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                                                                                         Saving the Pelican with People’s Participation

 

 

             This is an Ornithological project that turned into a full scale socio-cultural activity and into a movement with the masses involving in the conservation of the endangered Spotbilled pelican at the village called Kokkare Bellur. The project has completed seven seasons and has developed a local working group called Hejjarle Balaga (Pelican Clan). In course of time our work has taken us beyond Kokkare Bellur and into the vast network of irrigation tanks in the region that form the foraging ground for the species.

We look forward to study them and develop conservation plans.            

KOKKARE BELLUR

— the Legendary Village OF Pelicans

There could not be any simpler and better way to depict the village other than putting an apt prefix to the name of the Village. Kokkare in Kannada means Storks and the local folk named the village crammed with birds as Kokkare Bellur. Every winter you find Pelicans and Painted Storks congregating in large numbers to carry out their annual breeding cycles. For over a few centuries now people have witnessed the arrival and departure of colourful birds into the village. Year after year the birds have faithfully occupied the village trees for their nesting. It still amazes every visitor to the village-especially the fact that these so-called water birds choose such a dry village with no appreciable water body in the vicinity to bring up their young. While the villagers have been accommodative to the smelly-noisy visitors, the birds in return have given them potassium rich manure, which the farmers happily dig into their fields for better yields. This age-old symbiotic relation is not tainted with any religious sentiments but sheer love affection and mutual trust has kept the alliance intact.

Today, in the 22nd century disregarding traditional customs, values and the wisdom of the elders has become a fashion. This village stands out as one example that tells us that there is a symbiotic way out of the modern day crisis, which has emerged out of the conflict between men and beast in sharing of resources like nesting space, food and water.

Welcome to the legendary village of the pelicans. Kokkare Bellur is proud of its long tradition of hospitality and friendship with the extraordinary birds pelicans and Painted storks  which make their home in the village from November to July. While the villagers offer protection and reverence to the avian population they are in turn rewarded by copious dividend of potassium rich manure. Kokkare Bellur Village, which derives it’s name from the Painted Stork, has  witnessed this drama for over 500 years.

Depending on what time of the year you visit, look out for the following.

                                                                                           Bird calendar of the village:

 

 

SPOTBILLED PELICAN

You will instantly identify this large bird by its superb fishing equipment – a huge dagger-like bill with a baggy pouch attached. This pouch is very versatile. As the bird fishes, he scoops through the water with his wide-open bill, trapping large quantities of fish in the pouch.

                                                  

When the pelicans are feeding their young, the pouch becomes a large feeding spoon from which the chicks gobble fish regurgitated from the parent bird’s crop. The leathery pouch also serves as a cooling mechanism on hot days. It contain a fine network of blood vessels and when fully extended provides a large surface area of membrane which flaps with a rapid fan-like movement, thus preventing the densely feathered bird from overheating.

The inky blue spots, which give the species its common name, appear in two neat rows along the upper bill, as the bird matures. The pelican has a large bulky body, which seems to balance precariously on its unexpectedly short legs, giving it a comically clumsy appearance. But once in flight it becomes miraculously graceful and can be seen soaring effortlessly in the thermals high above the village.

Its powerful wings enable it to shuttle between the nesting site and the lakes where it feeds. It may travel to water bodies up to a hundred kilometres away in search of fish.

You will rarely see a pelican on the ground in the village, as its heavy body can only get airborne from a height or a wide-open take off space.

 

NESTING ACTIVITIES of PELICANS

Pelicans are colonial nesters; that is to say, they find safety in numbers by breeding in dense clusters which give maximum protection from predators.

Pelicans arrive in the village towards the end of November. The males select trees suitable for nesting before embarking on the nesting process. Trees with large multi-layered canopies, strong enough to hold many nesting birds are preferred. The pelican’s favourite species are peepal, banyan, tamarind, acacia and thespesia. They rarely nest on the same tree two years running-probably to prevent a buildup of parasites and perhaps to give the tree a chance to recover from its drenching in acid droppings. Having established their nest perches they pair up and start nest building. The male keeps bringing twigs, which the female arranges, under her to form an untidy platform. To mark the climax of this courtship ritual the male brings leafy twigs, which the female tucks in the nest. Mating follows the presentation of a green twig. Their untidy nests sprawl into one another so that you may see several incubating birds sitting huddled together. If you are lucky, you may observe the birds changing over on the nest - a precarious exercise for these ungainly birds.

                                                

                Two or three chalky-white eggs are incubated for about 28 days before the first stirring of pterodactyl-like hatching stretching their rudimentary wings and gaping for food.

They grow with surprising speed and soon reach the fluffy "cotton ball" stage. The chicks remain in the nest, totally dependent on their parents for four long months.

By the end of this period, the chicks will have reached the size of the toiling parents. The fledglings constantly flex their wings in preparation for the glorious day, when they make their maiden flight.

 

Conservation efforts

The people of Kokkare Bellur have a long reputation for living with the bird colony breeding in their village in a harmonious way. Though they do not worship the birds, they have always protected them, believing that the birds bring them good fortune with regards to the rains and their crops. They are proud of their long association with the birds nicknamed daughters of the village, and compare them to the local girls who marry into another village but return home while they have babies.

Digging into the oral history of the villages, you find innumerable tales where the villages have nabbed intruders who try to steal nests of the breeding birds. On one instance, a thief was tied up to the village temple tree overnight as punishment for his misadventure. While a family of refugees from Bangladesh was locked up in the school room, the forest officials who tried to collect chicks for their new zoo at Bangalore where militantly gheraoed.

Sadly such militant defence of the birds is becoming a thing of the past. Over the past few decades, the growing pressure of population has led to an increased demand for trees as a resource for fuel and fodder. The fragmentation of land is at its height and is no more viable for intensive agriculture. As a result, the villagers have become less hospitable to the birds putting their own livelihood before their age old lifestyle.

 

Since 1994, a local environment group, the Mysore Amateur Naturalists (MAN)  has been actively involved in the conservation of pelicans and their habitat in Kokkare Bellur. In collaboration with the local people, MAN is seeking to promote the re-establishment of harmony between birds and humans. A grass root action group, ‘Hejjarle Balaga’ (pelican clan), consisting largely of youngsters from the village, runs a conservation pen for orphan chicks under the guidance of MAN. The birds that fall from their nests and would otherwise have perished on the ground either being unable to sustain the impact of the fall or being an easy prey for any stray dogs. These chicks are raised to the fledgling stage until they are 4 months old; they are then returned to the wild to join their naturally raised siblings which they do so without any adaptation problems. This ‘harvesting’ of chicks which would otherwise be lost, goes a long way in counteracting the drastic decline in breeding numbers. It has already proved to be a highly effective, hands on method of involving even very young member of the community, in the conservation effort. While the conservation group boast of putting back more than 15% of the birds back into the wild each year, there is a tremendous boost in the morale of the youngsters of Kokkare Bellur.

 

                                                               Click Here to Learn More About Pelicans

 

                                     Click Here to See the Photos of this year’s children camp