Taruvai- another requiem to a grassland?

Taruvai- another requiem to a grassland?

                     Ganesh T

Taruvai is the name of a village on the Tirunelveli-Ambasamudram road just before the road crosses the river Pachyar towards Ambai. There is nothing unique about this small hamlet except that the expanding city of Tirunelveli with its cluster of colourful box like houses, is steadily inching towards Taruvai. Just before Taruvai, as you come from Tirunelveli, you cross a railway line and from the bridge, over it, you can see vast open stretch to your left and through which the railway line runs towards Kanyakumari and Nagercoil. This open land is actually a grassland that is surrounded by houses, highways and agricultural areas but remains neatly hidden from view when you drive on the road. 

We came to know about this place on one of the driving errands that we did in search of something or the other a few years back. The place looks vast and is undulating with a hump in the middle that gently tapers on all sides. There is also a tiny pond in the middle and a much bigger one to the north close to the village Araikulam. As you can see the little mound drains water on both the south and north side resulting in a series of tanks that usually gets filled in good rains. The mound area is the grassland with few scrub and Prosopis juliflora bushes and can easily remind one of the savanna grasslands that once existed here. This place harbours unique species. While driving at night through this place we saw plenty of yellow wattled lapwing and thick knees which are getting rarer. 

    

We always looked for harriers at this site but never thought that it could hold a roost. There were too many mud roads crisscrossing the area, a pigsty nearby with plenty of Brahminy kites, a bit bushy, a surfaced road with some traffic and a busy railway track running through it all making it not conducive for a peaceful night stay. But we were proved wrong, the Montagu male harrier that we tagged at Parurthipadu which we later called Taruvai started roosting here in the last two years. Its when we started to look for roosts. The roosts were always small with a maximum of 17 harriers but otherwise, it was 6-12 birds at any time. The roosts kept changing, one close to the railway track, the most commonly used roost close to the central road and one further south.  

Once we knew that Taruvai is there we used to come and check for it and to take some nice pictures but it always evaded us. We first saw it a year back in the darkening evening sky, just that little antennae projecting out against a darkening sky. On 16th Jan 20 Saravanan and I on a trip to see the bird, saw it at 4.30 pm in good sunlight and very close to us. My camera failed as I did not charge it! There was no other camera and we tried cell phone pictures, you can imagine how close the bird was! Its primary feathers were moulting but otherwise was actively foraging and very successful too. It was not only nice to see the bird but also satisfying to see it foraging and flying about like any other male Montagu. I always had a suspicion that tagged birds behaved differently and possibly becomes reclusive and spends time alone but seeing Taruvai with other harriers proved me wrong and that was a relief. 

Determined to get a picture and armed with big lenses and good photographers we made another visit on 28thJan. The place was a shade drier and we went to the same location to see Taruvai. There were other birds including a Hen harrier female but no Taruvai! We waited late near the roost hoping to catch a glimpse and he did not disappoint, in the darkening light it was seen flying over the roost with other harriers. Vinod our reliable photographer did his best to get a picture and he was successful to some extent. The transmitter was visible on the back of the bird bit hazy but still useful. Not satisfied we are determined to come again.

Photo: Vinod M Kumar

As I walked through the grassland I could see the invasion of some Chamaecrista species that had literally covered the mound area. This weed has grown vigorously this year in almost all places. In Radhapuram the old roost is covered by this weed making it unsuitable for roosting. This is a new threat to roosts and is more vigorous than Prosopis that at least takes years to cover a patch and is often cut by pastoralists. 

Would this ruin the remaining grasslands of Tirunelveli area? 

Photo: Ganesh T

While waiting for Taruvai to turn up, people were curious about our visit and most thought we were land buyers. As the conversation went on we found that Taruvai is bound for some rapid development. A major Tirunelveli bypass to Tenkasi is on the anvil. The lands have all being converted to housing plots and people are just waiting to develop it; the highway may just be a trigger for it. So in another couple of years, Taruvai may not exist just like Paruthipadu, Shankar Nagar grasslands and other grasslands in Radhapuram. 

Where will Taruvai and others go? Well to other areas that may be less suitable and consequently prone to be predated. Is this what leads to falling wintering population of our migratory birds? As we get a better understanding of the behaviour of tagged birds and by monitoring multiple roosts in a dynamic human dominated landscape, we hope such questions may get some clarity.