India, June 1 -- A rare Arctic seabird, the Sabine's Gull, was spotted at Gujarat's Nalsarovar Wildlife Sanctuary on Friday - its first recorded sighting in India since 2013, when it was seen in Kerala.

Forest department staff and visiting birders at the Ramsar site spotted the bird around 9 am in the open waters of the wetland, according to a statement issued by the government.

Deputy conservator of forests, Nalsarovar Bird Sanctuary Division, Sakkira Begum said that the sighting was exceptional, as Sabine's Gull rarely migrates to the Indian subcontinent. "According to the public bird-watching database eBird, such occurrences are extremely rare. The last recorded sighting in India was in 2013, in Kerala. The bird observed at Nalsarova...