An unusual visitor flies in

The Hindu, January 22, 2016
 During the course of their annual Asian waterfowl census of Kollam and Thiruvananathapurm districts last week, members of the Thiruvananthapuram-based Warblers and Waders, a nature and bird lovers’ forum, chanced upon a flock of slender-billed gulls ( Larus genei ) along the Vellanathuruthu beach in Kollam. These migratory birds are not common winter visitors to Kerala.
C. Susanth, who led the census team, said there were 21 one slender-billed gulls among a mixed flock of about 500 black-headed gulls and brown-headed gulls. The team visited the Vellanathuruthu beach twice for confirming the sighting of this rather uncommon bird in these areas.
Though these birds have an extremely large global range, this is the first recorded sighting of these gulls along south of Kayamkulam. The earlier sighting of these gulls in Kerala were recorded from the Kadalundi estuary and Purathur estuary (Malappuram), Chavakad beach (Thirssur), Ittikulam beach (Kannur), and Purakkad and Thottapally (Alappuzha), he said. In Asia, these birds are usually residents of east Kazakhstan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Mr. Susanth said the adult bird has a white head throughout the year, deep red bill but looking a bit pale in winter and pale iris. The preferred habitats of this migrant gull comprise coastal waters, lagoons, estuaries, large tidal creeks and salt pans. The other migrant shore birds recorded by the team at Vellanathuruthu were green shank, red shank, sanderling, Kentish plover, lesser sand plover, Pallas’s gull, Heuglin’s gull, greater crested tern, lesser crested tern, little tern, gull-billed tern, common sandpiper and whimbrel.
Other members of the team were G. Santhosh Kumar, S.S. Ratheesh and R. Prasath. It was the 26th annual Asian Waterfowl Census of the two districts carried out by the members of the Warblers and Waders.