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Correspondence 93

– Ashwin Mohan & Adithi Muralidhar Ashwin Mohan, Institute of Chemical Technology, Nathalal Parekh Marg, Matunga, Mumbai 400019, Maharashtra, . E-mail ID: [email protected] [Corresponding author] Adithi Muralidhar, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, V. N. Purav Marg, Mankhurd, Mumbai 400088, Maharashtra, India. E-mail ID: [email protected]

Cinereous monachus in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Western Ghats, and its status in southern India The Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus is classified as Near Threatened under the IUCN Red List of threatened species (BirdLife International 2019). The species is a partial migrant, and a nomad (Bildstein 2006). Cinereous adults are mostly sedentary while the juvenile disperse over larger areas (Del Moral & De la Puente 2005). In South the Cinereous Vulture 114. Cinereous Vulture near the water hole of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. is resident in arid to semi-arid mountains of , and at lower To view our record in perspective, we assessed the status of altitudes in the Himalayas. It is only a winter visitor in the north- Cinereous Vultures in southern India (Table 1), and marked the western parts of India and a straggler to peninsular India up to sighting points on a map (Fig. 1). Dhulia, Khandesh, Maharashtra (Ali & Ripley 2007). In this note we record the occurrence of the Cinereous Vulture in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Western Ghats, and reviews its status in southern India. Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (henceforth, MTR) (11.53º–11.71ºN, 76.37º–76.75ºE) lies on the northern flank of the Nilgiri Mountain Range in the Western Ghats and is contiguous with Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (henceforth, WWS) on its western side, Bandipur Tiger Reserve (henceforth, BTR) on its northern side, and Nilgiri North Forest Division (henceforth, NNFD) on its southern side. MTR also forms part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (henceforth, NBR). On 18 March 2019, at 1030 h, we are monitoring the vultures at the constructed waterhole of Sigur range in MTR (11.53ºN, 76.72ºE; 952m asl). Among the thirty to fifty vultures were White- rumped Vultures bengalensis, Indian Vultures G. indicus, and Red-headed Vultures Sarcogyps calvus. Along with this flock, a completely dark, was observed circling above the water hole and suddenly it disappeared from that place. Our camera trap showed a huge, dark-bodied , with a uniformly dark blackish plumage, paler on the head and neck, with dark irises, and a bluish-grey cere; confirming that the bird was a juvenile Cinereous Vulture [114]. This bird utilized the waterhole multiple times, for bathing and drinking, till 27 April 2019. Fig. 1. Sighting records of Cinereous Vulture in Southern Indian Region.

Table 1. Consolidated details of Cinereous Vulture records in southern India (Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu) Status Date Place State Reported by of bird Reference 12 February 1986 Karimnagar Telangana B. C. Choudhury E Choudhury (1990) 01 December 1988 Kanjrappara, Mallapuzhasry, Pathanamthitta Kerala R. S. Shree Kumar E Kumar (1991) 11 January 1988 Nelapattu Wildlife Sanctuary, Nellore District Andhra Pradesh C. Perennou & V. Santharam S Perennou & Santharam (1990) Last week of Khandobachi Pali, Satara District Maharashtra Rahul Purandare, Sajeev E Prasad (2006), Naoroji (2006) December 1992 Nalavade 20 December 1994 Kole Wetlands, Enamavu, Thrissur Kerala Nameer P. O. S Nameer (1994) 21 December 1998 Harangi Dam, Kodagu Karnataka S. Subramanya S Subramanya (2001) 20 January 2001 Rangareddi Telangana Pranay Rao S Rao (2006) 20 January 2002 Krishnarajasagar Reservoir, Mysore Karnataka T. Shivanand S Shivanand (2004) 21 December 2008 Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary, Nagappattinam Tamil Nadu Gnanskandan K. P Gnanskandan (2008) 11 February 2012 Melghat Tiger Reserve, Amravathi Maharashtra Nandkishore Dudhe P Dudhe (2012) 01 January 2013 Jejuri Rural, Pune Maharashtra Yash Deshpande P Deshpande (2013) December 2016— Kabini, Naharhole Tiger Reserve Karnataka Biddappa P Biddappa (2017) January 2017 17 February 2017 Thalamalai Reserve Forest, Sathiyamangalam Tiger Reserve Tamil Nadu S. Bharathidhasan P Bharathidhasan (2017) 21 December 20171 Tholpetty Forest Range, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary Kerala Vishnu Omanakuttan P Rajeev (2017) 28 December 2017 Aasaripallam, Kanyakumari Tamil Nadu Raja Lingam & Prasanth P, E Tamilbirds (2017) 18 March 2019 Mudumalai Tiger Reserve Tamil Nadu Samson A. P Present record Note: E=Exhausted or dead individual; P=Photographed; S=Sighting with description 94 Indian Birds Vol. 15 No. 3 (Publ. 26 August 2019)

The Cinereous Vulture has been reported 16 times post Mysore, Karnataka, India. Newsletter for Ornithologists 1 (5): 74. 1986, thrice in each decade till 2010, from all southern Indian Subramanya, S., 2001. Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus (Linn.), family states, except . All past records are from winter, between , in Karnataka. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 98 (2): December and February (earliest sighting 01 December, last, 17 278. Tamilbirds. 1988. Website URL: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S52439335. February), except ours, which is in March–April. Four birds, out [Accessed on 14 April 2019.] of the 17, were cases of exhausted birds. There are reports of Vyawahare, P. M., 1992. Checklist of birds from Dhule District, Maharashtra, with a note the Cinereous Vulture from northern Maharashtra, without explicit on migratory birds. Pavo 29 (1&2): 77–106 (1991). sighting details: Vyawahare (1992) reported it was occasionally observed in flight at Dhule and Sakri, and Ali & Ripley (1987), – Samson A., B. Ramakrishnan, V. Selvan & S. Manigandan southwards to about the latitude of Dhulia in Khandesh. A record Samson A.,* B. Ramakrishnan, & S. Manigandan: Mammalogy and Forest Ecology Lab, Department of Zoology and Wildlife Biology, Government of the Cinereous Vulture from Pondicherry mentioned in Naoroji Arts College, Udhagamandalm, The Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, India (2006), and Rahmani (2012), citing Perennou (1988), appears V. Selvan, Sigur Forest Range Officer, Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Masinagudi, The Nilgiris, to be an error, as the latter does not list the bird! We admit that Tamil Nadu, India *Corresponding author E-mail: [email protected] we may have missed some records from northern Maharashtra, which was considered within the wintering range of this species, as observers may not have put their records in public circulation. White-tailed Flycatcher Cyornis concretus from The Cinereous Vulture appears to be an erratic straggler in Dzuleke, Nagaland southern India. An increase in the number of birders might be the On the 21 February 2019, I visited a forest tract in Dzuleke village only reason that it has been increasingly reported in this decade. (25.62ºN, 93.94ºE), between Khonoma and Poilwa, in Kohima District, Nagaland. Adjacent to the ground that is Dzuleke’s picnic- References spot I observed a White-tailed Flycatcher Cyornis concretus on a Ali, S., & Ripley, S. D., 1987. Compact handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan bush beside a stream, at an altitude 1,760 m. together with those of Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. 2nd ed. Delhi: Kazmierczak (2000), and Grimmett et al. (2011) state that Oxford University Press. Pp. i–xlii, 1 l., 1–737, 52 ll. this flycatcher can be distinguished from others by its white belly, Bharathidasan, S., 2017. Website URL: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S40565272. white spots on tail feathers when the tail is spread, and pale [Accessed on 14 April 2019]. colouration of legs. It could be misidentified as a White-tailed Biddappa, P. A., 2017. Rare Cinereous Vulture sighted in Nagarahole Tiger Reserve. Robin Myiomela leucura, however, the latter male has an entirely Website URL: http://www.conservationindia.org/gallery/rare-cinereous-vulture. dark blue body. I photographed the bird [115, 116], and later [Accessed on 14 April 2019.] identified it as a White-tailed Flycatcher. Bildstein, K. L., 2006. Migrating raptors of the world: their ecology and conservation. 1st ed. Ithaca & London: Comstock Publishing Associates/Cornell University Press. Pp. i–xii+2, 1–320+2. BirdLife International 2018. Aegypius monachus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T22695231A131935194. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018- 2.RLTS.T22695231A131935194.en. [Accessed on 29 May 2019.] Choudhury, B. C., 1990. Capture of Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus in Karimnagar District, Andhra Pradesh. Mayura 7&8 (1-4): 49–50. Del Moral, J. C., & De la Puente, J., 2005. Buitre negro – Aegypius monachus. In: Carrascal, L. M., & Salvador, A., (eds.). Enciclopedia Virtual de los Vertebrados Españoles. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales: Madrid. Website URL: http:// digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/110180/4/aegmon_v3.pdf. [Accessed on 29 May 2019.] 115. The White-tailed Flycatcher clearly showing white belly, flank, pale legs, and white splash Deshpande, Y., 2013. Website URL: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S47606133. on spread tail. [Accessed on: 14 April 2019.] Dudhe, N., 2012. Website URL: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checlist/S19463923. [Accessed on 14 April 2019.] Gnanskandan, K., 2008. Website URL: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S24620071. [Accessed on 14 April 2019.] Kumar, R. S. S., 1991. Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus (Linn.) in Pathanamthitta, Kerala. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 88 (1): 111. Nameer, P.O., 1994. Website URL: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38970533. [Accessed on 14 April 2019.] Naoroji, R., 2006. Birds of prey of the Indian Subcontinent. 1st ed. London: Christopher Helm. Pp. 704 Perennou, C., 1988. Two important wetlands near Pondicherry. Blackbuck 3 (3&4): 3–11 (1987). Perennou, C., & Santharam, V., 1990. Status of some birds in southeastern India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 87 (2): 306–307. Rajeev, K. R., 2017. Sighting of rare vulture confirmed in Wayanad. Website URL:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/62228640.cms?utm_ DibyenduBoth: Ash source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst. [Accessed on 14 April 2019.] Rao, J. P., 2006. Sighting of Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus in Rangareddi district, Andhra Pradesh, India. Indian Birds 2 (1): 9–10 (With one col. photo on back cover). Shivanand, T., 2004. A sight record of the Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus near 116 . Another view of the spread tail showing white patches from behind.