New Delhi: Sightings of rarely seen bird species, including the ‘baikal teal’ and the ‘falcated duck’, some of which have remained absent from the Capital’s birding spots for nearly a decade have delighted bird watchers and nature enthusiasts in Delhi-NCR this winter. 

Mohit Mehta, a Delhi-based bird watcher, witnessed the ‘baikal teal’ on 9 January at the Sultanpur National Park. The last known sighting of the species in Delhi-NCR was in 2013.

“A rare winter visitor to Delhi NCR has finally returned to Sultanpur National Park after 11 long years. Now imagine the sheer joy of witnessing it after such a long wait! The bird which I wanted to see in Sultanpur National Park. It was a dream come true for me,” Mehta said in a post on the social media platform X.

Apart from Mehta, it was also spotted by birders in December, with the first sighting around 14 December.

This article is NOT paywalled

But your support enables us to deliver impactful stories, credible interviews, insightful opinions and on-ground reportage.

A male ‘baikal teal’ is recognised by a green and yellow pattern on the face, spotted pink breast, and long, drooping scapulars. The females of the species are brown, with a distinct brown spot near the bill.

The birds are known to breed in marshy woods and tundras, and during breeding season, they tend to gather in groups.

Environmentalist and writer Bharati Chaturvedi said, in a post on X, that she last spotted the ‘baikal teal’ several years ago in Delhi’s Okhla bird sanctuary.

“We were trying green birding, which includes only using public transport. We learned about the sighting while in the metro. Those minutes in the carriage seemed so long, but eventually, we had the bird for hours to watch,” she recalled.  

Another rare sighting this season has been of the ‘falcated duck’. A group of birders spotted the bird on 12 December in the Sultanpur National Park.

While records confirm that the ‘falcated duck’ was spotted in Surajpur, in Greater Noida, in 2023, there have been very few sightings in Delhi-NCR.

Experts said that the sightings of these species are rare in this region primarily because they usually breed around China, Mongolia, and South Korea and migrate towards eastern India around winter. Northwestern India usually does not fall in their route. Birds tend to make diversions from migratory routes following conducive conditions, such as climate and food availability.

Among other bird species spotted in the region were the ‘common ringed plover’—a white and brown bird with black stripes along the face and distinctly orange feet—and the ‘little gull’—white and grey with a black face.

(Edited by Sanya Mathur)

Also Read: H5N1 killed 4 big cats in Nagpur zoo. Why this bird flu spillover in mammals is a big red flag