Chennai, Mar 14 (IANS): Bird-watchers of Tamil Nadu are elated on seeing the bar-headed geese in several water bodies of the state after two decades.

The bar-headed geese were spotted recently in Pulicat water bodies and in water bodies near Chennai late last year.

Talking to IANS, bird watcher and zoology student R. Amolraj said: "The bar-headed geese were spotted at Pulicat recently and our team had spotted it in Chennai in December. Interestingly, the bar-headed geese were elusive for the past two decades and its presence has given us bird watchers enthusiasm to study more on its presence and whether any climatic condition has led to this."

The bird species breed in Central Asia near mountain lakes and migrate to South Asia as far as to south India from Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, and Tibet before crossing the Himalayas.

These species of geese fly at high altitudes and studies revealed that they have been heard flying across Mount Makkalu, which is the fifth-highest mountain on earth and had apparently been seen over Mount Everest too.

Environmentalists are also keen to study the recent spotting of bar-headed geese in Tamil Nadu water bodies. Environmental scientist and researcher with Madurai-based Action Centre for Environmental Protection, Sujith Chandran told IANS that "there seems to be some climatic formation that has led to the presence of bar-headed geese after nearly two decades in water bodies of Tamil Nadu".

"We are closely monitoring this along with a few ornithologists and amateur bird watchers including Sikander, the boatman of Pulicat who had spotted the Bar-headed goose a few days ago."

With the bar-headed geese being spotted in Tamil Nadu water bodies, the presence of ornithologists from many parts of South India has increased in Pulicat to know more about the bird and its migratory patterns.