A palm-sized bird with a jewel-like bright red patch on its throat, which has flown thousands of kilometres across continents, was spotted at a New Town grassland on Friday.

Birdwatchers identified it as a Siberian Ruby Throat, native to the taigas of the Ural mountains, Siberia and Mongolia. The species winters in warmer climes in India, Bangladesh and other countries.

According to eBird — a database of bird observations that provides scientists, researchers and amateur naturalists with real-time data about bird distribution — woodlands with dense bushes and thickets with mountain streams and water bodies nearby are typically the habitat of this bird, which feeds on flies and insects.

The New Town grassland where the bird was spotted, around 1.5km from the Owl More intersection opposite Eco Park, has dense bushes and tall grass interspersed with trees and water bodies.

Although grasslands are rapidly diminishing in New Town because of the construction of offices, commercial and mixed-use buildings, and housing complexes, the township continues to throw the occasional surprise as it attracts migratory birds every winter.

Souvik Roychoudhury, a senior executive of a multi-national company (MNC) and an avid birder who regularly walks around the grasslands of New Town and Rajarhat, said he was first alerted by the call of a bird.

He said he was surprised to spot the bird as it is known to camouflage well.

“I could hear a bird singing on the grassland around 1.5km from Owl More. It was perched on branches of a bush along the service road of Aliah University Road that leads to the Akankha crossing. It seemed unperturbed by the noise of earthmovers working barely 500m away and the sound of passing cars. I had my camera and immediately started clicking photographs and even shot a video of the bird. It was moving from one branch to another for nearly 30 minutes,” Roychoudhury said.

Sujan Chatterjee, the secretary of the Birdwatchers’ Society, which records, photographs and documents birds sighted across Bengal, identified the bird as a Siberian Ruby Throat.

“The male Siberian Ruby Throats have a bright red patch on their necks, while the females can be identified by a whitish to yellow-tinged buff on their throats and breasts,” said Chatterjee.

Arjan Basu Roy, the founder and secretary of Nature Mates, an NGO that works for wildlife conservation, said the bird has been seen in different places in the state, including the grassland of Baruipur in South 24-Parganas.

Basu Roy noted that it was fascinating how several migratory species and endemic birds could be regularly spotted in New Town despite the mushrooming of concrete structures and roads in the township.

According to Roy, this bird is likely to stay in the area for days as the grassland where it has been spotted has a water body nearby where there is an abundance of flies, grasshoppers and other insects on which it can feed.

Several places in New Town and Rajarhat that have so far escaped construction still attract birds in numbers.

An expanse of tall grass behind Mother’s Wax Museum comes alive every morning and late afternoon with bird calls. The marshes and water bodies nearby are home to common avian residents and the odd migrant.

A wetland near the Hanuman temple, around 500m from the Seven Wonders Park, is another place where patience is rewarded with a decent sighting of common species. A study by the forest department and Hidco has confirmed the presence of more than 28 species in patches of green along the Major Arterial Road.