On Sept. 7, 2024, British ornithologist Gary Allport and Dutch birdwatcher Jan-erik Nilsen took a boat from Bangladesh’s coastal district of Cox’s Bazar to Sonadia Island. On their way, while they observed a flock of terns feeding around a fishing boat, a lesser noddy (Anous tenuirostris) flew in, circled the boat twice, and then flew off, surprising them. This is the first time the seabird species was recorded in Bangladesh. “Fortunately, we got quick photos and then headed off to Sonadia. Once there, we saw another noddy very briefly, which we could not identify as the species for certain, but we assumed it was the same bird,” Allport said. Then they headed back to Cox’s Bazar. When they got to the lagoon by Cox’s Bazar airport, they saw two lesser noddies together. A close examination of the pictures showed that they were different individuals from the ones they saw first in the morning, so there were at least three birds. And it seemed likely that the bird at Sonadia was a fourth. “[A] lesser noddy first for Bangladesh — Boom! Great day out in a boat at the weekend from Cox’s Bazar to Sonadia area with good numbers of terns and waders. Nice start finding the first lesser noddy but then followed by two more, and probably a fourth bird too. Really super birding,” Allport wrote on his X handle after sighting the birds. Lesser noddies are generally a bird of the open seas, and there has been no record…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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