Bird Walk at Pallikarnai Marshland, Chennai, TN

About Pallikaranai Marshland

Pallikaranai is one of the last big freshwater marshes left inside a major Indian metropolis, hemmed in on all sides by Chennai’s IT corridor along Old Mahabalipuram Road. It is a shadow of its former self — the marsh once spread across some 6,000 hectares but has been squeezed down to under 600 by decades of landfilling, road-building, and unplanned growth — yet what survives is still an internationally important wetland, formally recognised as a Ramsar site in 2022. Its mix of open water, reed beds, and seasonally flooded grassland supports more than 100 recorded fauna species and around 275 plant species, an extraordinary tally for a site now boxed in by apartment towers on almost every side.

For birders, Pallikaranai remains a genuine city-edge spectacle, drawing waterbirds, waders, and raptors that would otherwise have nowhere left to go in urban Chennai. The marsh’s fortunes have been a battleground for years, with waste dumping by the city corporation, construction debris, and pressure from nearby IT campuses steadily chipping away at what is left, even as eco-restoration work — including a public eco-park opened in 2021 — tries to hold the line. Its Ramsar status has raised its profile considerably, but conservationists are candid that the gap between protection on paper and protection on the ground remains wide.

Bird walk Location

Common birds of Pallikaranai Marshland

Pallikaranai’s open water and reed beds pack in a lively mix of waterbirds and city-edge regulars, visible even on a short walk along the marsh boundary. Indian Cormorants and a Spot-billed Pelican work the open water together, while a Black Drongo watches from a wire and Black-winged Stilts pick through the shallows on impossibly long legs. Egrets are well represented, with both the Little Egret and Medium Egret stalking the margins alongside an Oriental Darter drying its wings on a snag. Rose-ringed Parakeets screech overhead as Spot-billed Ducks glide across the water, and the marsh’s ibis population — Glossy Ibis and Black-headed Ibis both — probes the mud for food. A Black Kite circles above, a Little Grebe dives and resurfaces near the reeds, and Red-wattled Lapwings call sharply from the open ground. Closer to the marsh edge, an Asian Green Bee-eater hawks from a low perch, an Asian Koel calls from nearby trees, and a Common Tailorbird and Ashy Prinia work the scrub while a Gray Heron stands motionless at the water’s edge — a snapshot of just how much life this shrinking marsh still holds.