Rare record on Plaintive Cuckoo (Cacomantis merulinus) from a freshwater wetland of Bankura District, West Bengal, India Aparajita Mukherjee1, Debnath Palit2 and Santanu Gupta3
Abstract Here we report a rare occurrence of the species Cacomantis merulinus from Jamuna Bandh wetland (Bishnupur town, Bankura district, West Bengal) of Eastern India. The first pictures of a live bird are presented along with information on the habits and habitat of the species, and a discussion of its status.
Introduction The plaintive cuckoo (Cacomantis merulinus) is a species of bird belonging to the cuckoo family Fig 1. The adult male of Plaintive Cuckoo (Cacomantis merulinus) Cuculidae. Plaintive Cuckoo (C. merulinus; Scopoli, 1786) is a widespread resident bird. It is a fairly small cuckoo, 21-23.5 centimeters long. The adult male is grey-brown above and orange below with a grey head, throat and upper breast. There are white tips to the tail feathers. The legs and feet are yellow, the eye is red and the bill is black above and yellow below. The adult female is sometimes similar to the male but often occurs in a "hepatic" morph. This form is reddish-brown above with dark bars. The under parts are paler with fainter barring. There is a pale stripe over the eye and the tail has dark bars along its whole length. Juvenile birds are Fig 2. GIS view of observed site (Zulu 1) similar to hepatic females but are paler and have dark streaks rather Grimmett et al. 2011 but available It is fall under “Hard rock fringe than bars on the crown and throat. literature does not talk about area” hydro-geomorphic zones in The male has several plaintive occurrence of this species in Bankura district. It has an whistling calls. These include an Bankura District. average elevation of 59 meters ascending series of three-note (194 feet). Bishnupur block is phrases and a series of 11 or 12 Methods characterized by maximum annual descending notes. The plaintive Bankura - the western most cuckoo inhabits forest edge, open district of West Bengal are covered 1 3 woodland, scrub, grassland, by natural resources (which lies JRF (DST-GoWB), INSPIRE Fellow (SRF), Post Graduate Department of farmland, parks and gardens. It between, 220 46' to 230 38' N Conservation Biology, 2Assistant 0 0 feeds on invertebrates. It is latitude and between 86 36' & 87 Professor, Department of Botany, normally solitary and is often 46' E longitude covering an area of Durgapur Government College, West difficult to see. In India, notable 687124 sq. km. Bishnupur Bengal. Email: 1 observations on C. merulinus were (23005’N, 87019’E) is a historical [email protected], [email protected], recorded by Sen (2011); Pramanik town (under Bishnupur block) and 3conbiodgc_communications@yahoo. (2013); Paul (2014); Kool (2014) a municipality in Bankura District com (Corresponding author) with a few isolated records by in the state of West Bengal, India.
ZOO’s PRINT, Volume XXX, Number 3 March 2015 19 quantified (del Hoyo, 1997; Brazil 2009). This observation is a case of rare occurrence from “Wetland habitat” of Bankura district, West Bengal, India in modern times.
Acknowledgements Authors are grateful to Roger Gasper Dolorosa, Associate Professor, Western Philippines University, Philippines and Emilio Pagani-Núñez, Natural History Museum of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain for id-confirmation of this species. The corresponding author is thankful for the financial assistance from Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India (No. DST/ INSPIRE Fellowship/2010/ [242] Fig 3. Distribution range of Plaintive Cuckoo (Cacomantis merulinus) in (INSPIRE Program Sl. No. 223). India (IUCN2014) References rate of water-level fluctuation Results and Discussion BirdLife International along with other blocks of district Jamuna Bandh wetland is the (2012). Cacomantis merulinus. Bankura comprising Chhatna, largest among the seven wetlands The IUCN Red List of Threatened Ranibandh, Raipur, Bishnupur, of Bisnupur. Some designated Species. Version 2014.3. Jaypur, Indus and Kotulpur (4 mts. uses of this wetland includes
ZOO’s PRINT, Volume XXX, Number 3 March 2015 20 in wetlands of Bankura, a drought Paul, S. (2014). Oriental Bird Novembor 16, 2014 from http:// prone region from Eastern Images: Plaintive Cuckoo orientalbirdimages.org/ India. Journal of Applied Cacomantis merulinus querulus birdimages.php?p Technology in Environmental Juvenile Retrived November 16, =8&action=birdspecies&Bird_ID=4 Sanitation, 3(4), 141-146. 2014 from http:// 39&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1 orientalbirdimages. org/ Palit, D. & A. Mukherjee birdimages.php?p=2&action Sen, S.K. (2011). Birds of India: (2012). Studies on water quality =birdspecies&Bird_ID =439& Checklist of Birds, Lava, West and macrophyte composition in Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1 Bengal Retrived Novembor 16, wetlands of Bankura district, West 2014 http:// Bengal, India. Indian Journal of Pramanik, S. (2013). Oriental www.kolkatabirds.com/ Plant Science, 1(2-3), 97-115. Bird Images:Plaintive hillbirdsofind/lavaclist8.htm Cuckoo Cacomantis merulinus querulus - Immature Retrived
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