Point Calimere sanctuary

Recently, the forest department has started preparing to augment waterbodies to attract more birds to the Point Calimere sanctuary.

About the Point Calimere sanctuary:

• The Point Calimere sanctuary is a protected area in Tamil Nadu, situated along the Palk Strait where it meets the Bay of Bengal at Point Calimere.
• It is a kind of island surrounded by the Bay of Bengal (east), the Palk Strait (south), swampy backwaters (west) and salt pans (north).
• It was created in 1967 for conservation of the blackbuck antelope.
• It is famous for large congregations of waterbirds, including greater flamingos.
• It is a type of “Tropical dry evergreen forests”.
• It consists of 60 ponds and 20 artificial water troughs under the Vedaranyam forest range.
• It is often invaded by invasive species “Prosopis juliflora”.

Significance of the Point Calimere sanctuary:

• It houses some of important cultural sites such as­- Kuzhagar Temple or Kodi Kuzhagar Temple, Navakodi Sitthar Aalayam, Ramar Padam, Sanyasin Muniaswar Kovil etc.
• Flora includes- salt swamps, mangroves, backwaters, mudflats, grasslands and tropical dry evergreen forests.
• Fauna includes- jackals, spotted deer, jackal, bonnet monkey, wild boar, monitor lizard, short-nosed fruit bat, small Indian civet,
• Important marine animal– Bottlenose dolphin, olive ridley turtle, etc.
• Migratory birds include- Little Stint, Lesser Sand Plover, Marsh Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Common Redshank, Wood Sandpiper, Eurasian Curlew, Painted Stork and Oriental Pratincole.

Ref: Source