This reporter captured a rare movement of an entire flock of Cormorants and River Terns, living in and around Mahabubsagar tank near Sangareddy, fighting for hours for food by forming two different groups. Interestingly, neither the Cormorants nor River Terns had attempted to attack any other bird species as the rest of the bird species was seen moving freely.

Fight for fish

After the discovery of this phenomenon, this reporter sent a picture of the fight to Prof SrinivasuluChelmala, senior faculty at Department of Zoology, Osmania University, who has wide experience in the field of Ornithology, seeking his opinion. Prof Srinivasulu confirmed that the birds do engage in a war for their authority over the available food resources. Since both these two bird species were largely dependent on fish in the water bodies, there was every reason that they would fight for their rights over prey available in that particular lake.

Flying in a radius of half a kilometre in the middle of the tank, the Cormorants and River Terns fought for hours. Since the Terns had great ability to fly in the air for hours, they had an upper hand over the Cormorants, though they were less in number. About 300 Cormorants had gathered at one place to defend themselves from the attacks by the Terns. The Terns were seen chasing their enemies all over the tank. Since Manjira Wildlife Sanctuary is located very close to the Mahabubsagar tank, over 50 variety of bird species have made the tank their habitation. However, Cormorants, Common Coots, River Terns were found in large numbers, compared to other birds. On Friday morning, the fight between Cormorants and Terns lasted for more than three hours.