Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary, Coastal wildlife sanctuary in Nagapattinam, India

Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary covers 21.47 square kilometres at the southeastern tip of Nagapattinam District, where the Palk Strait meets the Bay of Bengal. It is an island bounded by the sea, backwaters and salt pans, with low sand dunes along the coast, tidal mudflats and shallow seasonal ponds between them. Prosopis juliflora stabilises the eastern dunes, while dry evergreen forest covers the higher western dunes; the tallest dune, at Ramar Padam, reaches 7 metres.

Point Calimere was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1967 to conserve the blackbuck, whose numbers rose from 750–800 that year to 1,908 in 1998/99. The Bombay Natural History Society has studied bird migration there since 1959. On 19 August 2002 the wider 385 km² Ramsar site, which includes the sanctuary, was listed for waterbird and wetland conservation.

The name Point Calimere appears in 16th-century Portuguese records of trade with Nagapattinam, from 'calido' (warm) and 'mar' (sea). Local people long held that eating blackbuck meat causes leprosy, a belief that helped the antelope survive here; it is now declining.

The best months for birdwatching are November to January, when large flocks arrive from the north and gather on the water surfaces. Visitors should bring binoculars and wear flat shoes, as the trails are often wet and sometimes cross shallow streams.

A flat stone slab with unusual impressions sits at the highest point of the peninsula and is linked in local tradition to a mythical observation across the sea. Visitors can follow the curve of the coastline southward from the same spot, where the land tapers into the Palk Strait.