As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Early birds Goa's latest migrants

Migratory birds which winter in Goa have started arriving early this year, with a few gull-billed terns sighted over the Mandovi river since late August.

According to avid birder Parag Rangnekar: "It's too early, but it could be a passage migrant, a gull-billed tern, which will travel further south of Goa." He explained, "They will be here for a few days and then will go south. The true migratory birds which spend their winter here come in October-November."

Amateur bird watchers who sighted the birds confirmed that they are gull-billed terns. Terns are amongst the first migratory birds to arrive in Goa. They are white birds, the size of crows, with pointed wings and can be sighted till the beginning of summer as they fly to and from the Chorao bird sanctuary. They always fly only in the middle of the river as they go hunting for fish to eat out into the Mormugao-Aguada bay, making for a pretty sight as they dive or dip to the surface of the water.

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