Super rosy Friday for Chennai ornithologists

Chennai: Ornithologists, worried this season due to the deficit rainfall in Chennai and Kancheepuram districts, are now excited as Pallikaranai marshland, located in the heart of Chennai, has thrown a surprise this monsoon by recording a Grey White Pelican (Rosy pelican), which is an Indian bird, but not a resident of south India.

“There are very few recordings of Rosy pelican near Mysore and it is rare phenomenon to sight them in south India,” said P. Jaganathan, scientist, Nature Conservation Foundation.
Such recordings are called vagrants as it is a sighting beyond their geographical range. Rosy pelicans are endemic to Gujarat and in the distribution map of the birds there is a reference of previous recording of this bird somewhere near Madras, he said.

“Dalmatian and spot billed pelicans are common at the Pallikaranai marsh, but sighting Rosy pelican is a visual delight,” said K.V.R.K. Thirunaranan, founder, The Nature Trust. It is a pleasant surprise for our volunteers now recording the birds for the state forest department and the data related to the sighting and its pictures will be submitted to the forest department, he said, adding that the recording will also be shared in the e-Bird, a global, Internet-based platform for gathering observations of birds, housed in Cornell University’s Laboratory of Ornithology, New York.

“Several years back, there was an unconfirmed sighting of Rosy pelican near Chennai. One such sighting was reported at Vedanthangal on January 25, 2009. But such sightings have to be documented as they are very rare,” said K.V. Sudhakar, president, Madras Naturalist’s Society.“There is no official recording of Rosy pelican sighting in Chennai and this documentation needs detailed study,” said G. Kamaraj, biologist, Guindy National Park.