Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher
@ Krishnampathi Lake, North Coimbatore
Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher
“I couldn’t believe it. I zoomed in on my binoculars to observe a bird closely and it was the Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher (ODKF),” says Vijaykumar Krishnamurthy who spotted the rare guest at Krishnampathi Lake. “The broad-leaved canopy forest in the Western Ghats is the bird’s usual habitat. It’s an elusive bird that primarily feeds on fish, water insects and grasshoppers, found around fresh water streams. Krishnampathi lake on the other hand has rain water and sewage treated water flowing in. And, this is not a typical habitat of the ODKF. That makes the sighting unique,” explains Krishnamurthy. There have been several studies done on the bird, especially at Chiplin forest in Maharashtra where people wait for hours just to catch a glimpse of the bird.
Krishnamurthy consulted Dr. Pramod, senior scientist at SACON to verify the identity of the bird. “He wanted to see the photograph. We showed him a photograph that fellow birder Kishore Kumaran had managed to get and Dr. Pramod confirmed that it was indeed the ODKF and said that this is the first record for this bird in Coimbatore.” Though IUCN status shows the bird as not under threat, it nevertheless is not a commonly sighted one.
Amur Falcon
@ Ravathur near the highway adjacent to Achankulam Lake
Amur Falcon ( Male in flight) & female
“The bird was on an electric wire, but it flew away before we could photograph it,” says Raja Charles, who was at Ravathur with a fellow birder Raviraja Ponnusamy. They first thought it was a Common Kestrel, but, the wings were much smaller in size. It was actually the Amur Falcon (male), a dark grey bird with a prominent reddish orange ring around its eyes. They waited to confirm and the bird showed up again along with its female pair. The female bird has dull scaly marking and an orange ring around the eyes. “Sighting not one but a pair of them is a new record for Coimbatore this year,” he says. The Amur Falcons is a passing migrant that comes from Siberia, Korea, China, and reaches Nagaland during the winter and ultimately to the southern part of Africa via the Arabian Sea. It flies some 22,000 kilometers. “Last year, around the same time, we saw the birds at Malampuzha in Palakkad,” says Charles. The Amur falcon migrates long distances in flocks of thousands of birds all the way from the North East of India to Africa. These birds are rarely spotted in Southern India. Last year, they were seen in good numbers in Kerala, and Tirunelveli and one female Amur visited Coimbatore. “They feed mostly on locusts, grasshoppers, beetles and flying termite,” says Charles.
Isabelline Wheatear
@ Kalangal, Sulur
“In November, we usually look for winter migrants and harriers. But, we noticed an unusual bird perched on a rock in the evening. It was Isabelline Wheatear,” says Gajamohanraj. A regular birding outing turned out to be a special one for him and his friend Kishore Kumaran. He took photographs and confirmed it.
It’s a vagrant migrant that comes from South Russia, Central Asia and Pakistan, which are its breeding ground. As a winter visitor, it comes up to the North-West. “This is the first record in Coimbatore district and there are only a few records in Tamil Nadu. It is a rare to uncommon winter Vagrant to southern India. May be it lost its way and stopped by here. We saw two birds. As the birds were not shy, we could take good photographs.”
Gajamohanraj observes that there’s a definite change in the pattern of arrival of winter visitors. “Last year, because of poor rains, we saw a large number of waders and shorebirds. We also recorded rare sighting of Whimbrel and Terek Sandpiper, which were a first for Coimbatore. This year, good rains are bringing with it a lot of uncommon visitors.”
