A rare European bee-eater has been spotted at Chennai’s Adyar estuary, with local birders saying the juvenile bird may be the first recorded sighting of the species in the city in several decades.
Birders R V Ramanan and his son Shreyas encountered the bird early this week while visiting the estuary to look for a Eurasian wryneck that had been sighted in the area. They photographed the European bee-eater and uploaded the record to eBird, a global database used by birdwatchers, before checking the identification with other birding groups.
The species is generally found across Europe, western Asia and parts of Africa. In Chennai, blue-tailed bee-eaters are seen more commonly, but the European bee-eater is considered an exceptionally rare visitor, according to Ramanan, a member of the Madras Naturalists’ Society.
“The nearest sightings in the state were in Tirupur, Salem and Coimbatore,” Ramanan said, adding that the species had not been recorded at Pallikaranai, another Chennai wetland known to attract migratory birds.
Birder Bharath Ravikumar confirmed the identification based on the bird’s broad dark trailing edge, completely yellow throat and pale blue-green plumage. These features helped distinguish it from the more commonly seen blue-tailed bee-eater. Ravikumar said the bird appeared to be a juvenile.
The reason for the unusual appearance remains unclear. Ravikumar said it could represent the bird’s first recorded visit to the city, although it was also possible that one or two birds had gone unnoticed in earlier years as the number of birdwatchers was smaller.
The sighting also led the birders to the Eurasian wryneck they had initially set out to find. Shreyas said the wryneck was perched beneath the European bee-eater and was noticed only after the group had focused on the rarer bird. The episode underlined how Chennai’s estuary continues to attract close observation for its birdlife.
