As fishermen wait to pull out the net from the backwaters of Tungabhadra Dam in Ballari, birds line up on the small plastic floats attached to the float line of fishing net to grab the fish which try to escape from the net, to satiate their hunger. [Pic. by M.N. Lakshminarayana Yadav]

Bird-watchers across Karnataka have been thronging the backwaters of the Tungabhadra Dam at Hospet to catch a glimpse of Greater Flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) that have flocked in large numbers. Greater Flamingos, with its majestic looks, are 1.5-metre tall, pinkish birds from the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat which migrate to the South in winter. They…