Rare pelagic bird enters avifauna list of Goa with injuries

Panaji: A rarely seen pelagic bird, the white-tailed tropic bird, was added under unfortunate circumstances to the state’s list of avifauna after it was found injured at Colva beach amid incessant rain.
A known resident of the Maldives archipelago, it flies to nearby Sri Lanka, Lakshadweep, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. But its sightings off the mainland India coast are very few.
The bird was rescued by Shubham Lone and Shankar Paryekar of the Drishti Marine stranding network. “This rare bird is the 490th bird species to be recorded from Goa’s political boundaries. While it’s a great addition to our understanding of Goa’s birds, it was unfortunately an exhausted individual that was rescued. On India’s west coast, there are till date only five records, of which only two are records from its natural habitat,” said Pronoy Baidya, head of research and consultancy, Arannya Environment Research Organisation.
Baidya, who volunteers identification of rescued sea birds to the Goa Marine Stranding Response Network, said that the remaining three sightings were of rescued birds from Kerala.The rescued individual is a sub-adult bird, and was identified based on its greenish-yellow beak. “There is also minimal spotting on the back, and long tail streamers. Key measurements like the length of the mandibles, wings, beak to rump length and patterns of the primary feathers were done,” he said.
Distribution of pelagic birds — sea birds that fly out to deep seas — is still not properly studied. “This record is significant for this reason while annual efforts are being made to survey them scientifically by AERO and other stakeholders of the Goa Bird Atlas Initiative,” Baidya said.
It is mostly juveniles or sub-adults who suffer injuries due to strong monsoon winds and temperature variations and fly to the shore, exhausted. During this monsoon, sooty terns were rescued from Dona Paula, Galgibaga and Arambol, while another rare pelagic tern was also rescued.
With the rough and choppy sea conditions creating tough conditions for some marine animals, four Olive Ridley turtles were also tossed ashore amid torrential rain this Sunday.
While one turtle badly trapped in a maze of a ghost net washed ashore at Arambol, three more were found at Betalbatim beach on Sunday morning.