Light-mantled Albatross.

• Recently, a rare flight of Antarctica’s Light-mantled Albatross to Tamil Nadu coast has intrigued the researchers.

About

• This record from the Palk Bay side of Rameswaram island is significant.
• The location where the Albatross was spotted is part of the Palk Bay and near the Gulf of Mannar, an ‘Important Bird Area’ on India’s southeast coast.
• The IBA programme of Birdlife International aims to identify, monitor and protect a global network of IBAs for conservation of the world’s birds and associated biodiversity.
• Listed as a ‘Near Threatened’ species by the ICUN, Light-­mantled Albatross has a worldwide population of 21,600 breeding pairs, according to an estimate in 1998.