Govindaraj: Avifauna of Hosur forest

Indian Roller benghalensis R Oriental Magpie-Robin Copsychus saularis R Common Hoopoe Upupa epops R White-rumped Shama C. malabaricus R Indian Grey Hornbill Ocyceros birostris R Indian Robin Saxicoloides fulicata R White-Cheeked Barbet Megalaima viridis R Pied Bushchat Saxicola caprata W Coppersmith Barbet M. haemacephala R Common Babbler Turdoides caudatus R Rufous Woodpecker Celeus brachyurus R Verditer Flycatcher Eumyias thalassina W Lesser Golden-backed Woodpecker Asian Paradise-Flycatcher Terpsiphone paradisi R Dinopium benghalense R Great Tit Parus major R Large Pied Wagtail Motacilla maderaspatensis R Purple-rumped Sunbird Nectarinia zeylonica R Yellow Wagtail M. flava W Oriental white-eye Zosterops palpebrosus R Paddyfield Pipit Anthus rufulus R House Sparrow Passer domesticus R Small Minivet Pericrocotus cinnamomeus R Baya Weaver Ploceus philippinus R Scarlet Minivet P. flammeus R Common Myna Acridotheres tristis R Red-whiskered Bulbul Pycnonotus jocosus R Eurasian Golden Oriole oriolus R Red-vented Bulbul P. cafer R Black-headed Oriole O. xanthornus R White-browed Bulbul P. luteolus R Black Drango Dicrurus macrocercus R Common Iora Aegithina tiphia R Greater Racket-tailled Drongo D. paradiseus R Asian Fairy-Blue Irena puella R Indian Treepie Dendrocitta vagabunda R Brown Shrike Lanius cristatus W House Crow Corvus splendens R Bay-backed Shrike L. vittatus R Jungle Crow C. macrorhynchos R Malabar Whistling- Myophonus horsfieldii R Abbreviations: R=Resident; W=Winter migrant names and scientific names follow Manakadan & Pittie (2001). References A total of 94 spp., belonging to 44 families were recorded. Of Ali, S. 2002. The book of Indian . 13th (Revised) ed. Daniel, J. C. the 94, 88 were resident and six, winter visitors. The Black Eagle (ed.) Mumbai: Bombay Natural History Society & Oxford Ictinaetus malayensis, Asian Fairly Blue-bird Irena puella, Indian University Press. Grey Hornbill Ocyceros birostris and Malabar Whistling-Thrush Ali, S. & Ripley, S. D. 1987. Compact handbook of the birds of India and Myophonus horsfieldii were relatively uncommon and seen in Pakistan together with those of Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri isolated forest patches of Hosur forest division. Further study Lanka. 2nd ed. Delhi: Oxford University Press. of the area will definitely add to the list given below. Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C. & Inskipp, T. 1999. Pocket guide to the birds of the Indian Subcontinent. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Manakadan, R. & Pittie, A. 2001. Standardised common and scientific Acknowledgements names of the birds of the Indian Subcontinent. Buceros 6 (1): i–ix, I would like to thank Prof. Raman Sukumar and Thomas Mathew for 1–37. providing lab facilities. Thanks to my colleague Sameer Ali, Karthick Rameshkumar, S. 1994. Ecology of Asian elephants Elephas maximus: B. and Kannan Vaithianathan for reviewing an earlier draft and providing their habitats and interactions with people in Hosur and Dharmapuri valuable comments on this note. I also thank the Tamil Nadu Forest forest divisions, Tamil Nadu, South India. PhD thesis, Bharathidasan Department for permissions. University, Tiruchirapalli.

Recent sighting of Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni in

Anwaruddin Choudhury

Choudhury, A. 2009. Recent sighting of Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni in Nagaland. Indian Birds 4 (4): 139–140 (2008). Anwaruddin Choudhury, 7 Islampur Road, 781007, . Email: [email protected] Mss. received on 17th May 2008.

he Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni is a globally threatened district). From a distance, I thought they were Amur Falcons F. raptor, which has been listed as ‘vulnerable’ by BirdLife amurensis—I had seen 20+ in flight, and perched, on 23 October TInternational (2004). The species has been recorded as 2001, while going to Saramati, between Jessami (Manipur) and a rare winter and passage migrant to north-eastern India Meluri (25°38’N 94°36’E; Nagaland). (Choudhury 2000; Naoroji 2006). From Nagaland, there is a 100- However, when I approached closer, I realised they were year-old record by Godwin-Austen (1877). Here, I would like to slightly larger. With the aid of a 14x monocular, I saw that report a recent sighting of the Lesser Kestrel from Nagaland. none of them had reddish feet. At least two of them were On 26th October 2001, while returning from Saramati at adult tiercels, which actually helped me identify the species. 0740 hrs, via Pungro, I saw seven falcons perched on a The unspotted rufous upper parts were mainly confined to powerline, about 13 km south of Kiphire town (25°52’N, 94°48’E; mantle, back and scapulars. The head and wing-panels were 1,100 m above msl), above the Kiphire–Meluri road (Kiphire bluish grey. Underparts were light orange-buff with a paler

Indian Birds Vol. 4 No. 4 (July–August 2008) 139 Choudhury: Lesser Kestrel throat. The tail had a black band and there were some dark References spots along the flanks. The remaining birds had dark streaks BirdLife International. 2004. Threatened birds of the world. CD-ROM. of various shapes on their underparts, indicating that they Cambridge, U.K.: BirdLife International. were falcons. Choudhury, A. U. 2000. The birds of Assam. Guwahati: Gibbon Books & World Wide Fund for Nature-India. Godwin-Austen, H. H. 1877. Fifth list of birds from the hill ranges of the Acknowledgements north-east frontier of India. J. Asiatic Soc. Bengal XLV (Part II No For help and assistance during fieldwork, I would like to thank Khekiho IV): 191–204 (1876). Sohe, Thomas Kent and Hakeem. Naoroji, R. 2006. Birds of prey of the Indian Subcontinent. New Delhi: Om Books International. Further distribution records of Bar-headed Goose Anser indicus in southern Tamil Nadu A. I. Siddiqui & S. Balachandran

Siddiqui, A. I. & Balachandran, S. 2009. Further distribution records of Bar-headed Goose Anser indicus in southern Tamil Nadu. Indian Birds 4 (4): 140–141 (2008). A. I. Siddiqui, Deputy General Manager, Nuclear Power Corporation of India, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Email: [email protected] S. Balachandran, Assistant Director, Bombay Natural History Society, Hornbill House, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg, Mumbai 400023, Maharashtra, India. Email: [email protected]

n the 25th of February 2008 we visited Koonthankulam While returning from Tirunelveli on 27th February 2008, we Bird Sanctuary (8º29’74’N 77º45’49”E), the famous decided to survey another little known, but a reasonably large, Opelicanry and an Important Bird Area (IBA) in tank in Nanguneri town in Tirunelveli district. The Nanguneri Tirunelveli district (Tamil Nadu), as part of a wetland survey pond (8º30’34”N 77º39’27”E), with an approximate diameter of undertaken in four districts of Tamil Nadu, through the 1.7 km, is adjacent to the Kanyakumari–Tirunelveli Highway Environment Stewardship Programme (a voluntary activity of (NH7). It is a permanent freshwater pond, fed by rain and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited), to study the Pachaiyaru River that flows in from the nearby Kalakad Hills. distribution of the breeding population of Spot-billed Pelican It lies at an aerial distance of c. 11.7 km (GPS readings) west of Pelecanus philippensis. In fact, we were a bit disappointed at Koonthankulam. The two wetlands are c. 48–52 km north-east Koonthankulam due to relatively less number of breeding birds, of Kanayakumari, the southern-most point on mainland India. particularly Spot-billed Pelicans (c. 375 nests), when compared We were pleasantly surprised to spot a variety of birds to the 1,500 nests counted and monitored monthly, by one of us including 64 Bar-headed Geese and 52 Greater Flamingo. (SB) in 2006–2007. Mr. Paul Pandian, forest department watcher Bar-headed Goose Anser indicus is a winter visitor to and an ardent caretaker of the fallen/abandoned chicks of the mainland India. It breeds in Ladakh (Jammu & Kashmir) and breeding birds, told us that the pelican numbers would shoot at high elevations in central and southern Asia (Ali & Ripley up at dusk. While waiting for dusk, we walked to the nearby 1978; Wurdinger 2005). Birds start arriving in October– Kadankulam wetland where we spotted a gaggle of c. 500 Bar- November, reaching their highest concentrations in December, headed Geese Anser indicus, and 30 Greater Flamingo and start returning in March (Ali & Ripley 1978). It is common Phoenicopterus roseus. Kadankulam wetland is situated opposite in winter in northern India though rare in Gujarat and the Koonthankulam Sanctuary, and is a mere kilometre from the Deccan region, with only a few birds reaching Mysore—their adjoining Kadankulam village. A few Bar-headed Geese were southern limit (Ali & Ripley 1978), although Kazmierczak (2000) also seen in the nearby paddy fields. has shown its southern distribution further south of Mysore. Ali & Ripley (1978) do not record it from Sri Lanka. Small numbers of Bar-headed Geese were recorded regularly earlier, from several places such as Ramanathapuram district (Balachandran 1990) and Point Calimere (Bombay Natural History Society: unpublished data). The BNHS research team and Nature Club of Bishop Heber College have been recording up to 2,000 birds at Karavetty town (Tamil Nadu) since 1990 (A. Relton, verbally). Similarly, its occurrence in a few hundreds at Koonthankulam for the last ten years has been documented by the Tamil Nadu Forest Department. BNHS survey teams have recorded in 2006–2007, 325 Bar-headed Geese at Koonthankulam and 85 at Silaiyam pond, 3 km west of Koonthankulam. This note provides further evidence of the increased range of Bar-headed Geese in southern India.

Acknowledgements Clement Francis The above survey was part of wetland surveys in four districts of Tamil Fig. 1. Bar-headed Geese Anser indicus. Nadu to study the distribution of the breeding population of Spot-billed

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