The 2026 migratory season around Chennai opened with a grey-headed lapwing, a long-distance traveller from East Asia, reaching the Pallikaranai marsh on 20 September, nearly two weeks ahead of its usual first-week-of-October arrival. Weather, rainfall, food supply and route conditions may explain the shift. Other sightings included the black-tailed godwit, marsh sandpiper, Terek sandpiper and lesser sand-plover. The Adyar estuary has logged Caspian terns, whiskered terns, Eurasian whimbrels, a European roller and common greenshanks, some flying thousands of kilometres from Northern Europe and Central Asia. The Nemmeli salt pans are busy too, and the rare Demoiselle crane, seen there late last season, is expected again.