It is with great excitement that we announce the second Himalayan crossing of a tagged bird of our Central Asian Flyway (CAF) migration tracking project in Sri Lanka.
After witnessing the trans-Himalayan crossing of our first tagged Brown-headed Gull (හිම කුමාරි ‘Hima Kumari’) last year, we have just observed another successful Himalayan crossing this year. Again, it is another Brown-headed Gull that we tagged in Thalaimannar fishing harbor in Northwestern Sri Lanka on the 30th of March. Here’s the story of his adventure:
Having wandered around the wetlands of Mannar for a period of one & half months, our Brown-headed Gull finally left Mannar on the night of May 14th, via Iranativu Island, then Point Pedro of northern Sri Lanka, to arrive at Godavari River on the coast of Andhra Pradesh, India, on the dawn of 15th May. This first phase of his tour lasted for 900km and a half a day.
He spent the day at the Godavari River in India and then recommenced his journey on the 15th night, flying above the states of Telangana, Odisha, Chhattisgarh (crossing Mahanadi River on the way), and Jharkhand, to arrive in Bihar by the 16th night. A day’s journey encompassed an astonishing 1200km!