The New Go-To Guide for Chennai’s Own Birders 😊
I am so delighted to present this book by three vibrant birders, who are also Professors with Women’s Christian College, Chennai – Dr. Vanitha Williams, Dr. Benitha Golda and Dr. Jancy Merlin.
The book is titled, A Pocket Guide to Wetland Birds in and around Chennai, and it was released on 20th January 2026.
This pocket guide is a fruition of field trips to different wetlands for more than a decade and documents 125 Wetland Birds and Wetland Associated Birds, with 370 colour photographs. It is ideal for anyone who is interested in birding.
One unique feature of the book is that, it provides photographic documentation, habitat preferences, distributional information and a brief descriptive account, for each species.
Added, in their insightful prefatory to the book, the authors give a panoramic sweep of Chennai’s wetlands.
Just excerpts from the Preface for us all –
The bird species included in this guide have been recorded from several ecologically significant wetlands in and around Chennai, notably Pallikaranai Marshland, Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary, Karikili Bird Sanctuary, Pulicat Lake and the backwaters of Nemmeli, Muthukadu and Mudaliarkuppam. These wetlands represent a range of freshwater, brackish and coastal ecosystems that support rich avian diversity,
say the authors.
On an aside -
Well, a couple of months ago, I had the delightful privilege of ushering four passionate birders from WCC to MCC for an evening’s birding time deep into the woods, up unto the lake and back. After our birding, we were welcomed by the Librarian and his wife (who’s a birder herself) to their home, for coffee time.
Little did I know back then, that they were about to come up with such an engaging book on Wetland Birds in Chennai a few months later.
“We wish and hope that our journey inspires many more young people to take their eyes off the screen and focus their lenses on the amazing beauties in flight – the birds that live serenely in our wetlands”, they opine, on their expectations from this wonderful publication.
May their dreams come true!
Copies of the book can be had by contacting the Department of Zoology, WCC, Chennai.
