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Aviceda Jerdoni in New Ornis Foundation Similipal Tiger Reserve, with Notes on Behaviour P.O

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Aviceda Jerdoni in New Ornis Foundation Similipal Tiger Reserve, with Notes on Behaviour P.O Indian Birds Vol. 3 No. 2 (March–April 2007) 41 42 Indian Birds Vol. 3 No. 2 (March–April 2007) Indian Birds Vol. 3 No. 2. March–April 2007 ISSN 0973-1407 Editor Emeritus Zafar Futehally Contents Editor Aasheesh Pittie Migratory waterbirds of wetlands on southern West Bengal, India S. Mazumdar, K. Mookherjee & G. K. Saha 42 Associate Editor V. Santharam, PhD. Observations on breeding biology of three stork species Subscription information in Bhitarkanika mangroves, India Six issues will be published annually in February, Gopi G. V. & B. P andav 45 April, June, August, October, and December. Some new and interesting bird records from Bhutan Type Annual 3-year Individual Rs. 200 Rs. 600 A. U. Choudhury 51 Student (Up to 10th) Rs. 125 Rs. 375 Institution Rs. 600 Rs. 1,800 Breeding notes of six species of birds from Chiplun, Ratnagiri district, Foreign Individual $20 $60 Maharashtra (India) Foreign Institution $75 $225 S. B. Palkar, V. D. Katdare, V. K. Mahabal, V. V. Joshi, R. J. L ovalekar & A. Soman 54 Please make payments favouring Sightings of large numbers of Lesser Leptoptilos javanicus and New Ornis Foundation Add Rs.25/- for outstation cheques. Greater L. dubius Adjutant-Storks in Barpeta-Baksa area of Assam A. Choudhury 60 Send subscriptions by ordinary post to Editor, Indian Birds On the occurrence of Jerdon ’s Baza Aviceda jerdoni in New Ornis Foundation Similipal Tiger Reserve, with notes on behaviour P.O. Box # 2, Banjara Hills M. V. Nair61 Hyderabad 500034, India Email: [email protected] [Do not courier] Notes on the breeding of Jerdon’s Baza A viceda jerdoni in W ayanad district, K erala NEW ORNIS FOUNDATION C. K. Vishnudas 62 Registration No. 314/2004 A large breeding colony of River Tern Sterna aurantia in URL: www.indianbirds.in Chilika Lake, Orissa (India) P. Sathiyaselvam & S. Balachandran 65 Trustees Zafar Futehally Rishi Valley after the rains Aasheesh Pittie V. Santharam 67 V. Santharam, PhD. Rishad Naoroji Bird-watching around Jairampur, Arunachal P radesh Taej Mundkur, PhD. Praveen J. & S. Dalvi 69 S. Subramanya, PhD. Suhel Quader, PhD. Recoveries from the Newsletter for Birdwatchers (1969)—17 Z. Futehally 72 Aims & Objectives • To publish a newsletter that will A flight down memory lane. The little brown puzzles provide a platform to birdwatchers for L. Khachar 74 publishing notes and observations primarily on birds of South Asia. Postcard from America. The hunt for the Ivory -billed Woodpecker. R. Kannan 76 • To promote awareness of bird watching amongst the general public. Reviews 77 • To establish and maintain links/liaison Correspondence 80 with other associations or organized bodies in India or abroad whose objectives are in keeping with the Date of publication: 7 August 2007 objectives of the Trust (i.e. to support Front cover: Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus. Tso-moriri Lake, amateur birdwatchers with cash / kind Ladakh, 21.vi. 2007. Photographer: . Dhritiman Mukherjee. for projects in ornithology). Indian Birds Vol. 3 No. 2 (March–April 2007) 43 Migratory waterbirds of wetlands of southern West Bengal, India Subhendu Mazumdar, Kushal Mookherjee & Goutam Kumar Saha Mazumdar, S., Mookherjee, K. & Saha, G. K. 2007. Migratory waterbirds of wetlands of southern West Bengal, India. Indian Birds 3 (2): 42–45. Subhendu Mazumdar, West Bengal Biodiversity Board, 10A, Block LA, Sector-III, Salt Lake City, Kolkata 700098, West Bengal, India. Email: [email protected] Kushal Mookherjee, Prakriti Samsad, 65, Golf Club Road, Kolkata 700033, West Bengal, India. Goutam Kumar Saha, Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta, 35, Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata 700019, West Bengal, India. Mss received on: 27.iv.2006. igration is a regular seasonal movement of animals fed fish farms owned by the Department of Fisheries, to ensure the best possible living conditions for their Government of West Bengal. Msurvival. As a rule, it is an innate response of an 2. Santragachi Jheel (SJ) and Saheb Badh (SB) are two large animal population to several periodic changes in the wetlands surrounded by roads and human habitations environmental conditions (Pettingill 1956). Although a common and under constant anthropogenic pressure. However, phenomenon in different animal groups, the most interesting SB (average depth 9.7m) is a larger wetland than SJ and the best studied of all is bird migration. During winter, in the (average depth 1.8m) (Anon 1998). It had less emergent northern hemisphere, several species of birds migrate annually vegetation and floating macrophytes than SJ during the from trans-Himalayan regions and other parts of northern Asia survey. to the wetlands of India. They spend the entire winter at these 3. The Bakreshwar (BB) and Tilpara (TB) barrages are wetlands and return with the onset of spring. Others migrate artificial wetlands. TB is a reservoir on Mayurakshi River locally, southward from the Himalayan foothills, to ensure while BB is constructed on the Bakreshwar River. Both warmer climatic conditions (Ali 1996). these waterbodies are deep, compared to the other This note, based upon counts made during the Asian waterbodies visited (average depth ~20m), and are almost Waterbird Census in January 2006, compares the composition of devoid of any emergent vegetation and / or floating several migrants, resident-migrants and resident aquatic macrophytes. avifauna in six different wetlands situated at the southern part 4. Wetlands inside Ballavpur Wildlife Sanctuary (BWLS) of West Bengal. are connected to Mayurakshi River through an irrigation Study area & methods canal. These freshwater lakes are mostly clogged with In southern West Bengal, migration is generally complete by the weeds and have an average depth of around 2.2m. (Anon end of December. Migratory waterbird populations peaking 1998). Being located within a protected area, these during last week of December and the first week of January wetlands are least affected by anthropogenic pressures (Mazumdar et al. 2005). Therefore, the present survey was and disturbances. conducted during January 2006 when the wetlands hold the In all the six waterbodies, a ‘total count’ methodology was maximum number of the migratory waterbirds. The census was applied to the waterbirds. All the waterbirds present in the conducted at the following wetlands of southern West Bengal: waterbodies were counted and species and number of Nalban Bheri (Kolkata district), Santragachi Jheel (Howrah district), individuals recorded. The large wetlands were divided into Saheb Badh (Purulia district), Bakreshwar Barrage (Birbhum imaginary blocks and the waterbirds in each block were counted district), Tilpara Barrage (Birbhum district) and the wetlands inside in succession. Ballavpur Wildlife Sanctuary (Birbhum district) (Fig. 1). Results & discussion The wetlands were categorized broadly into four types: The maximum number of waterbirds and wetland-associated 1. Nalban Bheri (NB) is a part of the East Kolkata Wetlands species was recorded in the wetlands inside BWLS (11,656) (a Ramsar site), consisting of 152ha of commercial sewage- followed by SJ (9,869), SB (3,563), BB (1,887), TB (1,458) and Table 1. Status of waterbirds and wetland-associated species in selected wetlands in southern West Bengal NB SJ SB BB TB BWLS Total number of waterbirds and wetland associated birds 1,105 9,789 3,328 1,876 1,430 11,362 Trans-Himalayan migratory species 7 5 8 8 10 9 Resident-migrant species 12 4 8 7 11 7 Resident species 6 7 10 5 12 11 44 Indian Birds Vol. 3 No. 2 (March–April 2007) Mazumdar et al. Migratory waterbirds of southern West Bengal Table 2. Composition of waterbirds and wetland-associated species recorded at different wetlands in southern West Bengal in January 2006 Species Status NB SJ SB BB TB BWLS Total Waterbirds No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis R 0 0 0 0 37 1 3 0.2 0 0 2 <0.1 42 0.1 Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus M 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.2 3 0.2 0 0 7 <0.1 Little Cormorant Phalacrocorax niger RM 119 9.3 36 0.4 4 0.1 1 0.1 142 9.7 27 0.2 329 1.1 Indian Shag P. fuscicollis RM 235 18.4 1 <0.1 39 1.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 275 0.9 Great Cormorant P. carbo RM 341 26.7 0 0 4 0.1 30 1.6 2 0.1 0 0 377 1.3 Darter Anhinga melanogaster RM 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 <0.1 2 <0.1 Little Egret Egretta garzetta R 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.2 1 0.1 1 <0.1 5 <0.1 Grey Heron Ardea cinerea RM 95 7.4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 95 0.3 Large Egret Casmerodius albus R 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.1 0 0 2 <0.1 Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis R 65 5.1 1 <0.1 7 0.2 2 0.1 2 0.1 17 0.2 94 0.3 Indian Pond-Heron Ardeola grayii R 101 7.9 12 0.1 14 0.4 0 0 2 0.1 6 0.1 135 0.5 Yellow Bittern Ixobrychus sinensis RM 2 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 <0.1 Large Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna bicolor RM 0 0 4 <0.1 2 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 <0.1 Lesser Whistling-Duck D. javanica R 0 0 9,490 96.2 2,488 69.8 0 0 172 11.8 6,474 55.5 18,624 62.7 Greylag Goose Anser anser M 0 0 0 0 0 0 100 5.3 29 2 315 2.7 444 1.5 Bar-headed Goose A.
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