Light-mantled Albatross

About the sighting-

• • The location where the Albatross was spotted is part of the Palk Bay and near to the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park, an ‘Important Bird Area’ on India’s southeast coast.
  • The bird was also spotted on Anthoniyarpuram Beach, an important spot for birds in the Gulf of Mannar region, on September 8, 2020. 

• And it was for the first time that the bird – a native of Antarctica — was being spotted in the Asian continent, according to the researchers.

• Sighting of this bird had not been previously recorded in either Southern Asia or Oriental region. It still remains a mystery how this large pelagic bird reached Rameswaram.
• Earlier in June 2022, the duo recorded Arctic skua, also known as Parasitic jaeger, in Dhanushkodi, another rare species for the region, though it was a third spotting in Tamil Nadu.

About the bird-

• The light-mantled albatross also known as the grey-mantled albatross or the light-mantled sooty albatross, is a small albatross in the genus Phoebetria, which it shares with the sooty albatross.
• The light-mantled albatross is largely sooty-brown or blackish, darker on the head, with paler upperparts from the nape to the upper tail-coverts which are grey to light grey, the palest on the mantle and back.
• These birds are common in Antarctic seas. They maintain a circumpolar distribution in the Southern Ocean, mainly south of the sub-Antarctic convergence.
• They breed on several sub-Antarctic islands and forage over cold Antarctic waters.
• They have a loud shrill voice that is trumpet-like, and when threatened will snap their bills or utilize a throaty “gaaaa”. When courting, they will utilize aerial displays and formation flying. 
• Light-mantled albatrosses share some identifying features with other Procellariiformes. 
• They have nasal tubes on the upper bill called naricorns, though with albatrosses these are on the sides of the upper mandible rather than the top.
• They also have a salt gland above the nasal passage which excretes a concentrated saline solution to maintain osmotic balance, due to the amount of seawater imbibed.
• The bills of the Procellariiformes are unique in that they are covered with from seven to nine horny plates. 
• These birds produce a stomach oil made up of wax esters and triglycerides that is stored in the proventriculus. This can be sprayed out of their mouths as a defence against predators as well as an energy rich food source for chicks and for the adults during their long flights.
• It has a worldwide population of 21,600 breeding pairs, according to an estimate in 1998.
• The bird is listed as ‘near threatened’ on the IUCN Red List.