Point Calimere Bird and Wildlife Sanctuary

Why in News?

• The two-day annual synchronised bird census was carried out at Point Calimere Bird and Wildlife Sanctuary.

Where is the sanctuary located?

• Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary (PCWBS) is a protected area in Tamil Nadu, South India along the Palk Strait.
• The sanctuary was created in 1967 for conservation of the near threatened blackbuck antelope, an endemic mammal species of India.
• It is the only Ramsar site in Tamil Nadu as of now.

What are the important flora and fauna?

• This site is a mix of salt swamps, mangroves, backwaters, mudflats, grasslands and tropical dry evergreen forests.
• The flagship species of the sanctuary is the near threatened blackbuck antelope, one of the four antelope species in India (Chinkara, Chausingha and Nilgai being the other three).
• This site has recorded the second largest congregation of migratory waterbirds in India including threatened species such as spot-billed pelican, spoonbill sandpiper and black-necked stork.
• The shoreline beaches of the sanctuary are a regular nesting site of the endangered olive ridley turtle.

What are the threats to ecological balance of the wet land?

• Loss of habitat for waterbirds,
• Soil and water salinisation by adjacent salt pans,
• Spread of the invasive Prosopis juliflora,
• Cattle grazing and scarcity of fresh water.

PRELIMS QUESTION

Point Calimere bird sanctuary is located in:
(a)Tamil Nadu
(b)Andhra Pradesh
(c)Karnataka
(d)Telangana

Answer to Prelims Question