From Switzerland to Delhi, rare bird draws fans to Ammavaripet Lake

Bird-watchers from Bengaluru, Pune, Jodhpur, Delhi and other parts of the country are flying down to Hyderabad before driving to the Ammavaripet Lake to have a glimpse of the lone Spur-Winged Lapwing.

Sangareddy: Bird-lovers from across the nation are making a beeline to the Ammavaripet Lake near Warangal town to have a glimpse of the rare Spur-winged Lapwing or Spur-winged Plover, which was sighted in India for the first time recently.

Bird-watchers from Bengaluru, Pune, Jodhpur, Delhi and other parts of the country are flying down to Hyderabad before driving to the Ammavaripet Lake to have a glimpse of the lone Spur-Winged Lapwing.

Advisor to the World Wide Fund for Nature, headquartered in Switzerland, Biksham Gujja, flew down from Switzerland to Hyderabad to have a glimpse of the bird. The sighting of the bird in India has left wildlife experts with a puzzle that they are working to solve now. The sighting of the Spur-Winged Lapwing has become a point of discussion on several international wildlife communities.

Sudeshna Dey from Pune, Digvijay Singh Rathore from Jodhpur, Kondaswamy Dhanapal, Albin Abraham Jacob and Manjula Desai from Bengaluru, Atul Jain, Harish Thangaraj and Nitu S from Delhi along with their friends have visited Ammavaripet Lake in the last few days.

Jagan Pannala had captured the bird’s picture on January 24 during a regular birding trip to the lake. However, he mistook it for a River Lapwing initially. After examining it closely, Jagan Pannala and Nageshwar Rao Indaram confirmed it as a Spur-winged Lapwing after taking opinion of experts on February 18. Since then the Ammavaripet Lake has been attracting scores of bird-watchers from Hyderabad, Warangal and other parts of the nation.
The Spur-winged Lapwing is seen moving closely with a pair of Red-wattled Lapwings, which were native to India.

Seasoned wildlife photographer Sriram Reddy said the closest place where the Spur-winged Lapwing was sighted in the past was the United Arab Emirates. Experts were working to find out how it had migrated to India, he said.