30-05-2025
First rains, now flamingoes: This May isa month for early arrivals across Maha
Nashik: This May is turning out to be a month of early arrivals in Maharashtra — first that of monsoon and now flamingoes.
Over 300 flamingoes have been spotted in the Nandur Madhyameshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, around 30km from this north Maharashtra city, almost a month ahead of schedule.
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The forest department has attributed the early arrival of the wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae to the heavy showers lashing Nashik district since the beginning of May.
"This is the first time flamingoes have arrived at the Nandur Madhyameshwar wetland in May. Typically, flamingoes arrive at the wetland in the second half of June, or after the first two to three spells of rain," said Hemant Ubale, assistant conservator of forest for the sanctuary.
The southwest monsoon entered parts of Maharashtra in Sindhudurg and adjoining areas on May 25— at least 10 days ahead of its normal arrival date, June 5, in the state. "But rain in Nashik had started in the first week of May itself. We have already spotted a flock of over 300 flamingoes at the Nandur Madhyameshwar wildlife sanctuary,"
Niphad taluka, which houses Nandur Madhyameshwar wildlife sanctuary, received 114.4mm of rainfall in May alone.
Nashik district has been receiving rain since May 5. So far this month, the district has received an average rainfall of 98.5mm. Baglan, Nandgaon, Niphad, Sinnar and Chandwad talukas have so far received more than 100mm of rain this month. While Sinnar received 146mm of rainfall, Chandwad received 46 mm of rainfall in May and in Nashik city 192mm of rainfall marked the highest in 42 years. Prior to this, the city had seen such showers (132.2mm) in May 1983.
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Nandur Madhmeshwar is home to 536 species of aquatic and terrestrial plants, eight species of mammals, 265 species of birds, 24 species of freshwater fish and 41 species of butterflies. Thousands of birds migrate to the wetland that houses the sanctuary between Oct and March. The number of tourists also increases during this period every year.
In Jan 2020, Nandur Madhmeshwar was declared a Ramsar site—a wetland designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar convention—a first in Maharashtra.
