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First Sighting of Grey Headed Lapwing Vanellus Cinereus (Blyth, 1842) from Shahid Chandra Shekhar Azad Bird Sanctuary, Unnao Uttar Pradesh, India

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First Sighting of Grey Headed Lapwing Vanellus Cinereus (Blyth, 1842) from Shahid Chandra Shekhar Azad Bird Sanctuary, Unnao Uttar Pradesh, India JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE RESEARCH Journal homepage: www.jakraya.com/journal/jwr STUDY REPORT First Sighting of Grey Headed Lapwing Vanellus Cinereus (Blyth, 1842) from Shahid Chandra Shekhar Azad Bird Sanctuary, Unnao Uttar Pradesh, India Sonika Kushwaha and Akhilesh Kumar Indian Biodiversity Conservation Society, Khailar, B.H.E.L-Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India. Abstract Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary, renamed in 2015 as Shahid Chandra *Corresponding Author: Shekhar Azad Bird Sanctuary, is located in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, th Sonika Kushwaha India. On 9 January 2018, while birding in the Bird Sanctuary, four Grey Headed Lapwings were observed. There are only a few records of Grey Email: [email protected] headed lapwings from Uttar Pradesh. The previous studies done in the Shahid Chandra Shekhar Azad Bird Sanctuary reported only the Red- Received: 09/03/2018 wattled and Yellow-wattled lapwings. Therefore the reporting of Grey- Accepted: 22/03/2018 headed Lapwing is a new addition to the bird list of the sanctuary. Keywords: Grey-headed Lapwing, Sighting report, Bird Sanctuary. Grey Headed Lapwing Vanellus cinereus is a made using Bushnell Falcon 10x50 mm Binocular. The member of the family Charadriiformes and order photographs were taken by 7 D Canon DSLR Camera. Charadriiformes. Although IUCN has categorized it as The weather was foggy with low visibility and the Least Concern, Grey Headed Lapwing is uncommon temperature was recorded 6°C. The head and upper and rare winter visitor in peninsular India (Kumar et neck were grey; light brown above and white below. al ., 2003). The population trend is decreasing. It occurs Tail was white with a black terminal band. Lower neck in the plains from Nepal to Bihar, North East India and and breast were ashy-grey bordered by a chocolate Bangladesh. It is straggler to Kashmir, Delhi, pectoral-band. The primary flight feathers were black Rajasthan, Gujarat, Goa, South India, Andamans and and the secondary flight feathers were white, which Sri Lanka. The Grey Headed Lapwings prefer wet makes a striking contrast when in flight. The feet, the ground, marshes, ploughed fields and stubble (Bird mouth wattles and the eye rings behind the wattles Life International, 2018). The classification of Grey were yellow. The iris was reddish orange. Bill was Headed Lapwings id by Described by Blyth, 1842 as yellow with black tip (Wakisaka et al ., 2006; Grewal et below: al ., 2013). They were identified as mature Grey headed Lapwing with the help of Manakadan et al . (2011); a) Kingdom: Animalia Grewal et al . (2013). b) Phylum: Chordata Grey-headed Lapwing is gregarious, commonly c) Class: Aves associated with Red-wattled Lapwing. They are d) Order: Charadriiformes migratory species, arriving in Northern India by e) Family: Charadriidae September-October and depart by March end or April. f) Genus: Vanellus They are carnivorous and the food comprises of g) Species: cinereus insects, worms, mollusks etc. After October the majority of the population breeding in snowy regions Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary, renamed in 2015 as migrates south, but some stay back and spend the Shahid Chandra Shekhar Azad Bird Sanctuary, is winter in the breeding grounds (Takahashi, 2008). located in Unnao district on the Kanpur-Lucknow There are only a few records of Grey headed lapwings highway in Uttar Pradesh, India consisting of from Uttar Pradesh. It has been reported in Sohagi a lake and the surrounding environment. It is Barwa Wildlife Sanctuary in 2013-14 (Rahmani et al ., geographically located at 26°37 ′09.07 ″ N and 2015), Okhla Bird Sanctuary and in Rae Bareli 80°39 ′11.23 ″E. On 9 th January 2018, while birding in (Varghese et al ., 2008). The previous studies done in the Bird Sanctuary, four Grey Headed Lapwings were the Shahid Chandra Shekhar Azad Bird Sanctuary observed. Two were seen foraging along the Lake of report only the Red-wattled and Yellow-wattled the sanctuary while the other two were seen in the open lapwings (Kumar et al., 2014; Kumar et al ., 2015). scrub area of the Sanctuary. Direct observations were Therefore the reporting of Grey-headed Lapwing in Journal of Wildlife Research | January-March, 2018 | Volume 06 | Issue 01 | Pages 10-11 © 2018 Jakraya Kushwaha and Kumar…First Sighting of Grey Headed Lapwing Vanellus Cinereus (Blyth, 1842) from Shahid Chandra Shekhar Azad Bird Sanctuary, Unnao Uttar Pradesh India Shahid Chandra Shekhar Azad Bird Sanctuary is a new addition to the bird list of the sanctuary. Fig 1: Grey-headed Lapwings foraging in Shahid Chandra Shekhar Azad Bird Sanctuary. Fig 2: Grey-headed Lapwings in flight in Shahid Chandra Shekhar Azad Bird Sanctuary. References Bird Life International (2018). Species Kanaujia A, Kumar A, Kumar A, Kushwaha S and Kumar A factsheet: Vanellus cinereus . Retrieved from http:// (2014). Blooming faunal diversity of Nawabganj bird www.birdlife.org on 07/02/2018 . Retrieved from Sanctuary, Unnao, and Uttar Pradesh, India. G-Journal http://www.birdlife.org on 07/02/2018. of Environmental Science and Technology, 2(2): 14-24. Grewal B and Pfister OA (2013). Photographic guide to Kumar A, Kanaujia A, Kushwaha K and Kumar A (2015). A birds of the Himalayas. New Holland Publishers (UK) Preliminary assessment of avifaunal diversity of Ltd. Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary, Unnao, Uttar Pradesh. Wakisaka H, Nakagawa M, Wakisaka K and Itho M (2006). IOSR Journal of Environmental Science, Toxicology Molecular sexing and sexual difference in carpal spur and Food Technology (IOSR-JESTFT), 9(4): 81-91. length of the Grey-headed Lapwing, Vanellus cinereus Kumar A, Sati JP and Tak CK (2003). Checklist of Indian (Charadriidae ). Ornithological Science, 5: 133-137. water birds. Buceros, 8(1): 1-9. Manakadan R, Daniel JC and Bhopale N (2011). Birds of the Varghese S, Narayanan SP, Raj VMP, Prasad VH and Prasad Indian Subcontinent. Bombay Natural History Society. SN (2008). Analyses of Wetland habitat changes and its Oxford University Press. impacts on Avifauna in select districts of the Indo- Takahashi M (2008). Bird Research News, 5(11). Gangetic Plains of Uttar Pradesh, India, between 1972 and 2004. Sengupta M and Dalwani R (Editors). 2008 Rahmani AR, Bhargava R and De R (2015). Avifaunal th studies at Sohagi Barwa wildlife sanctuary: Final Proceedings of Taal 2007: The 12 World Lake Report. Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai , 77. Conference , 2045-2055. Journal of Wildlife Research | January-March, 2018 | Volume 06 | Issue 01 | Pages 10-11 © 2018 Jakraya 11 .
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