Flamingos back at Ameenpur lake

For Syamala Rupakula, a passionate birder and nature lover, it was joy unlimited when she spotted a flock of graceful flamingos fly over Ameenpur lake at Miyapur on Saturday morning.

On a regular visit to the lake in search of the winged visitors, which migrate from different parts of the world, Ms. Syamala, armed with her camera, was pleasantly surprised to see the flamingos circle over the lake.

In the past, they were said to be migratory birds from Siberia but in recent times, these may be some sort of resident birds of several places in India itself, experts said.

“Interestingly, they didn’t land even for a while. They were only making rounds in the skies for about 10 minutes from the Sai Baba temple side of the lake to the other extreme. They were probably doing a recce of the area,” Syamala explained.

“We just hope they will be back in full strength at the lake like in the past when most birders have the privilege of shooting some amazing shots of these birds from very close quarters,” she said.

“The last time we saw them at Ameenpur lake was in May 2020. In fact, the other locales that they were generally sighted before were Osmansagar, Rudraram lake (near Patancheru) and Anna Sagar lake,” she told The Hindu.

“Unfortunately, with all lakes being full because of copious rains and too many encroachments on all sides of the lakes, and vehicular movements in and around them, many migratory birds skip the twin cities, unlike in the past when Hyderabad used to be one of the favourite destinations for these birds,” she said.