26 Indian Vol. 13 No. 1 (Publ. 20 April 2017)

ruled out Desert Wheatear O. deserti, the wheatear species most References expected in Goa (Lainer 2004). Collar, N., 2017. Pied Wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Although clearly a vagrant to south-western , the Sargatal, J., Christie, D. A., & de Juana, E., (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the occurrence of Pied Wheatear in Goa is perhaps not unexpected. World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from http://www.hbw.com/ It has a large breeding range covering south-eastern Europe node/58543). [Accessed on 22 February 2017.] discontinuously across to western Afghanistan, northern Henry, G. M., 1971. A guide to the birds of Ceylon. 2nd ed. London: Oxford University Pakistan, and northern , with the population moving Press. Pp. xl, 457. Lainer, H., 2004. Birds of Goa. A reference book. Mapusa, Goa: The Goa Foundation. some distance south-westards to winter in north-eastern Africa, Pp. i–ii, 1–244. and the south-western Arabian Peninsula (Collar 2017). The Newsome, M., 2017. Website URL: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34641928. species occurs as a rare passage migrant in north-western India [Accessed on 22 February 2017.] (Rasmussen & Anderton 2012), but has also been recorded as Rasmussen, P. C., & Anderton, J. C., 2012. Birds of South Asia: the Ripley guide. 2nd a vagrant in Sri Lanka, being first recorded at Colombo on 16 ed. Washington, D.C. and Barcelona: Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions. 2 November 1943 (Henry 1971), and more recently in Kerala vols. Pp. 1–378; 1–683. Reghuvaran, P., 2016. Pied Wheatear Oenanthe pleschanka at Bekal Fort, Kasaragod, at Bekal Fort, Kasaragod on 20 December 2015 (Reghuvaran Kerala. Indian BIRDS 12 (1): 18–19. 2016), and at Madayipara, Kannur on 25 September 2016 Thomas, J., 2016. Website URL: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/ (Thomas 2016). checklist?subID=S31746431 [Accessed on 22 February 2017.] First definitive documentation of Forest Dendronanthus indicus from Okhla Sanctuary, Delhi NCR

Rohit Arora

Arora, R., 2017. First definitive documentation of Forest Wagtail Dendronanthus indicus from Okhla Bird Sanctuary, Delhi NCR. Indian BIRDS 13 (1): 26–27. Rohit Arora, O-44, Old Double Storey, Lajpat Nagar-4, New Delhi 110024, India. E-mail: [email protected]. Manuscript received on 25 October 2016.

he Forest Wagtail Dendronanthus indicus is a long distant migrant that breeds in north-eastern Asia and winters in TIndia, primarily in the Western Ghats, and Sri Lanka. It is a wide-spread passage migrant in the north-eastern parts of the Indian Subcontinent, but straggles elsewhere (Rasmussen & Anderton 2012). This note presents a photo documentation of an adult Forest Wagtail at Okhla Bird Sanctuary, Delhi NCR. On the Sunday, 16 October 2016, I was planning to return home after two hours of birding in Okhla Bird Sanctuary (28.56°N, 77.31°E), Noida District, Uttar Pradesh. At 0845 hrs, almost midway on the path between gates 1 and 2, I noticed a wagtail Pics: Rohit Arora Rohit Pics:

38. Forest Wagtail Dendronanthus indicus in Okhla. .

on the bund (on the lake side) almost 30 m ahead of me. The single bird was probably foraging for insects in grass under tree shade. My first reaction was that ‘it is a kind of wagtail that I have never seen before’, but I was not sure about it’s identity then. The bird was moving fast, and I managed to click a few record shots in poor light [37, 38]. I carefully planned to move closer to the bird for some close-up shots, but it got distracted by my presence, swiftly moved across the road, and flew away, disappearing into 37 the trees. The total duration of my short encounter with the bird was just about 30 sec. Dharwadkar et al.: Spotted Flycatcher 27

I matched my pictures with those of birds on the Internet, Acknowledgements and in books available with me. I then discovered that it was a I thank Delhi Bird Photography group on Facebook, specifically Pankaj Gupta, for Forest Wagtail, a lifer for me. Being such an unmistakable bird, indicating that the sighting is rare. I also thank Nikhil Devasar for indicating the there were no further queries about its identification. I posted historical records of this bird from the region. I extend my gratitude to Praveen J, for the photograph in Facebook’s online forums, and it became help in preparing this short note. clear that it was a very rare bird for the Delhi NCR region. Later, when I tried to locate earlier records, with the help of birding References experts, I gathered that the last sighting from the entire region Ganguli, U., 1975. A guide to the birds of the Delhi area. New Delhi: Indian Council of was also from Okhla Bird Sanctuary, in September 1949, by Agricultural Research. Pp. i–xv, 1–301. Horace Alexander (Ganguli 1975). However, there appears to Harvey, B., Devasar, N., & Grewal, B., 2006. Atlas of the birds of Delhi and Haryana. be a certain uncertainty over this record as it does not figure in 1st ed. New Delhi: Rupa & Co. Pp. 1–352. Harvey et al. (2006). This bird was perhaps an autumn vagrant, and appears to have eluded others who also were present at ‘Ganguli (1975) includes H. Alexander’s claimed record noting he “saw one with other Okhla on that day, and birders who visited Okhla since then. at Okhla in September 1949” but with no other comments. In preparing the Delhi and Haryana Atlas I found rather a number of unique (and unrepeated) records from H. Alexander in These are perhaps the first photographs of this wagtail from the Ganguli (1975), which I did not feel able to include in the Atlas. The fact that his wagtail was entire north-western India. “with other wagtails” would be unprecedented anywhere in its range and I had no difficulty ignoring this claim.’ – Bill Harvey

Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata: A new record for Goa, India

Omkar Dharwadkar, Pronoy Baidya, Pankaj Lad, Prasanna Parab, Mandar Bhagat, Madhura Niphadkar, Parag Rangnekar& Shraddha Rangnekar

Dharwadkar, O., Baidya, P., Lad, P., Parab, P., Bhagat, M., Niphadkar, M., Rangnekar, P., & Rangnekar, S., 2017. Pronoy Baidya Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata: A new record for Goa, India. Indian BIRDS 13 (1): 27–28. Omkar Dharwadkar, Flat No. F-2, First Floor, Kurtarkar Commercial Arcade, Kaziwada, Ponda 403401, Goa, India. E-mail: [email protected]. Pronoy Baidya, TB-3, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560012, Karnataka, India. 39. Spotted Flycatcher. E-mail: [email protected] [Corresponding author.] Pankaj Lad, M-11, Housing Board Colony , Vidyanagar, Gogal, Margao, Salcet 403601, Goa, India. E-mail: [email protected]. Prasanna Parab, H No. E-692, Gogol, Housing Board, Near Siddhivinayak Temple, Margao, Salcet 403601, Goa, India. E-mail: [email protected]. Mandar Bhagat, ‘Madhumangal’, New Vaddem, Vasco-Da-Gama 403802, Goa, India. E-mail: [email protected]. Madhura Niphadkar, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Royal Enclave, Sriramapura, Jakkur Post, Bengaluru 560064, Karnataka, India. E-mail: [email protected]. Parag Rangnekar, 407, III-A, Susheela Seawinds, Alto-Vaddem, Vasco-Da-Gama 403802, Goa, India. E-mail: [email protected]. Shraddha Rangnekar, 407,III-A, Susheela Seawinds, Alto-Vaddem, Vasco-Da-Gama 403802, Goa, India. E-mail: [email protected]. Manuscript received on 21 October 2016.

he Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata (Muscicapidae), has a wide distribution within Europe, western-central TAsia, and Africa (Taylor 2016). It is listed as a passage migrant in north-western India, and Pakistan, and a breeding Omkar Dharwadkar visitor to Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and the Himalayas between an altitudinal range of 1800–3300m (Grimmett et al. 2011; Rasmussen & Anderton 2012). Most records of this species from India, on eBird, are from Gujarat and, more specifically, from Kachchh, with a few scattered records from Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and New Delhi. The majority of 40. Spotted Flycatcher from Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary. records are from the months of September–October, with a few from March to May. On 10 December 2015, a single bird was observed and photographed in Pune, Maharashtra (Iyer 2015), On 30 September 2016, one bird was spotted, and and was the first report of this species from peninsular India, and photographed by birdwatchers from the Goa Bird Conservation is the only record between November–December. In this note, Network, on the outskirts of Dabel village in Cotigao Wildlife we report the sighting of a Spotted Flycatcher from Goa, India. Sanctuary (14.97°N, 74.13°E) (Baidya 2016) [39, 40]. The