Children need to know what the water birds say

Kutwadi lake near Gaddige

Last Sunday we decided to visit some lakes as a pre-survey of migratory water birds. We drove towards Gaddige, a village situated about 45 km to the west of Mysore city and had mixed experiences. A number of irrigation tanks were dysfunctional; some were encroached upon by humans for cultivation or for residential sites. Some had simply dried up as the inlet area for runoff water was blocked due to various reasons. Some water bodies were stripped off their soil in their shoreline for making bricks or for land filling else where! Water bodies once alive had died an unnatural death.

Daitana Katte

It was almost very near to Gaddige, when we found a water body alive with flora and fauna flourishing in it. It is a small sized perennial lake called “Daitana Katte” right on the main road. We had a nice bird watching session there. Except for the coots and cotton teals there were no major representation of the winter visitors. Median Egret, Cattle Egret, Coot, Cormorant, Dab Chick (Little Grebe) Swallow, Red Wattled Lapwing, Pond Heron, Pheasant tailed Jaccana,  and Sand pipers were a few that we saw.

 

Reeds in the lake

As we walked around, our attention was caught by the hydrophytes – the water plants. Many plants that I had seen as a discoloured specimen in the biology lab were very much alive, green and luxuriant here! Marsilea, a pteridophyte, commonly called fern was in abundance on the shore. My class room instincts made me to look for the fruiting bodies but could not find them as it was not the right season to expect for them. Nymphaea lotus has bloomed into beautiful flowers. Chara, a green alga, different species of Ipomoea, different types of reeds, Barlaria on fringes, Polygonum, a number of green algae were found on the edge of the pond. The kids felt honored to be asked to pull out a specimen for examination.

Ipomea

Hygrophylla auriculata

Nymphaea lotus

After a while, we drove past Gaddige and pulled to the right towards Gurupura and found another lake at Kutwadi.  It was a beautiful morning and there were a lot of water birds. White and black and purple Ibis and Gray Heron, Median Egret, Little Egret, pond Heron and Jaccanas were seen. The bright morning with a little over cast made revealed Purple Moorhen in its splendor. It was a feast to watch. But many people do not know what their abundance signify in a pond. They inhabit dying water bodies! They live in ponds rich in reeds and rooted water plants which are indication of settling of more silt in the lake.

 

Marsilea

It was hard to believe what these birds, as indicators of the quality of the water body were telling?  The lake may entirely dry up like most of them we passed through in the morning. All the beautiful water plants may vanish and replaced by terrestrial weeds. And then how can we find the winged visitors as we used to do, all these years?

What is the future of this lake?