120 Indian BIRDS Vol. 14 No. 4 (Publ. 23 October 2018)

Bristled Grassbird Chaetornis striata: A pair of Grassbirds was George, A., 2018. Website URL: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S43199767. [Accessed seen on 24 February 2018, photographed [119] on 26 February, on 13 August 2018.] and seen on the subsequent day as well. This adds to the recent George, P. J., 2015. Chestnut-eared Bunting Emberiza fucata from Ezhumaanthuruthu, Kuttanad Wetlands, Kottayam District. Malabar Trogon 13 (1): 34–35. knowledge on its wintering status in Karnataka. Other records Harshith, J. V., 2016. Website URL: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S33278635. are from Dakshin Kannada (Harshith 2016; Kamath 2016; [Accessed on 13 August 2018.] Viswanathan 2017), Mysuru (Vijayalakshmi 2016), and Belgaum Kamath, R., 2016. Website URL: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S33148312. [Accessed (Sant 2017). on 13 August 2018.] Lakshmi, V., 2015. Website URL: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S21432671. [Accessed on 13 August 2018.] Monnappa, B., 2012. Website URL: https://www.indianaturewatch.net/displayimage. php?id=317526. [Accessed on 14 August 2018.] Nair. A. 2018. Website URL: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S43311515. [Accessed on 13 August 2018.] Naoroji, R., 2006. Birds of prey of the Indian Subcontinent. Reprint ed. New Delhi: Om Books International. Pp. 1–692. Narasimhan, S. V., 2004. Feathered jewels of Coorg. 1st ed. Madikeri, India: Coorg Wildlife Society. Pp. 1–192. Orta, J., Boesman, P., Marks, J. S., Garcia, E. F. J., & Kirwan, G. M., 2018. Western Marsh- harrier (Circus aeruginosus). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D. A., & de Juana, E., (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions,

Bishan CMBishan Barcelona. Website URL: https://www.hbw.com/node/53021. [Accessed on 13 119. Bristled Grassbird. August 2018.] Praveen J., Subramanya, S., & Raj, V. M., 2016. A checklist of the birds of Karnataka. Indian BIRDS 12 (4&5): 89–118. Chestnut-eared Bunting Emberiza fucata: A male, in non- Raghavendra, M., 2012. Occurrence of Lesser Florican Sypheotides indica in Bangalore, breeding plumage, was photographed [120] on 17 March 2018. Karnataka, India. Indian BIRDS 7 (5): 140–142. The bold dark striations on the buffy (vs chestnut) flanks indicate Rasmussen, P. C., & Anderton, J. C., 2012. Birds of South Asia: the Ripley guide: a wintering E. f. kuatunensis of north-eastern India, rather than the attributes and status. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C. and Barcelona: Smithsonian western Himalayan E. f. arcuate (Rasmussen & Anderton 2012). Institution and Lynx Edicions. Vol. 2 of 2 vols. Pp. 1–683. Chestnut-eared Bunting is not known south of Rajasthan (Sangha Sangha, H. S., Singh, S., & Garg, S., 2016. Chestnut-eared Bunting Emberiza fucata wintering in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Indian BIRDS 11 (1): 26–27. et al. 2016) except for an isolated record from Alappuzha District, Sant, N., 2017. Snapshot Sightings: Bristled Grassbird from Belgaum, Karnataka. Indian Kerala, in March 2015 (George 2015). The latter report was not BIRDS 13 (6): 168A. considered for the state checklist of Kerala, as its provenance Viswanathan, A., 2017. Website URL: https://ebird.org/india/view/checklist/S40877077. could not be established; buntings are traded in large numbers [Accessed on 13 August 2018.] and it was suspected that the individual could have also been – Bishan C. Monnappa & Santhosh Kumar P. an escapee. Another possibility, considered for not including it Bishan C. Monnappa, PNM Hospital, Gonikoppal, Kodagu 571213, Karnataka, India. E-mail: [email protected] then, was the behaviour of reverse migration, where some birds Santhosh Kumar P., Boregowda Complex, Virajpet 571218, deviate 180 degrees from their normal migratory route, and Karnataka, India. E-mail: [email protected] land at a distant site exactly in the opposite direction. These two March records from southern India indicate a possible straggling Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus in behaviour of this species, in spring, which might bring some disoriented individuals as far as southern India. This is an addition Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu to the list of birds of Karnataka (Praveen et al. 2016). I frequently birdwatch at Koltheri Lake (10.96°N, 76.74°E), near Semmedu village, in the Velliangiri foothills, Coimbatore District, as I live near it. On 28 November 2017, I visited the lake at 1130 hrs. It had been de-silted lately and the water level kept high, as a result of which, the numbers of waders and other waterbirds was low. While walking along the embankment, towards the centre of the lake, I saw a rather different looking bird taking off and circling the lake before landing on the other end of the lake. In flight, I noticed that it had a white underbelly and a peculiarly shaped head, and bill; which made me I ruled out the Indian Spot-billed Duck Anas poecilorhyncha, or a wader. Luckily, after some time, the bird came close to my end of the lake and I could take its photograph, using my binoculars as a tele-lens.

Bishan CMBishan The images were sent to Pramod Padmanabhan at the Sálim 120. Chestnut-eared Bunting. Ali Center for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), and to other birding friends. Meanwhile I was perusing illustrations in References bird books, and could guess that the mystery bird might have been a Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus. Other birders Betts, F. N., 1951. The birds of Coorg. Part I. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 50 (1): 20–63. also arrived at the same conclusion and they came to the lake to Betts, F. N., 1952. The birds of Coorg. Part II. Journal of the Bombay Natural History take good photographs, and confirm its presence [121]. During Society 50 (2): 224–263. four hours we spent observing it, we watched it rising pretty high Correspondence 121

on thermals, and then returning to the lake. It did this a couple of times. Chetna Sharma Chetna Rajinikanth Kasturi 121. Great Crested Grebe at Koltheri Lake, Coimbatore. 122. Horned Grebe at Dighal, Haryana 2017.

Though the species is regular to northern India (eBird 2018), The birds were bold, mainly feeding with Little Grebe, but apart from a sporadic sight record from Goa (Lainer & Alvares preferred to stay near banks, and catch single, small fish by 2013; Baidya & Bhagat 2018), there are no other records from diving. Each dive lasted c. 15–20 sec., with the birds surfacing most of southern India. But is is now a fairly regular bird in north- five to eight meters away from their diving point. Upon emerging, eastern Andhra Pradesh, with several recent records (Taher the birds would swallow their prey. Only three birds, of the six 2016). seen originally, remained at the pond; while the remaining three were not seen after the first day. From 31 December 2017, only References a single bird was sighted until 06 January 2018. Two birds were discovered on 07 January 2018 in Ballab Village, Rohtak District, Baidya, P., & Bhagat, M., 2018. A checklist of the birds of Goa, India. Indian BIRDS 18 (1): 1–31. c. 15 km from Dighal on. These were last seen on 27 January eBird. 2018. Species maps: Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus. Website URL: 2018. The movement of the birds seemed to be related to the https://ebird.org/india/map/grcgre1. [Accessed on 29 August 2018.] water levels in the village ponds. Lainer, H., & Alvares, R., 2013. Birds of Goa. Goa, India: The Goa Foundation & The Horned Grebe is listed as Vulnerable under the IUCN Department of Forests, Goa. Pp. i–x, 1–240. Red List of Threatened Species (BirdLife International 2016), and Taher, H., 2016. Some interesting sightings from the 2014 Asian Waterbird Census in is a winter vagrant to India (Rasmussen & Anderton 2012). This Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana, India. Indian BIRDS 11 (2): 42–44. is only the third record of this species from India and the first for – Vijaykumar Krishnamurthy the state of Haryana. Past records are from the Kosi River near Basma 205, Shivapadam Cottages, Isha Yoga Center, Ikkarai Boluvumpatti, Coimbatore 641114, Tamil Nadu, India Ramnagar (29.38°N, 79.13°E), Uttarakhand, on 28 December E-mail: [email protected] 1993, and from Harike (31.15°N, 74.97°E), Punjab, during 01– 04 February 2001 (Praveen et al., 2014). A more recent record Horned Grebe Podiceps auritus at Dighal, Haryana, from the Indian Subcontinent is of two individuals sighted on 14 December 2016 by Imran Shah at Borit Lake, Gilgit-Baltistan, India Pakistan-administered Kashmir (Shah 2016). On the evening of 14 December 2017, while checking upon the arrival of flamingos (Phoenicopteridae) in Dighal (28.75°N, Acknowledgments 76.63°E), Haryana, I spotted six small grebes that looked different from the commonly seen Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis. My sincere thanks to Saurabh Sawant for helping with the manuscript. Thanks These birds had a black cap that came to just below their eye, to Chetna Sharma for all the support, and the photograph. And thanks to all the birdwatchers who helped with the identification. pale lores, grey sides of neck, dark-grey upperparts, white chin, throat, and sides of upper neck, with the white area on the face being well demarcated from the dark cap; and a dark-grey beak. Reference From a distance I managed to click a few pictures with my point- BirdLife International. 2016. Podiceps auritus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and-shoot zoom camera, in fading light. I thought they were the 2016: e.T22696606A93573279. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS. rare Black-necked Grebe Podiceps nigricollis; happy that I had T22696606A93573279.en. [Downloaded on 18 December 2017.] bagged a lifer. Praveen J., Jayapal, R., & Pittie, A., 2014. Notes on Indian rarities—2: Waterfowl, diving waterbirds, and gulls and terns. Indian BIRDS 9 (5&6): 113–136. Later, I shared the images on social media, and with help from Rasmussen, P. C., & Anderton, J. C., 2012. Birds of South Asia: the Ripley guide. 2nd other birders, concluded that the birds were the vagrant Horned ed. Washington, D.C. and Barcelona: Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions. Grebe P. auratus, in non-breeding plumage [122]. A closer look 2 vols. Pp. 1–378; 1–683. at the images showed that in their non-breeding plumage, the Shah, I., 2016. Website URL: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S34309123. [Accessed on birds differed from the similar looking Black-necked Grebe in 31 July 2018.] having almost all-white ear-coverts, heavier, and straighter bill, and flat crown. Next day I managed to show the birds to Abhinav – Rakesh Ahlawat Field Assistant, Nature Conversation Foundation, Chaudhary, and Manoj Sharma, who took conclusive images of S/o Bhagwan Singh, V.P.O. Dighalpana,Silaran 124107, Jhajjar, Haryana, India. the birds. E-mail: [email protected]