Andhra Pradesh’s Kolleru Lake is a wildlife hotspot; here’s why

Every winter, lakhs of migratory birds from Northern Asia and Eastern Europe make their remarkable winter journey to the warmer (comparatively) climate of India. Kolleru Lake, located in Andhra Pradesh’s Eluru district, between Krishna and Godavari deltas, is Asia’s largest shallow freshwater lake, and one of the places in India that sees bird migration on a very large scale.

When the weather starts to turn unbearably cold with blizzard-type situations back home, that’s when these birds leave their home ground and fly into places with warmer climates to nest and breed. Kolleru Lake is one of the many places in India where their long voyage comes to an end before they fly off to their home grounds after the season.


Kolleru Lake is one of the 75 Ramsar Sites in India. A Ramsar Site is a wetland site of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, an intergovernmental environmental treaty established in 1971 by UNESCO.



Kolleru Lake falls on the migratory route called the Central Asian Flyway (CAF). The CAF covers a very large area of Eurasia, with a total of 30 countries, including India. There are a total of nine flyways of migratory birds around the world, and India has three of them – the Central Asian Flyway, East Asian Flyway, and East Asia–Australasian Flyway.


Kolleru Lake is a sight to behold when lakhs of birds arrive. The state government has made a tremendous amount of effort in the form of facilities for these birds to use, such as planting of trees for them to perch and nest, and installation of several artificial perches where these birds can rest.


Knowing that these birds make nonstop journeys of thousands of kilometres (one way) on their established air route, one can’t help but have utmost admiration for these winged visitors. This admiration inspires the people from the birding community in India to travel long distances around the country, just to see these visitors.