On Monday, Chennai witnessed the strange phenomenon of birds that normally live near water bodies and the sea moving into city buildings. Hundreds of red-rumped swallows were found in The Hindu office. Pelagic birds like shearwater and terns were also noticed by naturalists in other parts of the city.
“They are sucked into the eye of the storm. When they chance into the calm of the eye, they may make an effort to stay there and travel with it rather than fight the winds again. They settle in the leeward side of buildings. I saw a tern, but it flew away before I could bring my binoculars. They will leave a couple of days after gaining strength. Let people not disturb the birds as they are exhausted,” said Subramanian Sankar of the Madras Natural History Society (MNHS).
“Red-rumped swallows are resident throughout India and nest mostly from April to August, making their mud nest with a tubular entrance,” said Robert Grubh, former principal scientist of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).
In Chennai, they can be spotted near Cooum and Adayar. They roost in the reeds. “They are aerial insect feeders and the strong wind would have moved them into city buildings,” said ornithologist P. Jeganathan.
Dr. Grubh said during winter, other races of the same species (red-rumped swallow) migrate to India from higher latitudes, north of India. “These migrants are difficult to distinguish in the field because they belong to the same species with only minor racial differences. You can expect to see both migratory and local populations in the same flock, during winter,” he said.
“Swallows feed on insects, including agricultural pests, mostly caught in flight. They spend a major part of the daylight hours on wing, hunting insects,” Dr. Grubh explained.
