First Record, and Recovery of Wedge-Tailed Shearwater Ardenna Pacifica from the Andaman Islands, India S

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Rajeshkumar et al.: Wedge-tailed Shearwater 113

First record, and recovery of Wedge-tailed Shearwater Ardenna pacifica from the Andaman Islands, India S. Rajeshkumar, C. Raghunathan & N. P. Abdul Aziz

Rajeshkumar, S., Raghunathan, C., & Aziz, N. P. A., 2015. First record, and recovery of Wedge-tailed Shearwater Ardenna pacifica from the Andaman Islands, India. Indian BIRDS. 10 (5): 113–114. S. Rajeshkumar, Zoological Survey of India, Andaman and Nicobar Regional Centre, Port Blair 744102, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. E-mail: [email protected] [Corresponding author.] C. Raghunathan, Zoological Survey of India, Andaman and Nicobar Regional Centre, Port Blair 744102, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. E-mail: [email protected] N. P. Abdul Aziz, Department of Environment and Forests, Andaman and Nicobar Administration, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. E-mail: [email protected] Manuscript received on 25 May 2015.

edge-tailed Shearwaters Ardenna pacifica are widely Indonesia (Poole et al. 2011). distributed, and breed throughout the tropical Pacific-, We report here the recovery of a live Wedge-tailed Shearwater Wand Indian Oceans (BirdLife International 2015). Two [93] on the Andaman Islands, in May 2015; that it later died in races are recognised: A. p. pacifica breeds in the south-eastern captivity. This is the first specimen recorded for India. Remarkably, part of the northern Pacific Ocean, andA. p. chlororhyncha breeds all the previously documented records from India were also from in the tropical, and sub-tropical Indian-, and Pacific- Oceans (del May. It could be assumed that this species is a spring passage Hoyo et al. 2014). Large breeding colonies of the species exist migrant across the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and in the on oceanic islands between latitudes 35°N and 35°S, such as Indian Ocean. the Chagos Archipelago, Mauritius, Seychelles (Kappes et al. On 19 May 2015, at 0630 hrs, M. Dhanamjaya of the 2013), islets off Morombe in Madagascar (Cooper et al. 1984), Department of Environment and Forest, collected a single live West Island off the Kimberley coast (Clarke et al. 2011), Cocos bird near a wetland at Buniyadabad (11.67ºN, 92.70ºE) near the (Keeling) Island of Australia (Bull 2006), the western coast Indian Naval Warf at Haddo, South Andaman Island. The bird was of Mexico, Hawaiian Islands (Munro 1971; Whittow & Causey alive, but unable to fly, and inactive. It was kept in captivity, under 1997) and, California (Stallcup et al. 1988). It has been a regular care and observation at the Mini Zoo, Haddo, on the first day. It non-breeding migrant, usually in spring, to Sri Lanka (De Silva was fed minced fish. Next day it was sent to Veterinary Hospital, 2011), and the Maldives (Anderson 2007), and is also reported Junglighat to rule out any infection of Avian Influenza. On 21 May from Lakshadweep (Betts 1938), but the last was probably a 2015 at 0600 hrs the bird was found dead (Forest staff, verbally), Flesh-footed Shearwater Ardenna carneipes (Praveen et al. and was deposited in the repository of the Zoological Survey of 2013). However, in India, a Wedge-tailed Shearwater was first India, Port Blair (Reg. No. 3583). photographed off Kannur, Kerala (Praveen et al. 2011). A second The bird was identified using field guides (Grimmettet al. photographic record was made recently in the Arabian Sea, off the 2011; Rasmussen & Anderton 2012). Photographs [93, 94], Kerala coast, by Praveen et al. (2015). Apart from these, there and biometric measurements (Table 1) of the bird were taken have been a few sight records of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters from and compared with the other species based on Rasmussen & Indian Territory (Praveen et al. 2013). According to Ryan et al. Anderton (2012); these are given in Table 2. This is also the (2013), Jouanin’s Petrel Bulweria fallax was common during first instance that a shearwater (Procellariidae) has been reported the south-western monsoon, and also Wedge-tailed Shearwater from the Andaman Islands. is photographed in May 2012 during a research cruise in the Wedge-tailed Shearwater is noticeably large, and occurs in Bay of Bengal. This vagrant species was also reported from near two morphs—dark, and pale. The identity of the specimen was further confirmed by the following characters and measurements. The bird had a small head with long neck, dark eyes. The crown, chin, throat, breast, belly, and flanks were grayish-brown, which colour extended over its entire body. The beak was hooked and ended in a pointed tip, dark in colour, and ‘tube-nosed’ nostrils were located at the base of the beak. The latericorn (a part of the upper mandible) is long and pointed, the mandibular unguis (the nail at the tip of the lower mandible) is thick at the tip, the base is also tapered; the maxillary unguis (the nail at the tip of the upper mandible) is a large protrusion over the beak. Its legs were a pale pinkish, and had three webbed toes, with pale claws; a fourth claw was present at the end of the tarsus. There were no hind toes. Wing coverts contrasted strongly with the dark

Photo: Rajeshkumar S. flight feathers; ten primaries that reached the tip of the tail. When 93. Recovered Wedge-tailed Shearwater from the South Andaman on 19 May 2015. fanned, tail is wedge-shaped with 12 primary upper tail coverts 114 Indian Birds Vol. 10 No. 5 (Publ. 2 November 2015)

does not show the typical Sooty Shearwater’s A. grisea obvious white feathering on the underwing coverts. The length of its tail (Table 2) eliminates the much smaller Short-tailed Shearwater A. tenuirostris. Hence, the plumage details, and biometrics described above clearly matched with the dark morph of Wedge- tailed Shearwater. Seabirds were poorly studied in Andaman and Nicobar Islands; hence it is possible that Wedge-tailed Shearwater could occur in Andaman and Nicobar Islands during spring migration.

Acknowledgements We are grateful to the Director, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkatta for support and encouragement. The help rendered by Dhanamjaya, T. Rajesh Kumar, Abdul Razak, and Lakshmanan, Mini Zoo, Haddo, is sincerely acknowledged for studying this specimen. We thank Praveen J., for a critical review, comments, and suggestions to improving an earlier draft of this manuscript.

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