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Home , Common buzzard, Himalayan buzzard, Upland buzzard

Correspondence 29

Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C., & Inskipp, T., 2011. of the . 2nd ed. London: Oxford University Press & Christopher Helm. Pp. 1–528. Prakash, A., 2017. Website URL: https://ebird.org/checklist/S34285650. [Accessed on 19 December 2020.]

– Mayur Gawas, Prasanna Kelkar, Jalmesh Karapurkar & Shayeesh Pirankar Mayur Gawas, Goa University, University Road, Taleigao, Goa 403206, . E-mail: [email protected] Prasanna Kelkar, Bhatwadi, Morlem, Sattari, Goa 403505, India. E-mail: [email protected] Jalmesh Karapurkar, Kothiwada Karapur, Sankhalim, Goa 403505, India. E-mail: [email protected] Shayeesh Pirankar, New Colony Anjunem, Morlem, Sattari, Goa 403505, India. E-mail: [email protected]

49. Rough-legged lagopus from Ladakh, India On Sunday, 03 January 2021 I planned a drive towards Hemis village for birding, and while returning via Stakna village (33.97°N, 77.70°E; c.3,230 m) I saw a raptor on a Poplar Poplus nigera. At first I thought it was just another Common BuzzardButeo buteo (first winter), but after taking some photographs and analyzing them I realized that the was different from the we usually see in Ladakh. That evening, I put the photos [48–52] of the bird on social media and sent some photographs for identification to the person I always ask for help in identifying confusing bird (Andrew Paul Bailey), and to my surprise, everyone commented it was a Rough-legged Buzzard Buteo lagopus! To satisfy myself further, I referred some books I had, Arlott (2014), and Svensson et al. (2010), and was convinced 50. that the bird I had spotted was a Rough-legged Buzzard, which is new for Ladakh.

51. All: Sonam CholdanAll: (Gasha)

52. 48. 48–52. Rough-legged Buzzard from Ladakh, 03 January 2021. 30 Indian Birds Vol. 17 No. 1 (Publ. 29 March 2021)

The cold greyish-brownish colour tones, with indistinct internal On 14 October 2019, we stopped after seeing a flock of barring on primaries and secondaries, which is concentrated to birds of sub-alpine range, consisting of tits Periparus sp., tits and the distal part, large brownish belly patch combined with streaked leafwarblers Phylloscopus sp. All of a sudden, two birds were breast, almost whitish bases to tail feathers and quite clear-cut spotted that were swinging and flying around electric poles of the dark area on the tip of ‘my’ bird fits that of a juvenile Rough- nearby army cantonment, just at the edge of the army campus legged Buzzard. The feathered tarsi are another key pointer that (c.3,210 m asl) at 1251 h. We shot a video of the birds perched eliminates Common or B refectus. The bill is on the electric wire [53]. tiny for other with feathered tarsi: Long-legged Buzzard B. rufinus and B. hemilasius. The tail is extremely important, showing a white inner half and very few sparse and diffuse bars in the dark-shaded outer half; this is a typical tail for a juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard (the uppertail cannot be seen well in the images, but the pattern is clearly shown in some of the backlit images from underneath). Eastern (including B. japonicus and B. burmanicus) have brown upper tails and, if there is barring, it is fine, and usually covers the entire upper tail in juveniles. In Upland Buzzard, which is a big and heavy bird, the tail can be partly white, but the barring would be fine and distinct. Most buteos show barred secondaries, with the barring spaced over the entire feather. In juvenile Rough-legged Dibyendu Ash Buzzard, only the outer section of each secondary shows a few bars, leaving the inner half largely plain white, which is a unique feature as seen in this bird. 53. Blue-tailed Bee-eater in Sikkim. The only prior claim of this species from the Indian Subcontinent is of one reported by S. D. Ripley from Tongsa, central on 05 November 1973. The details of the sighting The state of Sikkim has been well covered by avian surveys is unavailable though the bird hovered over the road and afforded in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Even after perusing a perfect view (Ali et al. 1996). It is also reported to be a winter historical literature of erstwhile ornithologists, , we could not vagrant to Afghanistan, but treated as hypothetical for retrieve data for this species from the state of Sikkim in any of (Rasmussen & Anderton 2012). It is not listed in the checklists the subsequent works (Ali 1962; Dutta 2006; Acharya 2011; of birds of South Asia (Praveen et al. 2020a), or India (Praveen Grimmett 2019; Pittie 2019). Thus it could be concluded that et al. 2020b). the Blue-tailed Bee-eater is recorded here, for the first time I thank Chris Kehoe, Ashwin Viswanathan, Praveen J., Eivor from the Sikkim . The species is a vagrant in Bhutan Ritavuori Os Rosenberb, and Andrew Paul Bailey for helping (Spierenburg 2005; Choudhury 2007; Grimmett 2019]. me with the identification of this species, and for the detailed However, in neighbouring West Bengal’s hill districts—Jalpaiguri, identification comments from two anonymous referees. Kalimpong, and Darjeeling—have scattered sighting reports (eBird 2021). In adjacent eastern , there are fairly common References sighting records from the terai regions and the Kosi River flood Ali, S., Biswas, B., & Ripley, S. D., 1996. Birds of Bhutan. Records of the Zoological plains (eBird 2021). Survey of India, Occasional Paper No. 136: 1 l., i–v, 1–207+1. Website URL: We thank GoingWild LLP for the logistics arrangements for http://faunaofindia.nic.in/PDFVolumes/occpapers/136/index.pdf. this tour, Birdwatchers’ Society (Kolkata) for multiple inputs, and Arlott, N., 2014. Birds of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments on this note. London, UK: William Collins. Pp. 1–400. Praveen J., Jayapal, R., Inskipp, T., Warakagoda, D., Thompson, P. M., Anderson, R. C., Carr, P., Rasmussen, P. C., & Pittie, A., 2020a. Checklist of the birds of South Asia References (v6.1). Website URL: http://www.indianbirds.in/south-asia. [Date of publication: Acharya, B. K., & Vijayan, L., 2011. The birds of Sikkim: An analysis of elevational 25 July 2020.] distribution, endemism and threats. In: Arawatia, M. L., & Tambe, S., (eds.). Praveen J., Jayapal, R., & Pittie, A., 2020b. Checklist of the birds of India (v4.1). Website Biodiversity of Sikkim: Exploring and conserving a global hotspot. Gangtok, India: URL: http://www.indianbirds.in/india/. [Date of publication: 25 July 2020.] IPR Department, Government of Sikkim. Pp. 255–282. Rasmussen, P. C., & Anderton, J. C., 2012. Birds of South Asia: the Ripley guide: Ali, S., 1962. The birds of Sikkim. 1st ed. Madras, India: Oxford University Press. Pp. attributes and status. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C. and Barcelona: Smithsonian i–xxx, 1–414. Institution and Lynx Edicions. Vol. 2 of 2 vols. Pp. 1–683. Choudhury, A., 2007. Some new and interesting bird records from Bhutan. Indian Birds Svensson, L., Mullarney, K., & Zetterstörm, D., 2010. Collins bird guide: The most 3 (2): 51–53. complete guide to the birds of Britain and . UK: Collins. Pp. 1–448. Dutta, B. B., Ghosh, S., Basu-Roy, S., Datta, B. K., Sett, A. K., Sakthivel, R., & – Sonam Choldan (Gasha) Bhattacharyya, T. P., 2006. Aves. In: Alfred, J. R. B., (ed.). Fauna of Sikkim. (Part- c/o Gasha House, Spituk Village, UT Ladakh, India. E-mail: [email protected] 1). Vertebrates. State Fauna Series, 9. Kolkata, India: Director: Zoological Survey of India. Vol. 1 of 5 vols.: Pp. 77–156. The Blue-tailed Bee-eater Merops philippinus in eBird 2021: Blue-tailed Bee-eater Maps. Website URL: https://ebird.org/india/map/ Sikkim, India btbeat1. [Accessed on 24 January 2021.] Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C., & Inskipp, T., 2011. Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. 2nd ed. We report the sight records of two Blue-tailed Bee-eaters Merops London: Oxford University Press & Christopher Helm. Pp. 1–528. philippinus from close to Lachung village (27.73°N, 88.74°E), in Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C., Inskipp, T., & Sherub. 2019. Birds of Bhutan and the Eastern North Sikkim District, Sikkim, India. Himalayas. India: Bloomsbury Publishing India Pvt. Ltd. Pp. 1–416.