The ‘epic willfulness’ baffles scientists and amateur birdwatchers alike. It is what makes palm-sized Kunta a nationwide celebrity. Kunta, a Grey Wagtail, weighs just above 15 gm, and despite being handicapped has made a migratory journey of 1,500–2,000 km from the highlands of Central Asia to Billigirirangan Hills in Karnataka for three years consecutively. It arrived at TS Ganesh’s coffee estate, south of Bangalore, with one leg missing. Ganesh had noticed it for the first time in 2007, when it spent the winter in his garden with another Grey Wagtail. Its missing leg made each of Kunta’s visits an epic one, and brought it fame by being featured in national newspapers and magazines, including Open.
Kunta was last seen in the winter of 2009-10; perhaps the perils of migration finally caught up with our courageous Wagtail.
Kunta features in the article on migration and changing patterns, over summering and the lack of sufficient data in India.
This phenomenon is known as "site fidelity." We too have had Brown-breasted Flycatchers coming to the same site year after year. Amazing indeed.
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