Every year the “flamingo festival” is held near Pulicat lake in the Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. This year, it is planned in the first week of January 2020.
- Four venues — Sullurpeta, B.V. Palem, Atakanithippa and Nelapattu — have been selected for holding various cultural programmes and stepping up awareness on the brackish water ecosystem during the festival .
- The area surrounding Pulicat Lake is considered a safe haven for migratory birds.
- A variety of aquatic and terrestrial birds, including painted storks, large and little egrets, grey pelicans, grey herons, and water birds like northern pintails, black-winged stilts, northern shovellers, common teal, seagulls, terns, sandpipers, and common coots have come in large numbers this year.
- The concentration of the flamingos depends on water-levels along with the presence of high algal, fish and benthic diversity. The groups of organisms, which live in or near the aquatic region are known as benthos or benthic zone.
About Pulicat Lake
- Pulicat Lake is the second largest brackish water ecosystem in the country after the Chilika lake in Odisha.
- It was previously known as “Pralaya Kaveri”.
- It was declared a sanctuary in 1976.
- About 75 per cent of the lagoon is in Andhra Pradesh and 25 per cent in Tamil Nadu.
- The lake is fed by River Kalangi and River Arani. The lagoon is separated from the Bay of Bengal by a barrier island which is the Sriharikota.
- In Tamil Nadu, the city Pulicat is located in the district of Tiruvallur. It is situated almost 60kms north of Chennai city particularly on the seaward side of Sri Harikota island blockade that segregates Pulicat Lake from the Bay of Bengal. A narrow water lagoon Pulicat Lake is integrated to the Pulicat city.
