Uppalapadu Bird Sanctuary and Migratory Birds

Uppalapadu is small village in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. The wet lands surrounding the village is unique and provide refuge to the large migratory birds including Pelicans and Storks. Though the wetlands are scattered around the town of Gundur, the prime area of the birds population is at the lakes near Uppalapadu.

The place is not declared as a sanctuary but the birds populate around the lakes amidst the the private fields. Metal fences have been made around a few of the lakes to prevent human invasion from outside.

The number of birds are so high that their nests are very tightly packed on the 2-3 meter high shrubs spread arbitrarily in the lake water.

About 30 species of birds have been spotted out here when they stay during the months of September to February, for laying eggs and hatching them.

Location of Uppalapadu

Uppalapady is just 5 kms from Guntur, a well know town, 270 Kms south of Hyderabad, the capital city of the state of Andhra Pradesh. There is a railway station at Guntur and local public transport is available to Uppalapadu.

I was lucky to visit Uppalapadu with my friend Vijay Kumar Chilaka(who is a lecturer at Sherubtse college, Kanglung, Bhutan), one of my friends from Thennali(24 Kms from Guntur)   and His Bother Kiren Kumar Chilaka.

We started off from Tennali by afternoon and moved along the road to Guntur. On the way we had eye catching views of lifestyles in traditional Andhra Pradesh- People working in paddy fields, spinning mills, Running Bullock carts, Mud Houses, Spinning Potter’s wheel etc.

Emu farm

Vijay's brother Kiren knew about an emu farm (Emu is the national bird of Australia) near Guntur and we made a short visit here too. There were lots of huge birds, probably as tall as me. They were locked inside fencing as they could not to fly out of that. Emu is second largest in the world after Ostrich and I am sure that they can carry me if they could fly.

At Uppalapadu

After that we started back to Uppalapadu, and we reached there in half an hour. I was amazed to find the huge number of birds nesting around the wetlands. There were so many that I could not count. All the trees and the ponds were full by birds and birds. Though the sanctuary did not have a very vast area, probably about 100 by 100 meters, the density of birds was very high.

A comprehensive list of the Species of birds spotted here.

• Spot-billed Pelican Pelecanus philippensis
• Painted Stork Mycteria leucocephala
• Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis
• Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata .
• Bronze-winged Jacana Metopidius indicus
• Black-headed Ibis Threskiornis melanocephalus-
• Asian Openbill Anastomus oscitans-
• Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax
• Darter Anhinga melanogaster
• Garganey Anas querquedula
• Purple Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio
• Water Cock Gallicrex cinerea

Team

• Vijay Kumar Chilaka, Ithanagar,AP (vijay.chanti@gmail.com), Lecturer and HOD, Physics department, Sherubtse College, Kanglung, Bhutan http://www.facebook.com/ithanagar
• Kiran Kumar Chillaka, Ithanagar,AP  (kiran_anooo@yahoo.com), Social Worker, Tenali, Andhra Pradesh
• Prasad D, Tenali, AP