19 September,2020 07:43 AM IST | Mumbai | Ranjeet Jadhav
The red-billed tropicbird spends a major part of their lives flying above the open-ocean waters
A red-billed tropicbird rescued from Versova couple of days back died on Friday. The rare tropical bird was spotted in Mumbai after almost more than 30 years.
A few days ago, NGO RAWW received a distress call from a Versova resident regarding a white seabird being stranded at the beach.
Talking to mid-day, President of RAWW, Pawan Sharma said, "We found the displaced white seabird severely dehydrated and unable to stand on its own. It was secured safely by the team and hydrated. Upon close inspection of the seabird, we realised that this almost look-alike of the Tern is, in fact, the red-billed tropicbird."
This species of bird is known as the pelagic seabird. It simply means that they spend a major part of their lives flying above the open-ocean waters, several miles away from the human habitat and feed on the marine fishes, especially flying fishes and squids.
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It may be noted that this bird is barely seen or documented on land as these secretive birds visit the land, only during their breeding season. Since it spends a major part of its life hovering around the ocean waters, these seabirds find it very difficult to walk on the land. In fact, they float and not swim in case they venture into the waters.
"The bird had severe medical complications for which it was being treated. Our teams were treating and monitoring it continuously but unfortunately, the bird died. Such rare birds which are hardly seen on the mainlands go through a lot of captivity stress and trauma more than regular birds which adds to the existing complications," added Sharma.
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