Endangered Indian skimmer make Kakhadi a nesting spot   

By Express News Service

CUTTACK:  The sand mattress of Mahanadi river at Kakhadi in Athagarh is reverberating with cacophony of the hatchings of Indian skimmers referred to as Panichiri in native parlance.

Around 300 Indian skimmers have congregated on the spot for nesting and laying eggs on the sandy river mattress. The endangered species has been migrating from south Asia to the spot consecutively for the final two years for laying eggs. The website has turn into an appropriate and secure place for breeding for the birds. Last yr as many as 270 birds had laid eggs on the website.

Experts stated the birds come right here from February to put eggs and keep until May earlier than they begin returning. With the water degree of the Mahanadi river remaining low at through the interval, the sand mattress at Kakhadi gives a beneficial surroundings for them. The numbers are anticipated to rise within the coming years. 

The Indian skimmer scrape the bottom to make a shallow despair for laying their eggs. The rim of a scrape nest is simply deep sufficient to maintain the eggs from rolling away. The eggs often take 25 to 30 days to hatch.  

Earlier, the skimmers used to return for breeding on the banks of the Mahanadi river close to Munduli barrage, which fall beneath the Chandaka Wildlife Division in Cuttack. Two years again, the then Athagarh DFO Sashmita Lenka had initiated steps for the safety of the endangered Indian skimmer with huge consciousness marketing campaign among the many native folks, college and school college students, additionally getting the native fishermen concerned in preserving a tab on the birds. This resulted in Mahanadi mattress at Kakhadi changing into a secure breeding spot for the Indian skimmers.