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.

Monday 20 March 2017

Rare sighting of brahminy kite thrills birders




TNN | Updated: Feb 20, 2017, 12.00 AM IST

Chennai: Advocate M Santhanaraman and conservationist T Murugavel stared in disbelief when they spotted a brahminy kite (Haliastur indus) with twigs in its beak flying near the TVS showroom on Anna Salai on Friday. Two days later, they returned there to confirm that their eyes hadn't been playing tricks on them. It was no illusion - the bird was there at the same spot.

Santhanaraman said the bird was flying from east to west towards Egmore. "Probably, the restoration of Chetpet lake may have attracted the bird to come back to the city," he said.

Director, Institute of Bird Studies, Rishi Valley School V Santharam noted that
brahminy kites used to be a common sight in the city. "We, the members of the Madras Naturalists' Society, have seen the bird in Adyar estuary, near Theosophical Society and many other places in south Chennai in the 1980s. But, in the last 20 years, there have been very few brahminy kite sightings in the city," he said. 

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