Maps: Wikimedia the largest protected areas in the state, covering over 893 km 893 over covering state, the in areas protected largest the of thesetwospecies. records geographic previous ascertaining for literature published update on the geographic range of two bird species. We relied on Godavari, the of tributary bisects thesanctuarytowardsitswesternfringes. major a River, Kaddam The range. Satmalai the across a north stretching through corridors forested of , series district, Chandraprur in bamboo Reserve and with plantations (Srinivasulu 2004). Kawal predominantly is linked to Tadoba–Andhari interspersed deciduous forests moist and dry of consists WLS Kawal of vegetation River, and stretches across the Satmalai range of hills. The general Godavari the of banks northern the on situated is sanctuary The occasion about the marshy tanks on the outskirts of the Nulwar the of outskirts the on tanks marshy the about occasion one than more on bird this seen has he that sure is “Wenden Wenden, & Davidson from quoting by presence its mentions he during survey his in ornithological the erstwhile State, (Kumar & 1981). Although (Islam Ali (1934a) did district not come across Medak this bird Rahmani 2008), dam, and Visakhapatnam and Vizayanagaram districts Manjeera 2002), Pittie 1996; (Hash district Rangareddi Center, previous The ICRISATAsia from are Pradesh. Pradesh Andhra in species this Andhra of records to visitor rare a is and species Stork Adjutant Lesser The Lesser AdjutantStork T in Andhra Pradesh. Andhra in distribution Kingfisher Stork-billed Manuscript received on 6 August 2008 6August on received Manuscript [email protected] 500011, Email*: . Secunderabad Pradesh, Swarnadha Andhra Bowenpally, Towers, Old managar, MRK G4, Society, Conservation and Research Biodiversity Srinivasulu: C. and Seetharamaraju M. Naidu, Ashwin Sreekar*, R. 163–164. 6(6): BIRDS Indian Pradesh. Andhra Sanctuary, Wildlife Kawal of birds the to additions Kingfisher, Stork-billed and Stork 2010. C., Adjutant Lesser &Srinivasulu, M., Seetharamaraju, A., Naidu, R., Sreekar, Sreekar,R. AshwinNaidu, Seetharamaraju M. Srinivasulu &C. Andhra Pradesh additions to the birds of Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary, Lesser Adjutant Stork and Stork-billed Kingfisher, Through this note new we site report records and provide an oten nha rds, n i te let n oe of one and oldest the is and Pradesh, in Andhra district northern in 78º45’10”E; situated is (19º05’45”N WLS) Kawal Sanctuary henceforth Wildlife Kawal he is a vulnerable a is javanicus Leptoptilos wetland right beside the left bank sighted in the reeds at a seasonal solitary Lesser Adjutant Stork was a WLS, Kawal In Pradesh. Andhra of part northern the Wildlife in Sanctuary Eturnagaram and Kawal WLS from come species this only” (Ali &Whistler 1934a). season rainy the in seen and visitant, rare very a however is It Karnataka. Gulbarga, jungles, . 1996; Hash & Peacock & Hash 1996; al. et h cret eod of records current The . 2 . in Andhra Pradesh. Pradesh. Andhra in distribution Stork Adjutant Lesser kingfishers that occur in Andhra Pradesh (Taher & Pittie 1989). The Stork-billed Kingfisher Stork-billed Kingfisher an, hn hr ae go nme o saoa waterholes. They mostlypreferundisturbedmoistforestswithtallgrass. seasonal of number good a are there when rains, northern the to parts of Andhra Pradesh (above Krishna south River), mainly during the travel Storks Adjutant Lesser few a that its identification. for key main the was flight in while neck retracted and bill large the ground, which made it very easy to identify. Its huge size with of seasonal waterholes. It flew right above us, less than 7 m from 6 November 2008, in a wet deciduous forest with some patches on sighted was Stork Adjutant Lesser solitary a district, Warangal is athreatenedspecies. sanctuary,the in presence bird’s the on out carried be must it as investigations Further sanctuary. the within surveys our sightings to prior its about informed studies our in us helping trackers tribal) (local TheGond corridors. surrounding its and WLS Kawal our sightings(Srinivasulu2004). site. This species has not been recorded from Kawal WLS prior to the top most branch of a tree which could possibly be its roosting on perched observed was bird the Later 15002007hrs. at July bull Indian frog an on feeding Forest sighted was It Jannaram WLS. Kawal the of Range under villages Alinagar–Dongapally the fromKaddamreservoir (19º07’Ncanal emerging 79º03’E), near From these records and Salim Ali’s notes, it can be assumed be can it notes, Ali’s Salim and records Fromthese n traaa Wllf Sntay (18º19’N Sanctuary Wildlife Eturnagaram In the visiting be could Storks Adjutant Lesser of number fair A fe a ev dwpu o 28 on downpour heavy a after tigerinus Haplobatrachus Halcyon capensis is one of the six species of Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary Wildlife Kawal al.: et Sreekar Kingfisher was sighted twice at twice sighted was Kingfisher district Godavari (Srinivasulu, pers.obs.). East in Coringa and Machlipatnam district Krishna in 2009), al. et in (Sekhar district Visakhapatnam Kambalakonda 1934b), Whistler & (Ali district Warangal in Lake Pakhal disrict, Adilabad are from Utnoor and Asifabad in state the in bird this of records sltr Stork-billed solitary A 80º25’E), - 163 164 Indian Birds Vol. 6 No. 6 (Publ. 24 December 2010)

Kaddam reservoir [19º06’48.98”N 78º48’09.46”E] on the western Hash, C. T., Varadachary, A., & Moss, S. E., 1996. Mallards and other mys- fringes of the Kawal WLS, on 30 July 2007. It was first sighted at teries—an update on the birds of ICRISAT Asia Center. Mayura 11: 0700 hrs while it was in the process of feeding. The same bird 12–15. was again sighted at 1000 hrs when it flew overhead and landed Hash, C. T., & Peacock, M. E., 1996. Migratory status, frequency of sight- ings and frequent habitats of the birds of ICRISAT Asia Center. Mayu- on a tree. The microhabitat consisted of densely wooded mixed ra 11: 16–27. forest with dense undergrowth. Our sighting adds the Stork-billed Islam, M. Z.-u., & Rahmani, A. R., 2008. Potential and existing Ramsar Kingfisher to the birds of Kawal WLS (Srinivasulu 2004). sites in India. Bombay: Indian Bird Conservation Network; BirdLife International; Royal Society for the Protection of Birds; Oxford Uni- versity Press. Acknowledgements Kumar, P., 1981. Survey of the birds of Andhra Pradesh—V. Mayura 2 We thank Aasheesh Pittie and Siraj A. Taher for commenting on the (2): 10–12. manuscript at various stages. We acknowledge Andhra Pradesh State For- Pittie, A., 2002. A review of birding notes from Andhra Pradesh, Goa, est Department for granting us permission and logistic facilities. We also Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu—1998. Mayura 15: thank Jyotsna Bhagavatula, Farida Tampal and Bhargavi Srinivasulu for 1–53 (1998). their constant encouragement and support. Sekhar, P. S. R., Pandey, R., & Murthy, L. N., 2009. Avifauna of Kambala- konda Wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh, India. Indian Birds 4 (5): 157-159 (2008). References Srinivasulu, C., 2004. Birds of Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh, Ali, S., & Whistler, H., 1934a. The Hyderabad State Ornithological Survey. India. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 101 (1): 3–25. Part V. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. XXXVII (2): 425–454. Taher, S. A., & Pittie, A., 1989. A checklist of birds of Andhra Pradesh. Ali, S., & Whistler, H., 1934b. The Hyderabad State ornithological survey. Hyderabad, India: Published by the authors. Part IV. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. XXXVII (1): 124–142.

Gleanings Ragupathy Kannan

in this regard—Jenkins 2001, and Flinn 1995—are unpublished Cunningham , S., Castro, I., & Alley, M., 2007. A new works). prey-detection mechanism for kiwi (Apteryx spp.) Two recent papers, one in an anatomy journal and the other suggests convergent evolution between paleogna- in a leading bird journal, add fresh perspective on this. Both thous and neognathous birds. Journal of Anatomy 211: studies were spear-headed by Susan Cunningham of Massey 493–502. University in New Zealand. The authors extensively examined Cunningham, S. J., Alley, M. R., Castro, I., Potter, M. A., bill morphology (including histology) of kiwis and ibises, and Cunningham, M., & Pyne, M. J., 2010. Bill morphology correlated this with habitat use information. of ibises suggests a remote-tactile sensory system for Susan and her colleagues report that these birds find food prey detection. Auk 127: 308–316. by detecting vibrations or pressure changes generated by prey movements and not by mere physical contact with prey. They use the term “remote touch” for this phenomenon and say that it is aided by special organs of mechano-reception (termed Herbst n my Ornithology course at the University of Arkansas—Fort Corpuscles) embedded in the bone of the bill tips. They surmise Smith, we use the most recent edition of Cornell Lab’s that in kiwis this sense may either act as a supplement to olfaction Handbook of Ornithology: a lavishly illustrated and up-to-date I or even be the predominant mode of prey detection. Among tome. Yet, often in the past six years I had to go back to my lecture 11 species of ibises they found that the number of corpuscles files to update my notes. Such is the flood of new information on increases in species with more aquatic habitat usage. bird biology. The way birds find food by use of special organs in Also interesting is the fact that this “remote-tactile sensory their bill tips is the latest addendum to my lectures. system” appears to have evolved independently in two unrelated Ornithologists have long assumed that ibises and shorebirds groups of birds, the kiwis and shorebirds, which belong to rely on tactile senses in bill tips to physically touch and capture two different super-orders, Paleognathae and Neognathae, invertebrate prey from the wetlands they feed. I have always told respectively. my students that birds feel for their prey as they probe or jab into the squelch or litter and then snap them up. I have also used kiwis as a good example of the few birds that use the sense of Errata smell to “sniff out” prey. Kiwis seem tailor-made to use smell not Vol. 6 Nos. 4&5 only because of their enlarged olfactory lobes, but also because their nares (“nostrils”) are placed at the very tip of their bills as Page 138, bottom row, both pictures are of Saunders’s Tern Sterna saun- opposed to the side of the bill in other birds. But experimental dersi. studies have not conclusively established the importance of smell The back cover picture was taken by Dhritiman Mukherjee, not Arpit Deo- in kiwi prey detection (the two major studies cited by the authors murari, as credited. Our sincere apologies.