The checklist of birds at the Nanjarayan tank Bird Sanctuary in Tiruppur touched 187 when a Forest Department watcher spotted a Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta), a shore bird, on Tuesday.
Experts said the sighting of the bird in the sanctuary is significant as it is a vagrant that is rarely spotted in inland water bodies.
According to the Nature Society of Tiruppur, the Forest Department watcher Sivamani sighted the bird on Tuesday morning and shared the photo of the uncommon bird with members of the society.
Geetha Mani, a member of the society, identified the rare visitor as Pied Avocet. Later, president of the society Ravindran Kamatchi and another member A. Manoj visited the tank and confirmed the identity of the shore bird that has a distinctive long, thin and upwardly curved beak.
According to Mr. Kamatchi, Pied Avocet is a winter migratory bird that breeds in Europe and Central Asia. They visit the Indian coastline during winter. They are spotted more in the west coast than in the east, he said..
Birders of the society suspect that the lone shore bird landed at the sanctuary during its exchange of place from the east to the west coast through the Palakkad ghat section.
Byju H., a researcher with the Centre of Advanced Sciences in Marine Biology, Annamalai University, said Pied Avocet is not a regular visitor and is a very rare vagrant to inland water bodies.
The species was previously recorded by members of Dharapuram Nature Society at Nallathangal Dam in the district, a few years back.
According to the Nature Society of Tiruppur, there are no records of the species in inland water bodies in Tamil Nadu other than Nallathangal Dam and Nanjarayan Tank Bird Sanctuary.
