White stork sighted after 8 yrs

Chennai: Two young bird watchers had a treat on Saturday morning, which probably would remain a shining moment throughout th­eir lives.

K. Thiyagarajan, a first year Zoology student of Vivekananda college, and S. Madhan, a class 12 student, incidentally spotted a white stork at the Pa­llikaranai marshland wh­i­le taking census for The Nature Trust NGO that is now taking stock of wetland birds for the state forest department.

“I am trying to recollect what I saw on the green grass of the Pallikaranai marshland. It was an un­expected and unreal incident when we spotted the bird sitting there calmly,” said Thiya­ga­ra-

jan.

“We alerted our senior bird trackers as soon as we si­ghted the rare bird. We to­ok a few sn­aps of the mi­gratory bi­rd and left the place wi­thout distur­bing the se­re­ne habitat,” said Madhan. “White stork is a very rare sight in the city. It was spotted eight years ago in Chemmancherry,” said K.V.R.K. Thi­0runaranan, founder, The Nature Trust.