Coastal raptors make power towers their home

Subject: Environment

Section: Species in news

Context:

White-bellied sea eagles in India are beginning to emulate their counterparts in Australia and Thailand by making their homes on power towers holding high-tension wires.

Details:

The nests of the white-bellied sea eagles were found on powerline towers about 2 km away from the sea in Ramanathapuram of Tamil Nadu.
The nesting sites were strategic for the birds to conveniently scan the marine area for food.
In India, the bird’s nesting was earlier reported on a telecommunication tower from Andhra Pradesh.
The use of man-made structures as nesting sites can be both risky and beneficial to these coastal raptors and humans in the vicinity, but the development points to a lack of trees and other natural nesting alternatives.

White-bellied sea eagle:

The white-bellied sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) is a resident raptor belonging to the family Accipitridae.
It has a wide distribution range on the sea coast of Indiafrom Mumbai to the eastern coast of Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka in southern Asia, through all coastal south-eastern Asia, southern China to Australia.
The raptor, a diurnal monogamous bird of prey, is categorised as being of ‘least concern’ on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Feeding mainly on sea snakes and fish, the bird is occasionally seen in inland waters along tidal rivers and in freshwater lakes. It occupies the same localities for years and generally builds nests in tall trees near the seacoast, tidal creeks, and estuaries.