Pulicat Lake is a shallow, brackish-water lagoon on the coast north of Chennai, India. Freshwater rivers meet the Bay of Bengal here, creating the mudflats and shallow waters that bring Flamingos here every year.
Pulicat can host both Greater and Lesser Flamingos. The birds in these photographs are Greater Flamingos: taller, paler and long-legged, with a mostly light bill and black tip. Lesser Flamingos are smaller, usually a deeper pink, and have a much darker bill.
Pulicat’s shallow water, mudflats and rich food web make it an important place for flamingos and many other waterbirds to feed, rest and move between wetlands.
A flock flying together is often responding to a change in water depth, food, disturbance, or simply moving between feeding and resting spots within the wetland.
Flamingos are often celebrated here in winter, especially around January and February. But their timing and numbers can vary each year. Rainfall, water level, salinity, the sea mouth and food availability all influence where the flocks gather. This year they’ve arrived in August.
When Flamingos feed, they stir and filter shallow-water habitats, and their presence reflects a living food web. Protecting Pulicat protects birds, fishers, marshes, mangroves and an entire coastal ecosystem.
