Saturday excursions - Edianthittu backwaters, whale bone, Kaliveli wetlands and more

 Saturday March 6th 2021

5am - Sheila and I headed to Neelangarai, where we would hop into Ashish's car and head further south on ECR - my first Intertidal survey outing, armed with sandwiches of course.  The MNS Intertidal survey was announced in September of 2020, with a workshop (which I did not attend), for training on the survey techniques.  We were doing the areas around Chennai, with the overall broad objectives being to assess the present status of Important Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Areas (ICMBAs) along the Tamil Nadu coast, 

Edianthittu is one of the survey locations, in Zone 1, which is from Tiruvallur to Pondy, a little less than 160 kms of coastline.  I had missed many - Yashna beach near Kovalam, as well as Pulicat.  So I was happy to be part of this, more as a tourist really - since the core team were into some transect surveying and were busy documenting mollusc and gastropod diversity.  

I had seen some beautiful pictures of the previous trips - razor clams, sea squirt, and some really beautiful shells.

Sunrise over the backwaters, with a tern up in flight

The pin was where we were headed, about 100 kms from home, on the ECR - Azhagan Kuppam road, Villupuram.

First left after the large bridge before marakkanam, and then wound our way on very narrow roads, past a prawn hatchery to the road head on the beach.  Fishing boats were out on the water and everyone seemed busy.

Vikas educated me thus - "It has two species of mangroves and is one of the larger mangrove patches in that district. Mangrove dependent species of crabs have been recorded, along with birds that like the set up like the terek Sandpipier and common Greenshank. In winter it is known to attract various birds such as the Curlew Sandpipier, Dublin, stints, golden plovers and many species of raptors including falcons and harriers. The Grey-tailed Tattler was recently seen there (the second location in the country where this bird is known from, first being Pulicat). Sea grass is found near the mouth of the river, which is well known to be a nursery for shrimps."

We were going to walk along the coast, to the area opposite the Alamparai fort, where the Edianthittu backwaters meet the Buckingham?

715 am - We set off from our vehicles.  There were fifteen(?)  of us, and wonderful to see so many young energetic participants.  It was a beautiful morning, there was a light breeze, the sea waters were clear and the sand was as yet cool beneath our feet.

Ravanan meesai

All along the dunes we found Spinifex littoreus, eli mullu, all spiky and poky.  They are said to be good sand binders

I learnt that the grass had different female and male flowers.  Those longish oblong ones are the male ones, if I heard correctly.

These round ones are female, and they also tumble along and disperse the seeds.

Beach Swales

On the other (western) side of the dunes, there were a line of pools.  

The insect life in the pools including those whirligig beetles going round and round on the surface.

Yuvan explaining how the fresh water gets pushed up by the pressure of the sea water

The masked core survey team noting every insect.  Those pipes being held by Rohith would join to form a square, within which they would survey and note all creatures found.

The casuarina behind was filed with the call of Francolins - I didnt see any.  As we walked some snipes also got flushed out, but of course I did not see them.  Nor did I see an oriole which some members did.  

But Sheila and I saw the Pied cuckoo - four of them in fact - as we walked along the ridge of a sand dune. (Photo by Sheila)

The Jacobin cuckoo (Clamator jacobinus),  the pied crested cuckoo, with the estuary behind.  (Photo taken by Sheila)

It was so picturesque

A lot of the shore life follows....most of which I cannot identify.

Telescopium telescopium, or "Horn snail, I think

A hermit crab in hand

and on the sand

Sea grass!

Alamparai fort at the far shore

We made slow progress walking back on the sand, with the sun high up, but with a lovely breeze blowing, and the sea so blue, with terns and gulls wheeling close to boats.  On a mud bank, we saw a bunch of bobbing brown-headed gulls as well.

Every few metres, Ashish would pick up a lovely looking shell, each one with a design more intricate than the last.  Each one that I felt compelled to take a picture of.

Sunetta meroe?

wonder if this is Sunetta scripta?

Duck clam shell?

Dardanus crassimanus, the mauve-eyed hermit crab

Grey bonnet snail - a sea snail?

Is this a Chinna Mulli Sanghu?  Bufonaria crumena

And then there was much waving and shouting by the group ahead of us, and as we approached we saw this.

Like a huge block of cement, it was the vertebral column of a whale - sperm whale maybe - and it was massive.  Just four of the vertebrae, and it was sobbing, the mind boggled as to the size of the whale.

We reached the fishing village, and north of us a Pallid Harrier moved inland, majestically.

The complete Yedianthittu bird list is here.

We then drove on to the Kaliveli wetlands - the first time I was going there.  It is a nondescript turning off the Pondy road, and we bumped along past paddy fields.  Palm swifts above, and red wattled lapwings were resting on the bunds.  We drove on further and the fields gave way to wetlands that were more like empty marshy land, rather than filled with grassy vegetations.

Some buffaloes cooled off in the shallow waters.

Ashy crowned sparrow larks watched us from the wires above.  Photo by Sheila

There were the regular water birds - Ibis, OBS, herons, a few sandpipers, kingfisher, beeeaters, and even a pipit.

A booted eagle circled in the skies above.  Photo by Sheila, with the "landing lights" clearly visible.

The complete Kaliveli list from that morning is here.

We drove back via Nemmeli on the Thiruporur road, and didn't see to much there, and then headed back home.

The Intertidal Survey led to the Young Naturalists - Suneha, Nandita, Yuvan, Vikas, Aswati and Anooja - putting together "A guide to the coastal biodiversity seen along the Chennai coast and neighboring districts. Featured species are those that have been recorded by the team from Madras Naturalists’ Society, as part of our documentation of the Tamil Nadu coast."

I was happy to experience part of the survey, and it was a lovely morning out with Sheila and Ashish, and we missed Chithra, this time.

It is May now, and Covid rages all around us, and we stay home.  It feels good to relive these outings we did earlier this year, even if it was with masks and social distancing.