Chidhambaram

On the trail of Adventurous Creeks...

This tourist spot is a land of 11000 acres of backwaters. There are many numerous channels and creeks that are ideal for boating. A unique natural phenomenon in the form of mangrove forests attract an appreciable bird population of residents, local migrants and true migrants. Amongest others, one can view birds like Water Snips, Cormorants, Egrets, Storks, Herons, Spoonbills and Pelicans. At the mangroves, so far, 177 species of birds belonging to 15 orders and 41 families have been recorded. The season for birds is from September to April every year. Peak population of birds could be seen from November to January. Pichavaram is home to the second largest Mangrove forest in the world, and it is one of eco-tourism spots in South India. The backwaters, interconnected by the Vellar and Coleroon river systems, offer abundant scope for water sports such as rowing, kayaking and canoeing. The Pichavaram forest not only offers waterscape and backwater cruises, but also another very rare sight - the mangrove forest trees are permanently rooted in a few feet of water. This is due to high productive nature (in terms of prey organisms) of the ecosystem and coincidence of the time of arrival of true migrants from foreign countries and local migrants from their breeding grounds across India. The availability of different habitat types such as channels, creeks, gullies, mud flats and sand flats and adjacent sea shore offers ideal habitat for difference species of birds.