COIMBATORE: Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus), a migratory bird from a European palearctic area, has been spotted for the first time in Tamil Nadu. Bird watchers Anand Shibu and B Gokula Shrimon spotted the bird in Kanniyakumari last month. The bird has been spotted only three times in Kerala since 2020.
Anand Shibu and Gokula Shrimon spotted the willow warbler, which belongs to the leaf warbler species, at Periyakulam tank in Manavalakurichi in Kanniyakumari district on September 23. Though it is small in size, it performs the longest migration.
The willow warbler is often brighter, more yellowish (especially in autumn), with stronger pale eyebrows, pinkish legs, and tends not to habitually dip its tail.
“I am lucky to have spotted the bird. It was perched on a tree in the tank bund. The bird spent nearly three hours in the tank during the morning. We returned to the tank in the evening but did not find it . Willow warbler, is a vagrant species (vagrants are birds that get blown off from their normal migratory route).
We were also expecting the bird presence here since it was sighted in Thiruvananthapuram in 2020 for the first time in the country and the same year in Alappuzha. Bird watchers in Thiruvananthapuram again spotted the bird in 2023,” said Shibu.
“The yellow bird breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and the palearctic. It stops over in the country while heading towards Africa. We just spotted a single bird, and could not get clear information if it was a male or female,” said Anand Shibu, who is a naturalist and has over five years of experience in birding.
Selva Ganesh, a bird enthusiast and Coimbatore based school teacher, was excited after hearing about the spotting of the bird.
“One can see such rare birds during birding trips only if people observe closely, but many birders do not focus on the job and miss noticing many birds,” he said.