Winged visitors brave fury

MYSORE: The heavy downpour on Saturday night has caused considerable damage in Mysore and neighbouring districts. But the winged visitors at the famous Ranganathittu bird sanctuary have been safe from nature's fury despite the heavy outflow from the nearby Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) dam.
Flocks of white ibis, open bill stork, little cormorant, night herons, pied kingfisher, local myna and bats have gathered on small islets as vast areas have got flooded.The increased outflow did not pose a threat to the birds as the nesting season starts only from November.
Although visitors are allowed inside the bird sanctuary, boating was completely banned with effect from Sunday. However, the inflow of tourists to one of the prominent tourist destinations around Mysore has drastically decreased in September and October resulting in a loss of Rs 7 lakh this year to the forest department.
Range Forest Officer H N Chandra told The Times of India: "There was a slight threat to the birds on Sunday when the outflow from KRS was increased to 93,000 cusecs following heavy rains.
The pathway leading to the sanctuary, canteen and boating point was partly submerged. Hence,we banned entry to the boating point. However, outflow was decreased to 33,000 cusecs on Monday".