This Chennai visitor does not grant birders an easy audience

The Terek Sandpiper’s forehead is a cliff dressed in feathers. The bird would still be headbutted out of a “Mr. Steep Forehead” contest for birds. The Pied Avocet, also a Chennai migrant, is enough to

The Terek Sandpiper’s forehead is a cliff dressed in feathers. The bird would still be headbutted out of a “Mr. Steep Forehead” contest for birds. The Pied Avocet, also a Chennai migrant, is enough to dash its hopes. Placed next to the Avocet’s forehead, Mount Thor with its daunting cliff is just a hopelessly flat-lined ECG lead. The Terek Sandpiper’s more attention-grabbing feature is its upcurved bill. Here again, the Pied Avocet is comfortably placed above the competition. The Terek Sandpiper’s nickname — Avocet Sandpiper — in fact settles the matter, announcing who gets the better of the other in the two-feature contest. “As with plovers, the Terek Sandpiper’s bill rises immediately from the bill base,” says S. Balachandran, deputy director, BHNS Regional Migration Study Centre, Point Calimere.