Birding is essentially about having those three W’s adequately answered — what to look for; where and when.
Seasoned birders would include cyclones in the “when” — after they have made landfall. On November 26, many birders from Chennai were instinctively looking for pelagics swept inland by Nivar. And they were not disappointed.
Around 8 a.m., from the terrace of his apartment complex at Kamakotti Nagar in Pallikaranai, Sundaravel Palanivelu sighted an adult Sooty Tern fly past his area. The bird was sufficiently close and flying low for his tele-photo lens to make a few good clicks of the camera possible.
Sooty Tern photographed by Sundaravel Palanivelu at Kamakotti Nagar in Pallikaranai on November 26
“The bird was flying eastwards towards the sea,” says Sundaravel. “Around 15 minutes later, I saw a flock of three, which I later found out to be Sooty Tern juveniles.”
Also read: Eighteen-year-old girl from Chennai presents first documented record of an Eastern Yellow Wagtail sighting in Tamil Nadu
At the time of this article being written, Sundarvel’s record of the adult Sooty Tern had been confirmed by eBird. Earlier in the morning, Vikas Madhav Nagarajan saw 10 Sooty Terns from his terrace which overlooks the Valmiki Nagar beach.
The Sooty Tern that he managed to take a picture of was an adult flying towards the sea.
It was photographed around 6.30 a.m. The nine others he saw were in the sea and flying northwards.
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