Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary is a bird sanctuary in

Tirupati district Tirupati district () is one of the eight districts of Rayalaseema region in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.The district headquarters is located at Tirupati city. This district is known for its numerous historic temples, including the Hindu ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, near the village of Nelapattu. It has an area of 458.92 hectares. It is an important breeding site for spot-billed pelicans (''Pelecanus philippensis''). Nelapattu has two major plant communities, '' Barringtonia'' swamp forests and southern dry evergreen scrub. Southern dry evergreen scrub covers most of the sanctuary, including the 288 hectares of Kalluru Reserved Forest and 88 hectares of unreserved forest. The dominant tree and shrub species are '' Manilkara hexandra'', ''Maba buxifolia'', '' Memecylon edule'', ''Buchanania angustifolia'', ''Zizyphus xylopyrus'', and others.Sharma, P.K. and P. S. Rahgavaiah (2002). "Effect of Rainfall on Grey Pelican ''(Pelecanus philippensis)'' Arriving and Breeding at Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh". ''Indian Forester'', October 2002, pp. 1101-110

The ''Barringtonia'' swamp forests are found in the 83-ha Nelapattu tank. The predominant tree species is '' Barringtonia acutangula'' (Hijal). This tree also grows in uplands, but the tree species found at Nelapattu can grow in flooded conditions lasting for 5 to 7 months. The saplings can survive total submersion during the long duration of flooding.Rain water harvesting by fresh water flooded forests
/ref> About 189 bird species can be found at Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary, 50 of which are migratory. In addition to the spot-billed pelican, it is an important breeding site for black-headed ibis, Asian openbill, black-crowned night heron, and little cormorant. Other migratory water birds that visit the sanctuary include northern pintail, common teal,

little grebe The little grebe (''Tachybaptus ruficollis''), also known as dabchick, is a member of the grebe family of water birds. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''takhus'' "fast" and ''bapto'' "to sink under". The specific ''ruficollis'' is from Latin ...

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 throughout the Palearctic and across most of North America, and winters in southe ...

, Eurasian coot,

Indian spot-billed duck The Indian spot-billed duck (''Anas poecilorhyncha'') is a species of large dabbling duck that is a non-migratory breeding duck throughout freshwater wetlands in the Indian subcontinent. The name is derived from the red spot at the base of the bi ...

, grey heron, Oriental darter, black-winged stilt,

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

and

gadwall The gadwall (''Mareca strepera'') is a common and widespread dabbling duck in the family Anatidae. Taxonomy The gadwall was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. DNA studies have shown th ...

References

Bird sanctuaries of Andhra Pradesh East Deccan dry evergreen forests Nellore district Protected areas with year of establishment missing {{Nellore-geo-stub

See also

References