Asian palm swift, A bird with last recorded sighting in 1977 spotted, photographed at OBS

The Asian palm swift, a rare bird that was last seen 45 years back was recently spotted at Okhla Bird Sanctuary in Delhi NCR last week. According to the data on the eBird site, it was last seen in 1977. Bird watchers Rohit Sharma and Akshay Khanna spotted the bird on September 11. 

Sharma stated- “I did not know about this bird, but it looked unusual. So, I asked my friend Akshay to click its photo as I was not carrying my camera. Later, we found the bird is rare in our region.” 

Based on the data on eBird, the Asian palm swift was first spotted in Delhi at places one Qudsia Bagh and the other Raj Ghat in 1977. This swallow-like avian with pale brown plumage eats as it flies.

Birdwatcher Mukesh Sehgal added, “It’s not usual in North India, including Delhi-NCR, but a common bird in its distribution area, which extends from below Delhi on the map till South India, includes northeast India and goes up to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.” 

Agreed with the facts Mukesh stated, Jaswinder Waraich, a city-based birder working for the last six years, said, “It is rare in our region and on record again after a very long gap. About its status here — there’s only guesswork.” 

Sehgal said the Asian palm swift are capable to fly for a long duration and can be lived anywhere as their population is big. Delhi-based birder Nikhil Devasar said the bird must have lost its course of flying and ended up in the region. “The bird is considered a vagrant in our area. We know birds move for reasons like climate change or a storm that blows them off course. Any of these can be why the bird is here now,” he said.