and when they leave, they go with their newly born offspring. They come here just as pregnant women, go to their parents' home for delivery of their child, say the local forest ward Raghavulu while talking to The Hans India. The villagers in anticipation are filling all empty barns with water while some prepare fish feed for their annual guests.

The forest department had built water trenches and fish feed supply points for these migratory birds minimising their search for food. "These birds are our guests and so we do not want the birds to suffer searching for food," says Gangaraju, a local citizen of Veerapuram village, who had been watching the birds visit every year for over a decade.  There are different types of trees at Veerapuram village and hence enough nest building space is available for birds. Apart from the green vegetation, there are many small herbs, shrubs and wild grass all over the village.

A veterinary clinic had been opened at the village to treat sick birds if any. The clinic operates with the arrival of birds. Water trenches have been arranged for the birds to drink water. The birds until an year ago used to go in search of water to far off places, now with the government filling all village and age-old big tanks with Krishna riverwater, the birds are having a field day every year at the village tanks quenching their thirst as well as catching fish at the village tanks.

A forest department proposal to develop Veerapuram as a tourist resort is still to become reality. It is looking for a 4-acre government land for developing tourist facilities including setting up a museum, say the forest personnel. Painted storks are colonial, nesting on different trees with often 70 to 100 nests per tree. The villagers are very friendly with birds and have made an unwritten law not to do any harm and at the same time protect the storks from other predators and from outsiders. Storks fly out from 6 am onwards and return to nests from 12 noon onwards in a group of 10 to 20. Fish purchased from local market by the forest department are fed to the birds both adult and young ones.