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First Record of Chinese Pond Heron Ardeola Bacchus from Bhutan Ashwin Viswanathan

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First Record of Chinese Pond Heron Ardeola Bacchus from Bhutan Ashwin Viswanathan VISWANATHAN: Chinese Pond Heron 139 Discussion Further fieldwork is needed to determine the breeding There are three Nepal records of Spotted Bush Warbler in the season distributions of West Himalayan Bush Warbler in Nepal breeding season, all of which were recorded before the species and to find out if it winters in the country and if so, its wintering was split. No photographs or sound recordings were made of the distribution. This may only be possible for buffy morph birds and Nepal birds. Known details of these records follow. grey morph birds that are singing. In addition, more fieldwork is On 22 July 1977, Thiollay (1977, 1980) found a nest and needed to confirm that Spotted Bush Warbler breeds in Nepal eggs at 3850 m on Lamjung Himal (not far to the east of our and if so, to clarify its distribution. records) (Fleming et al. 1984; Inskipp & Inskipp 1991). In June 1978, 1979, 1980 or 1981, Lelliott (1981) found the Acknowledgements species common on the ridge west of the Mardi Khola Valley at We are grateful to Eco Trek Nepal for their organisation of the trek; Ramji Simkhada 3350 m, the valley to the east of the Modi Khola (Fleming et al. for his invaluable support throughout and to him and Mary Crosby for their excellent 1984; Inskipp & Inskipp 1991). company during the trek. We thank Tim Inskipp for his confirmation of the identity of Neither of the above two observers identified the birds to the species and Gunjan Arora for kindly sending the tape of the species’ song. subspecies and they identified the birds as Spotted Bush Warbler Locustella thoracica [=Bradypterus thoracicus]. References A fledgling specimen was collected on 03 August 1983 from Alström, P., Rasmussen, P. C., Olsson, U., & Sundberg, P., 2008. Species delimitation the Chyul-wang Valley, western tributary of the Buri Gandaki at based on multiple criteria: the Spotted Bush Warbler Bradypterus thoracicus 3400 m in north-central Nepal by Jochen Martens. He noted, complex (Aves: Megaluridae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 154: ‘The fledgling was very young and unable to escape on the wing. 291–307. The family crawled through the dense plant layer of a luxuriant Fleming, R. L., Sr., Fleming, R. L., Jr., & Bangdel, L. S., 1984. Birds of Nepal: with growth of grasses and herbs with a multitude of flowers’. Only Reference to Kashmir and Sikkim. 3rd ed. Nepal: Avalok. Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C., & Inskipp, T., 2011. Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. 2nd ed. glimpses of the individual birds were seen and no vocalisations London: Oxford University Press & Christopher Helm. Pp. 1–528. were described. The birds were assumed to be Locustella Inskipp, C., & Inskipp, T., 1991. A guide to the birds of Nepal. 2nd ed. London & thoracica thoracica [=B. thoracicus thoracicus] (Martens & Eck Washington: A. & C. Black / Christopher Helm & Smithsonian Institution Press. 1995). Kennerley, P., & Pearson, D., 2010. Reed and Bush Warblers. 1st ed. London: Confirmation of West Himalayan Bush Warbler in the Modi Christopher Helm. Pp. 1–712. Khola watershed, Annapurna Conservation Area extends the Lelliott, A. D., 1981. Notes on the birds recorded in Nepal, 1978–81. Unpublished. eastern known limit of its breeding range from Uttarakhand, India Martens, J., & Eck, S., 1995. Towards an ornithology of the Himalayas: systematics, to west-central Nepal and casts doubt on the identification of the ecology and vocalisations of Nepal birds. Bonner Zoologische Monographien 38: 1–445. previous three Nepal breeding season records. Thiollay, J. M., 1977. Notes on birds recorded in Nepal. Unpublished. Three individuals were seen, and six to seven heard singing, at Thiollay, J. M., 1980. L’evolution des peuplements d’oiseau le long d’un gradient the same location on 03 and 04 September 2016 by Manshanta altitudinal dans l’Himalaya Central. Revue d’Ecologie (Terre et Vie) 34: 199–269. Ghimire (pers. comm. September 2016). First record of Chinese Pond Heron Ardeola bacchus from Bhutan Ashwin Viswanathan Viswanathan, A., 2016. First record of Chinese Pond Heron Ardeola bacchus from Bhutan. Indian BIRDS 12 (4&5): 139–140. Ashwin Viswanathan, Chair of Ecosystem Management, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich. E-mail: [email protected]. Manuscript received on 25 August 2016. n the morning of 19 May 2013, I visited the Punakha Punakha is located in western Bhutan at an elevation of Dzong near Punakha in Bhutan with my family. The 1200 m in Punakha Dzongkhag, one of the political districts of Odzong is situated at the confluence of the Po Chhu- and the country. Its climate is mild, with hot summers and relatively Mo Chhu rivers. When I scanned the river for birds at 1000 hrs, warm winters. Rice is grown extensively in the region along the I saw two Chinese Pond Herons Ardeola bacchus, in breeding river valleys, and seasonally flooded paddy fields form excellent plumage, foraging in shallow waters. The Chinese Pond Heron habitats for pond herons. is easily distinguishable from the Indian Pond Heron A. grayii The Chinese Pond Heron breeds in eastern Russia, China, in breeding plumage as it has a black back and a reddish neck Japan, Taiwan, Korea, parts of northern Myanmar, and South- and head, whereas Indian Pond Heron has a reddish back East Asia (Rasmussen & Anderton 2005; Robson 2009). It is and a yellowish neck and head [130]. I did not know about perhaps a scarce breeding resident in parts of north-eastern the significance of the sighting until David Bishop pointed out India and a vagrant in Bangladesh (Kazmierczak 2000; Grimmett through eBird that this might be the first confirmed record of the et al. 2011; Rasmussen & Anderton 2012), and this region is species in Bhutan. possibly the western-most limit of its breeding range. It has been 140 Indian Birds VOL. 12 NO. 4 & 5 (PUBL. 14 NOVEMBER 2016) This record may be fundamentally different from the sightings of individual vagrants as two birds were seen together in suitable breeding/wintering habitat. Perhaps this species is a scarce breeding resident in Bhutan like it is in adjacent north-eastern India. Acknowledgements I thank David Bishop for explaining the significance of the sighting to me through eBird. I also thank my family for insisting we visit the Punakha Dzong. References Ali, S., Biswas, B., & Ripley, S. D., 1996. Birds of Bhutan. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, Occassional Paper No. 136: 1 l., i–v, 1–207+1. Barua, M., & Sharma, P., 1999. Birds of Kaziranga National Park, India. Forktail 15 (August): 47–60. Baruah, P., 2006. Kaziranga National Park, 4 December - 7 December 2006, trip report. Ashwin Vishwanathan 130. Chinese Pond Heron in Bhutan. Website URL: http://www.cloudbirders.com/tripreport/repository/BARUAH_ India_12_2006.pdf reported/listed from the Brahmaputra Valley in Assam (Sailda Choudhury, A., 2009. Significant recent ornithological records from Manipur, north- east India, with an annotated checklist. Forktail 25: 71–89. & Bhattacharjee 1990; Barua & Sharma 1999; Baruah 2006; Choudhury, A., 2010. Recent sightings of Chinese Pond-Heron Ardeola bacchus in Choudhury 2010), parts of Manipur (Choudhury 2009), and Assam. Indian Birds 5 (6): 185. in eastern Arunachal Pradesh (Singh 1995; Maheswaran 2008; Farrow, D., 2009. Bhutan, 22 April–11 May 2009, tour report. Website URL: http:// Srinivasan et al. 2010) though not all reports are sufficiently well- www.birdquest-tours.com/pdfs/report/BHUTAN%20(REP)%2009.pdf documented for a safe status assessment. Chinese Pond Heron Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C., & Inskipp, T., 2011. Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. 2nd ed. is a winter visitor to the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and parts of London: Oxford University Press & Christopher Helm. Pp. 1–528. South-East Asia (Rasmussen & Anderton 2012), but its wintering Kaninde, S., 2013. Sighting of Chinese Pond Heron Ardeola bacchus from Chennai, status in peninsular India and the regions around north-eastern Tamil Nadu, India. Indian BIRDS 8 (6): 158. Kazmierczak, K., 2000. A field guide to the birds of India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, India is unknown as it is indistinguishable from the Indian Pond Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. 1st ed. New Delhi: Om Book Service. Pp. Heron in non-breeding plumage. 1–352. Ali et al. (1996) reported that a specimen of this species Khan, B., Hussain, E., Mundkur, T., Abbas, S., & Khan, G., 2015. Chinese Pond Heron was collected at Gaylegphug, Central Bhutan on 16 December Ardeola bacchus: an addition to the avifauna of Pakistan. BirdingASIA 24: 1967, but Rasmussen & Anderton (2012) considered that the 136–137. specimen was ‘not definitely identifiable’. Farrow (2009) reported Maheswaran, G., 2008. Waterbirds of Namdapha Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh two in breeding plumage at Punakha on 25 April 2009 but did with special reference to white-bellied Heron Ardea insignis. Pp. 109-118. not provide any description or photos. A photo of an Indian Pond Zoological Survey of India. Poonia, S. S., Sharma, M., & Sangha, H. S., 2013. Chinese Pond Heron Ardeola bacchus Heron was published online, as this species, and claimed as the in Rajasthan, India. Indian BIRDS 8 (6): 159–160. first for Bhutan (WWF-Bhutan 2014)—however, the photo clearly Rasmussen, P. C., & Anderton, J. C., 2012. Birds of South Asia: the Ripley guide. 2nd shows white head plumages (versus chestnut) that confirm it is ed. Washington, D.C. and Barcelona: Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions. 2 not a Chinese Pond Heron. Hence, this appears to be the first vols. Pp. 1–378; 1–683. definite documentation of Chinese Pond Heron from Bhutan. Robson, C., 2009. A field guide to the birds of South-East Asia. New Holland. The species is known for its vagrancy, and several vagrant Sailda, P., & Bhattacharjee, P., 1990. The present status of waders and other water birds individuals have been observed in South Asia, particularly in of Brahmaputra Valley, Assam (India).
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