Pedullapalle

Pedullapalle village, Cuddappah

The

forest type is mixed deciduous and the vegetation includes red sandalwood (endemic), axlewood,

East Indian satinwood, anjana, shisum, white gulmohar, etc. The river Pennar flows about 40

kilometres south from this village where the Lankamala ranges meet the Palakonda- Seshachalam

ranges of the Eastern Ghats. This place receives an annual rainfall of 600 mm and the temperature

in the summer months shoots up to an oppressive 45°C.

Although the village is surrounded by wildlife as mentioned above the actual protection efforts have

been focused within the village. Peddulapalle village is situated 34 km north of Lankamalleswara

Wildlife Sanctuary. While villagers protect the birds and do not harm the roosting sites (as they

believe the birds bring good rains), they do not have any existing system of wildlife protection

outside the village.

This village has played host to a number of avian visitors such as painted storks, black-headed

ibis, Indian coromorants and great coromorants in the trees of the village for over a century.

These birds arrive here during the months of November-December. The communities have made

successful protection efforts for these birds for generations, as they believe that they are harbingers

of prosperity and a good agricultural yield.

Immature storks and white ibises are often seen resting on haystacks and rooftops of the village

during the nesting period. According to the villagers, earlier a large number of pelicans, storks

and ibises were also nesting in the village but they have stopped visiting this area since 1998 for

reasons unknown. Other local birds like egrets and heronsare spotted building their nests, placed

under those of storks and getting their food supply from the fish that drop from the upper tier.

The major feeding ground for these birds is the Badvel tank that is located around 3 km from

the village. This tank is fed by the Sagileru and Vankamarri reservoirs. Though fish form a major

part of the diet of these birds, they have also been observed feeding crustaceans and molluscs to

their young ones.

The villagers have observed a decreasing number of the avian visitors that come to the village for

breeding and nesting purposes. The villagers attribute this decrease due to lack of nesting space

for these birds. At present there are 23 tree species, including tamarind, Delonix elata, karanj,

banyan and shirish, placed in the heart of the village. Although there are many trees around the

village, the birds seem to prefer nesting in the heart of the village itself.

Some of the threats to the birds are:

1. During the time of the north-east monsoon, particularly during heavy rains, many young ones

fall from their nests, and despite various attempts made by the villagers to save them, very few

of them survive.

2. The local Yerikala tribe hunts the birds with nets and guns at the Badvel tank and occasionally

even try to poach the birds in the village. However they have been driven away by the villagers

several times.

3. Pisciculture is being encouraged by the Government as a means of revenue generation from

auctioning the tanks, and this seems to pose a threat to the birds due to lack of food required

for breeding.

4. There is a lack of nesting space for the birds on the trees in the village. This is because the birds

occupy most of the big trees in the village, and once the birds roost the tree canopy reduces due

to the guano/bird excreta, the acidic content of which reduces the canopy cover. Local people

informed that the number of trees has also reduced in the last few years.

Team Leader, Foundation for Ecological Security AP Project 17-89-1, NVR Layout, Gandhi Road Madanapalle - 517325 Chittoor district Andhra Pradesh E-mail: mada[email protected] Suresh Jones and Dr Subba Rao

Suresh Jones and Dr Subba Rao, Foundation for Ecological Security, Andhra Pradesh in July 2002.