Whimbrel, a winter bird was sighted at Punchakari-Vellayani wetlands as another migratory season got underway. Small flocks of these migratory waders were observed at the Punchakari wetlands by bird watchers last week. This is the first time that this coastal loving wader, which was seen at fresh water areas of Puchakari-Vellayani during its migratory passage, was recorded as visiting Punchakari. According to Salim Ali’s Handbook of Birds of India and Pakistan, Whimbrel occasionally visited inland areas during its migration passage.
Common Sandpipers, Black-winged Stilts are normally seen here during the beginning of the migratory season. But two individual whimbrels were observed at waterlogged fields of Punchakari by C.Susanth, ornithologist and founder member of Warblers and Waders during his weekly bird and butterfly studies conducted at Punchakari-Vellayani Wetlands. Mr Susanth said the sighting of Whimbrel was significant.
It is a darkish sandy brown wading bird, streaked with black and fulvous brown pattern. Its most characteristic feature is the down curved bill. These gregarious birds are normally seen in estuaries and coastal areas partial to tidal mudflats and mangrove-lined creeks. The whimbrel breeds in northern Scandinavia, Finland, northern Russia and West Siberia. The birds are winter visitors to West Pakistan and western India in Gujarat and sparingly along the entire seaboard south of Kerala, Sri Lanka, and the Andaman, Nicobar and Maldives Islands.