Two rare winged visitors -- Black Stork and White Stork -- were sighted by team Monarch of the bird watchers of Coimbatore at Pallapalayam Lake on Sunday at the Coimbatore Bird Race 2018-19. The bird race was organised by Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Salim Ali Naturalist Forum (SANF) and Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC).
Team Monarch members P.B. Balaji, A. Pavendhan, Sathish Senniappan, N. Sultana and S. Soundarraj spotted the birds. There are no records of these two birds having been spotted earlier in Coimbatore, according to SACON.
Team Monarch was one of the 25 teams that took part in the bird race and covered various lakes.
This team chose to visit Pallapalayam Lake, said to be the only wetland in the district. The tank had the water level to support both shore birds – known as waders, dabbling ducks, diving ducks -- and deep water birds. Among the other rare birds sighted are Temminnck's Stint, Black tailed godwits, Ruff, Common Greenshank, Marsh sandpiper, Eurasian Widgeon, Northern Shoveler, Gargaeny, Norther pintail and Common teal.
The bird race is a dawn-to-dusk event where a large gathering of experienced and budding birdwatchers spend an entire day spotting and identifying birds in an effort to record as many species of birds as possible.
The India Bird Races have been conceptualised to help look at the avifauna (birdlife) of the urban areas and their surrounding wealth of habitats. Nearly 3000 people take part in the bird race across cities between December and early-March.
