Forest department officials and bird watchers have sighted more than 50,000 birds, including at least 20 ‘new and rare species’, mostly in the wet lagoons around Danushkodi and in the two islands in Gulf of Mannar as the two-day Tamil Nadu wetland synchronised bird census drew to a close on Friday.

In the Mandapam region alone, they spotted more than 50,000 birds and the bird count in the entire district, including Kilakarai range and Karangadu mangrove forest area was expected to touch the one lakh mark, T. K. Ashok Kumar, Wildlife Warden, Gulf of Mannar, Marine National park, said.

The department would come out with the details of the bird survey and the different species that were sighted after completing the compilation of data, he said.

Red knot, shorebird, crab plover and ruff, the wader birds were some of the rare new species spotted this year, he said.

Renowned bird watcher S. Balachandran, who is the deputy director of Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Nihar Ranjan, conservator of forest, Virudhunagar zone, Rajkumar, Assistant Conservator of Forest and wild life experts from Coimbatore assisted the survey.

Mandapam forest range officer S. Sathish and Kilakarai range officer Sikkandar Basha coordinated the survey in the respective regions.

Of the five bird sanctuaries in the district, more birds were sighted at Therthangal and Melaselvanoor bird sanctuaries.

As there was less water in the other bird sanctuaries due to the failure of north east monsoon, birds, especially ducks preferred the lagoons in Danushkodi and islands in the Gulf of Mannar region, officials said.

Grey plover, sand plover, red shank, green shank, common sand piper, whiskered tern, gull billed tern, lesser crested tern, greater crested tern, caspian tern, grey heron, reef heron, purple heron, pond heron, greater egret, smaller egret, cattle egret, brown headed gull, black headed gull, pallas gull, curlew and whimbrel were among the others species spotted during the survey.