The Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary is a protected area located in the

Ariyalur District Ariyalur district is an administrative district, one of the Districts of Tamil Nadu, 38 districts in the Indian state, state of Tamil Nadu in India. The district headquarters is located at Ariyalur. The district encompasses an area of 1,949.31& ...

of the state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The sanctuary is about from

Thanjavur Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the Gr ...

. This freshwater lake is fed by Pullambadi, Kattalal canal and attracts thousands of birds every year. This lake was declared as a sanctuary in 1999 by the Government of Tamil Nadu. About 200 birds are species recorded from this sanctuary.Gokula, V., 2013. Avifauna of Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary, Tamil Nadu, India. Zoos’ Print 28: 23–29 Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary is one of the Important Bird Areas (IBA's) of Tamil Nadu (Code No. IN268, Criteria: A1, A4i, A4iii).Islam, M.Z. & A.R. Rahmani (2004). Important Bird Areas in India: Priority sites for conservation. Indian Bird Conservation Network: Bombay Natural History Society and Birdlife International (UK).Pp.xviii+1133BirdLife International (2017) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Karaivetti Wildlife Sanctuary. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/06/2017. Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary is home to migratory birds such as

Bar-headed goose The bar-headed goose (''Anser indicus'') is a goose that breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest. It ...

Northern pintail The pintail or northern pintail (''Anas acuta'') is a duck species with wide geographic distribution that breeds in the northern areas of Europe and across the Palearctic and North America. It is migratory and winters south of its breeding ra ...

White Stork The white stork (''Ciconia ciconia'') is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on the bird's wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average from beak tip to en ...

Northern shoveler The northern shoveler (; ''Spatula clypeata''), known simply in Britain as the shoveler, is a common and widespread duck. It breeds in northern areas of Europe and across the Palearctic and across most of North America, wintering in southern Euro ...

Garganey The garganey (''Spatula querquedula'') is a small dabbling duck. It breeds in much of Europe and across the Palearctic, but is strictly migratory, with the entire population moving to southern Africa, India (in particular Santragachi), Banglades ...

Blue-winged teal The blue-winged teal (''Spatula discors'') is a species of bird in the duck, goose, and swan family Anatidae. One of the smaller members of the dabbling duck group, it occurs in North America, where it breeds from southern Alaska to Nova Scotia ...

Osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

and

common sandpiper The common sandpiper (''Actitis hypoleucos'') is a small Palearctic wader. This bird and its American sister species, the spotted sandpiper (''A. macularia''), make up the genus ''Actitis''. They are parapatric and replace each other geographic ...

The sanctuary is a large irrigation tank located in the northern alluvial plains of the

Kaveri river The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery, the anglicized name) is one of the major Indian rivers flowing through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Kaveri river rises at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri range in the Western Ghats, Kodagu dist ...

. It is fed during the northeast monsoons by the Pullambadi canal. It is also referred to together with another nearby tank and called Vettakudi-Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary.Subramanya, S. 2006. Heronries of Tamil Nadu. Indian Birds. 1: (6) 126–140 (2005) Farm lands especially paddy, sugarcane, cotton, castor and maize are surrounded by this lake and irrigated from this lake.

Acacia nilotica ''Vachellia nilotica'', more commonly known as ''Acacia nilotica'', and by the vernacular names of gum arabic tree, babul, thorn mimosa, Egyptian acacia or thorny acacia, is a flowering tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to Africa, the Mi ...

planted inside the lake is serving as a major nesting site for birds. During winter, the total number of birds recorded is between 20,000 and 60,000, mostly Anatidae. Globally threatened species such as

Greater Spotted Eagle The greater spotted eagle (''Clanga clanga''), occasionally called the spotted eagle, is a large bird of prey. Like all typical eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Its feathered legs indicate it is a member of the subfamily Aquilinae ...

Oriental Darter The Oriental darter (''Anhinga melanogaster'') is a water bird of tropical South Asia and Southeast Asia. It has a long and slender neck with a straight, pointed bill and, like the cormorant, it hunts for fish while its body is submerged in water ...

Black-headed ibis The black-headed ibis (''Threskiornis melanocephalus''), also known as the Oriental white ibis, Indian white ibis, and black-necked ibis, is a species of wading bird of the ibis family Threskiornithidae which breeds in the South and Southeast As ...

and

Spot-billed Pelican The spot-billed pelican (''Pelecanus philippensis'') or gray pelican is a member of the pelican family. It breeds in southern Asia from southern Iran across India east to Indonesia. It is a bird of large inland and coastal waters, especially larg ...

were reported in this site Karaivetti is one of the important active

heronries A heronry, sometimes called a heron rookery, is a breeding ground for herons. Notable heronries Although their breeding territories are often on more protected small islands in lakes or retention ponds, herons breed in heronries (or also called ...

in Tamil Nadu.

Painted Stork The painted stork (''Mycteria leucocephala'') is a large wading bird, wader in the stork family. It is found in the wetlands of the plains of tropical Asia south of the Himalayas in the Indian Subcontinent and extending into Southeast Asia. Thei ...

Eurasian Spoonbill The Eurasian spoonbill (''Platalea leucorodia''), or common spoonbill, is a wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. The genus name ''Platalea'' is from Latin and means "broad", referring to the distinctive shape of the b ...

are some of the birds species breeding in this sanctuary Other fauna inhabit this region are

Golden Jackal The golden jackal (''Canis aureus''), also called common jackal, is a wolf-like canid that is native to Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and regions of Southeast Asia. The golden jackal's coat varies in color from a pale creamy y ...

, Black-naped hare,

Indian grey mongoose The Indian grey mongoose (''Urva edwardsii'') is a mongoose species native to the Indian subcontinent and West Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. The grey mongoose inhabits open forests, scrublands and cultivated fields ...

and nearly 15 species of fish were reported Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary attracts birdwatchers mainly during the winter season. Interpretation centre explaining the importance of the wetland and waterfowl of this sanctuary was established and opened for public in 2015.

References

External links

* http://ibcn.in/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Tamil-Nadu.pdf * https://www.forests.tn.gov.in/pages/view/karaivetti_bs * http://tamilnadu-favtourism.blogspot.in/2015/10/karaivetti-bird-sanctuary-ariyalur.html * https://ebird.org/ebird/hotspot/L1114340 {{Commons category, Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary, position=left

Gallery

File:Bar headed geese Anser indicus in flight in Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary JEG3183.jpg, Bar headed geese Anser indicus in flight in Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary File:Birdwatchers in Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary JEG3035.jpg, Birdwatchers in Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary File:Board saying Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary photographed in 2014 IMG 0782.jpg, Board saying Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary File:Interpretation Centre at Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary JEG3189.jpg, Interpretation Centre at Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary File:Greater Spotted Eagle Clanga clanga from Karaivetti Birds Sanctuary JEG3095.jpg, Greater Spotted Eagle ''Clanga clanga'' from Karaivetti Birds Sanctuary File:Common Buzzard Buteo buteo vulpinus in flight from Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary IMG 0775.jpg, Common Buzzard ''Buteo buteo vulpinus'' in flight from Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary File:Cormorants and waterfowls in Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary JEG3094.jpg, Cormorants and waterfowls in Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary Bird sanctuaries of Tamil Nadu Important Bird Areas of India Protected areas of Tamil Nadu 1989 establishments in Tamil Nadu Protected areas established in 1989