A beginner’s guide to birdwatching in Chennai

Where should a budding birder in Chennai go, for their first sighting? When is the best time of day? What are the biggest Dos and Don’ts? As the winter migration picks up pace and Chennai’s birders anticipate healthy numbers of winged guests, they spell out some handy tips for first-time birdwatchers

Two weeks ago, Umesh Mani and his friend Srinivas Daripineni drove to the backwaters of Muttukadu, hoping to catch sight of some of the usual birds that migrate there each winter.

What they saw instead was a broad-billed sandpiper, a bird that hardly ever visits this particular coastline. “Ours must have been the third or fourth sighting in 30 years,” says Mani, adding, “We got to see it for only about 15 seconds before it took off.” There is no doubt about the sighting though, since the duo managed to take some record shots within those few seconds. And though those photos are not sharp enough to be shown off on social media, they are distinct enough to document, for posterity, the bird’s unusual visit.