The Asian Waterbird Census 2012 that began on January 7, 2012 was successfully completed on January 29. Two teams from the Madras Naturalists' Society participated and have reported their finding to the BNHS, Mumbai.

Census highlights:

• Great Cormorants recorded breeding near Chembarambakkam. Six nests seen, with chicks in them
• Fulvous Whistling Duck breeding at Sholinganallur Marsh reconfirmed on spotting one more family with eight chicks. Yet another family with eleven chicks was spotted in Pallikaranai Marsh
• Three Comb Duck females spotted in the Sholinganallur Marsh
• Over 100,000 Northern Pintails spotted in Pulicat
• 86 bird species spotted in Kaveripakkam in a span of just three hours, including nine Raptor species
• A lone River Tern spotted in Siruthavur Tank
• Three different species of Snipes (Painted/Pintail/Swinhoes) spotted within a 50-metre radius near Thenneri Tank
• 485 Common Pochards spotted in Siruthavur tank, and 94 Red Crested Pochards in Pulicat (Courtesy: MNS Bulletin)

Rare sightings continue

February 5, 2012: Murugan Mohan saw the Black-eared Kite in Lingapuram village close to Palamaner. In fact, there was a group of five on that day hovering over a cultivation field. It is a bird not very common beyond the Central subcontinent.

February 12, 2012: Murugan Mohan spotted the rare Paddyfield Warbler at Sholinganallur. The species was last recorded in the 1980s.

February 20, 2012: Another rare warbler, the Thick-billed Warbler, offered Murugan Mohan a quick peek at Siruthavur.

February 21, 2012: The Falcated Duck was sighted by Gnanaskandan, Murugan Mohan and M. Praveen Kumar at Siruthavur Tank. Known to winter only in the Northern subcontinent with sighting records in Assam and Bengal, this is the first official photographic record of the Duck in South India. – (Pictures by: Murugan Mohan.)