As many as eight greater flamingos were sighted by the birders of the Coimbatore Nature Society at Kurichikulam, a vital water body on Pollachi Road.

The graceful avians, migrating from the Kutch region in Gujarat, normally go in search of feeding grounds to Pulicat Lake near Chennai, Point Calimere in Nagapattinam district and Koonthankulam near Tirunelveli.

“Due to the cyclonic weather conditions on the Coromandel coast, the avian visitors might have flown in here,” said P R Selvaraj of the Coimbatore Nature Society.

“Flamingo colonies are often sighted in hundreds in the swampy water bodies of the Coramandel coast. But some groups do fly here every now and then, and spend up to week here feeding in the water bodies surrounding Coimbatore.

While four flamingos were sighted at Achankulam near Neelambur over a month back by city birders, the eight flamingos sighted in Kurichikulam has caused a lot of excitement among birders,” said Chetan Joshi, an avid birder.