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Recent Sighting of Grey-Bellied Cuckoo Cacomantis Passerinus in Hailakandi District, Assam Amir Sohail Choudhury

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Recent Sighting of Grey-Bellied Cuckoo Cacomantis Passerinus in Hailakandi District, Assam Amir Sohail Choudhury 134 Indian Birds VOL. 12 NO. 4 & 5 (PUBL. 14 NOVEMBER 2016) Appendix 1. Potential food plants of Rufous-necked hornbill identified in Sessni area of EWS and their tree densities. Density Density No. Family Tree species (trees/ha) No. Family Tree species (trees/ha) 1 Myrtaceae Syzygium sp.1 67.6 15 Burseraceae Canarium sp. 0.4 2 Myrtaceae Syzygium sp. 2 4.8 16 Lauraceae Beilschmiedia assamica 2.4 3 Myrtaceae Syzygium formosum 2 17 Lauraceae Litsea salicifolia 6.4 4 Lauraceae Phoebe sp. 1 1.2 18 Lauraceae Beilschmiedia sp. 2 1.2 5 Lauraceae Phoebe sp. 2 3.2 19 Lauraceae Beilschmiedia sp. 3 1.6 6 Lauraceae Phoebe paniculata/cooperiana 16 20 Lauraceae Litsea cubeba 1.6 7 Lauraceae Persea sp. 12.8 21 Lauraceae Litsea assamica 0.4 8 Lauraceae Machilus sp. 3.2 22 Lauraceae Litsea khasyana 1.2 9 Lauraceae Cryptocarya amygdalina 24.4 23 Lauraceae Litsea lancifolia 0.4 10 Lauraceae Cryptocarya andersonii 16 24 Moraceae Ficus roxburghii** 9.8 11 Lauraceae Litsea messnei 6.4 25 Moraceae Ficus hirta** 1.1 12 Meliaceae Aglaia spectabilis 14 26 Meliaceae Trichilia sp. ** NA 13 Meliaceae Dysoxylum binectariferum 3.2 27 Meliaceae Aglaia sp.** NA 14 Lauraceae Cinnamomum sp. 2 **species not found in vegetation plots. Recent sighting of Grey-bellied Cuckoo Cacomantis passerinus in Hailakandi District, Assam Amir Sohail Choudhury Choudhury, A. S., 2016. Recent sighting of Grey-bellied Cuckoo Cacomantis passerinus in Hailakandi District, Assam. Indian BIRDS 12 (4&5): 134–135. Amir Sohail Choudhury, C/o Shamima Choudhury, Project-E-Road, Hailakandi 788155, Assam, India. E-mail: [email protected]. Manuscript received on 19 April 2016. he Grey-bellied Cuckoo Cacomantis passerinus is a slant white patch, and conspicuous white patches were seen at rare species for Assam, and for north-eastern India. Ali & the base of primaries, in flight However, a picture was taken only TRipley (1987) did not mention its occurrence in that state. at the time of first sighting, which unfortunately does not show Grimmett et al. (1999), and Kazmierczak (2000) show a few most of these features; but the lack of contrast between head records from north-western Assam, but not from the other and back, as expected on Grey-bellied (versus Plaintive), is visible north-eastern states of India. Choudhury (2000, 2003a, 2006, [123]. 2007), and Barua & Sharma (1999) record its occurrence in Assam. Records from other regions of north-eastern India, and its neighbouring countries are: Meghalaya (Choudhury, 2014); Nagaland (Choudhury, 2001, 2003b); Sikkim, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal (Ali & Ripley, 1987; Grimmett et al, 1999; Kazmeirczak, 2000). But all these records of Assam were from the Brahmaputra Valley, i.e., the northern part of Assam, or from other north-eastern states. Here I report a sighting of the Grey- bellied Cuckoo, for the first time, from Hailakandi District of Barak Valley in the southern part of Assam. The bird was seen on two occasions: on 14-, and 25 January 2016 in a semi-rural area of Hailakandi District (24.68ºN, 92.56ºS; 21m asl). The species was differentiated from the Choudhury Sohail Amir commoner Plaintive Cuckoo C. merulinus by its un barred greyish breast, which fades to a pale grey on its belly, and its white vent (ventral view). When it turned, and its dorsal side was visible, dark grey, and brown were clearly seen, as was the blackish tail with white tips. In the second sighting, apart from a grey chin, throat, breast, and whitish vent, its rectrices were clearly visible, with a 123.The Grey-bellied Cuckoo. KANG ET AL.: Wood Warbler 135 None of the references from the Indian Subcontinent (Ali & 91–103. Ripley 1987; Grimmett et al. 1998; Kazmierczak 2000; Rasmussen Choudhury, A., 2003a. Birds of Kaziranga National Park. A checklist. 1st ed. Guwahati: & Anderton 2012) mentions this species to be breeding in Assam. Gibbon Books & The Rhino Foundation for Nature in NE India. Pp. 1–46. However, Payne (2005) indicates that it breeds in Assam during Choudhury, A., 2003b. A pocketguide to the birds of Nagaland. 1st ed. Guwahati: Gibbon Books & The Rhino Foundation for Nature in NE India. Pp. 1–48. the months of April–August, but this may be a transcription error, Choudhury, A., 2006. Birds of Manas National Park. 1st ed. Guwahati, India: Gibbon wherein the breeding months for a Plaintive Cuckoo, mentioned Books & The Rhino Foundation for Nature in NE India. Pp. 1–80+4. as ‘April-August’ in Baker (1934), was erroneously copied under Choudhury, A., 2007. Birds of Dibru-Saikhowa National Park. 1st ed. Guwahati: Grey-bellied Cuckoo. The movement pattern of this species is little Gibbon Books & The Rhino Foundation for Nature in NE India. Pp. 1–84. understood in eastern India, and hence more reports are required Choudhury, A. U., 2014. A pocket guide to the birds of Meghalaya. Guwahati: Gibbon to obtained an overall picture. Books & The Rhino Foundation with support from Bertram Smythies Fund of Oriental Bird Club. Pp. 1–160. Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C., & Inskipp, T., 1999. Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. London: References Oxford Press & Christopher Helm. Pp. 1–888. Ali, S., & Ripley, S. D., 1987. Compact handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan Kazmierczak, K., 2000. A field guide to the birds of India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, together with those of Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. 2nd ed. Delhi: Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. 1st ed. New Delhi: Om Book Service. Pp. Oxford University Press. Pp. i–xlii, 1 l., 1–737, 52 ll. 1–352. Baker, E. C. S., 1934. The nidification of birds of the Indian empire [Ploceidae- Payne, R. B., 2005. The Cuckoos. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. i–xxii, Asionidae]. 1st ed. London: Taylor & Francis. Vol. III of 4 vols. Pp. i–iv+4, 1–568. 1–618. Barua, M., & Sharma, P., 1999. Birds of Kaziranga National Park, India. Forktail 15 (August): 47–60. Choudhury, A., 2000. The birds of Assam. 1st ed. Guwahati: Gibbon Books & World Wide Fund for Nature-India. Pp. 1–240. Choudhury, A., 2001. Some bird records from Nagaland, north-east India. Forktail 17: Wood Warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix from Ladakh, India Mandeep Kang, Rima Dhillon, Narbir Kahlon & Navjit Singh Kang, M., Dhillon, R., Kahlon, N., & Singh, N., 2016. Wood Warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix from Ladakh, India. Indian BIRDS 12 (4&5): 135–136. Dr Mandeep Kang, Professor, Department of Radiodiagnosis, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India. E-mail: [email protected] (MK) Rima Dhillon, House No. 1027, Sector 24B, Chandigarh, India. (RD) Narbir Kahlon, House No. 287, Sector 10A, Chandigarh, India. (NK) Navjit Singh, House No. 1530, Sector 34D, Chandigarh, India. (NS) Manuscript received on 05 October 2016. he Wood Warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix is one of the parked car. It was busy feeding on the seeds of the small clumps largest Old World warblers (Baker 1997). It is a common of grasses growing there on the stony ground. She was able to Tand widespread warbler that breeds in northern- and cautiously approach fairly close to it, and continued to observe temperate Europe, from West Norway, the British Isles, western- it for the next ten minutes or so through binoculars, and also and southern France, eastwards, till Siberia, southwards, in Italy, clicked several photographs of it, as it seemed quite unconcerned the extreme northern part of Greece, central- and south-western by her presence. MK was quite sure that she had never seen this Ukraine, and the north-eastern region of Kazakhstan (BirdLife particular warbler before, as it had an extremely bright yellow, and International 2004). It is seen till the extreme part of West Asia, in long supercilium, with a black line below, and a brightly coloured the southern Ural Mountains. It is strongly migratory, flying south yellow throat and upper breast with an absolutely white belly. In to tropical Africa in the winter, to Sierra Leone, southern Sudan, the meantime, RD, NK & NS also came towards the car, so the northern Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and southern Somalia. bird got a bit disturbed and flew a little distance away. However, On 16 September 2016 while on a birding trip to Ladakh all saw it through binoculars, and NK also took a few pictures of it. we were birding in the Tso Kar area (33.31°N, 77.96°E; 4530 On going through the books available with us on the trip m asl), which is a salt lake situated in the Rupshu Plateau and (Kazmierczak 2009; Grimmett et al. 2011), we could not Valley in the southern part of Ladakh. In the early evening, we match the warbler we saw to any of the Phylloscopus warblers headed to Startsapuk Tso (33.26°N, 78.02°E), a freshwater lake in the book. After returning from the trip, MK checked the all on the south-eastern aspect of Tso Kar. Together, Tso Kar and images of warblers on the Oriental Bird Images website (www. Startsapuk Tso form the More Plains pool. The terrain is rocky, orientalbirdimages.org), but could not get a match. Though it was with a few clumps of sedge, and nettles. We were birding on the later realised that there was a single image of this species on the south-eastern shore of the lake. At around 1715 hrs MK headed website, taken in Belgium, the angle of the bird in the photo was towards our car, which was parked some distance from the shore, not useful in appreciating the full set of field features. Finally, MK when she saw a warbler hopping about on the ground near the sent a few pictures to Adesh Shivkar who confirmed the pictures .
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