166 Indian BIRDS Vol. 14 No. 6 (Publ. 10 January 2019)
Range extension of Chestnut Munia Lonchura atricapilla to Gujarat, western India
Yagnesh Bhatt, Bimal Patel & B. M. Parasharya
Bhatt, Y., Patel, B., & Parasharya, B. M., 2019. Range extension of Chestnut Munia Lonchura atricapilla to Gujarat, western India. Indian BIRDS 14 (6): 166–168. Yagnesh Bhatt, Govardhan, Jawahar Chowk, Dharamaj, Anand 388430, Anand District, Gujarat, India. E-mail: [email protected] [YB] Bimal Patel, 7 Karuna Society, Amul Dairy Road 388001, Anand District, Gujarat, India. E-mail: [email protected] [BP] B. M. Parasharya, Vishrut Park 1/18, Jitodia Road 388001, Anand District, Gujarat, India. E-mail: [email protected] [Corresponding author] Manuscript: Received on 29 January 2018; revised accepted on 05 September 2018.
he Black-headed Munia Lonchura malacca, now known as Tricoloured Munia, till recently comprised three subspecies Tin the Indian Subcontinent: the nominate L. m. malacca occupying the southern Indian Peninsula (south to Mumbai); the northern L. m. rubroniger, restricted to the western Himalayan foothills and terai region, including Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar, and L. m. atricapilla occurring in Assam, Manipur, and Bangladesh, westwards to eastern Nepal (Ali & Ripley 2001). The Tricoloured Munia L. malacca is now considered
monotypic (Rasmussen & Anderton 2012). L. malacca was Yagnesh Bhatt not known to occur above the 18ºN latitude in the southern Indian Peninsula (Ali & Ripley 1983). However, in recent past, the species has extended its range considerably towards north- western India (Abdulali 1966; Breeden & Breeden 1982; Gole 194. A flock of Tricoloured Munias and Scaly-breasted Munias, with one Chestnut Munia. 1983; Monga & Naoroji 1984; Khachar 1985; Parasharya & Patel 1986; Jamdar 1998; Borad et al. 2000; Sharma 2001; Sangha 2002; Urfi 2003), and north-eastwards (Singh & Rout 1992). It While photographing them, YB realized that one of the now breeds in several places in Gujarat (Mathew et al. 1992; munias looked different from its congeners, with distinct chestnut Khacher 1996; Mashru 2005; Patel 2006; Prajapati & Jani 2017; on both, its belly, and its back. Its head and neck were black, as in Rasmussen & Anderton 2012). The north-eastern subspecies of a Tricoloured Munia. After referring to field guides, and comparing the Black-headed Munia L. m. atricapilla is now recognized as a with images on Oriental Bird Club Image gallery (2018), we separate species (Restall 1996), and known as Chestnut Munia concluded that the bird in question was a Chestnut Munia. In L. atricapilla atricapilla, with one subspecies, L. a. rubroniger. [194], the black marking on the belly was not visible due to The nominate subspecies is resident in north-eastern India, the angle from which the photograph was taken. In a second while rubroniger occurs in the foothills of the western Himalayas photograph [195], taken on the same date, the black colour of (Grimmett et al. 2011; Rasmussen & Anderton 2012). So far, the lower belly was visible. L. atricapilla has not been reported from either southern, or western India vide Pittie (2018). In this paper, we report the range extension of the Chestnut Munia in Gujarat, western India, and also report the probable hybridization between Tricoloured Munia and Chestnut Munia.
Sightings and discussion On 24 December 2017, while photographing, and birding around Tarapur (22.489°N, 72.658°E), Anand District, Gujarat (western India), two of us (YB & BP) saw a flock ofc. 60–70 munias (Estrildidae), which largely comprised Tricoloured Munia [194], a few Scaly-breasted Munia L. punctulata, and one Chestnut Munia on the hedge bordering a cultivated field. All of the birds were perched either on Typha reeds, or adjoining Prosopis juliflora trees, and, from there, were periodically dropping to the ground Yagnesh Bhatt to feed on grains of rice Oryza sativa that were spilled on the ground; as well as from nearby haystacks. These three species remained, and foraged together. The flock remained at the same site, at least, for the next two days as food was abundant. 195. A Chestnut Munia showing black colour on lower belly. Bhatt et al.: Chestnut Munia 167
While re-examining our old pictures, taken around Tarapur, Munia. we came across one of a Chestnut Munia feeding on the ground, The prevalence of presumed hybrid specimens, between along with Tricoloured Munia; its black patch on the belly could Tricoloured and Chestnut Munia, in old images indicates that the not be seen as its picture was taken from the front. However, in Chestnut Munia may be quite prevalent in our area, and might another picture, of a Chestnut Munia flying in to the perch, the have established itself long ago, but had slipped the notice of bird is clearly showing a black patch on its belly. birdwatchers and photographers in Gujarat. One needs to keep We re-examined our old images of Tricoloured Munia for a watch on the presence of the Chestnut Munia over entire colour variations. We have pictures of a mixed species flock of distributional range of the Tricoloured Munia, as the later is found Black-throated Weaver Ploceus benghalensis and Tricoloured in Gujarat and Rajasthan, vis-à-vis the presence of Tricoloured Munia, in flight, near Tarapur, from13 March 2011[196, 197]. Munia in the known distribution range of Chestnut Munia, and In these, we found that some adult Tricoloured Munia had faint their hybridization is evident, to some extent, on the OBC Image chestnut on the belly, instead of pure white. In [196] (in the Gallery—but there is a need to monitor them closely, as opined by central area of right side), a munia is showing light chestnut Rasmussen and Anderton (2012). The presence of the Chestnut colour. In [197] (in the right top corner), one Tricoloured Munia Munia in West Bengal is evident from OBC Image Gallery (OBC is intermediately coloured; its belly between white and chestnut. 2018). Its presence is also recorded from Bihar (Dey et al. 2014), This is an intermediate character between Tricoloured Munia and and Odisha (Debata et al. 2013), suggesting a westward range Chestnut Munia. Some of the images of Tricoloured Munia on extension. From the above, it is evident that both the species the Oriental Bird Club Image Database (www.orientalbirdimages. of munias are extending their distributional range, which often org; henceforth, OBC Image Gallery), by Subrato Sanyal (Sanyal overlap resulting in hybridization. In such conditions, only DNA 2014, 2016); Aurijit Kar Bhowmik (Bhowmik 2015), and barcoding may help in determining the genetic distance between Srikumar Bose (Bose 2015) (No. 53, 72, 68, 74), are similar to these two munias and identify their hybrids, if any. photographs [196] and [197], showing intermediate characters, which might be hybrids between Tricoloured Munia and Chestnut References Abdulali, H., 1966. Notes on Indian birds 8 - Occurrence of the Blackheaded Munia [Lonchura m. malacca (Linn.)] near Bombay. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 62 (3): 559–560. Ali, S., & Ripley, S. D., 1983. Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan together with those of Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. Compact ed. Delhi: Oxford University Press. Pp. i–xlii, 1 l., pp. 1–737, 56 ll. Ali, S., & Ripley, S. D., 2001. Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan together with those of Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.2nd ed. Delhi: (Sponsored by Bombay Natural History Society.) Oxford University Press [Oxford India Paperbacks.].Vol. 10 (Flowerpeckers to Buntings) of 10 vols. Pp. 2 ll., pp. i–xviii, 1–250, 1 l., 2 ll. Bhowmik, A. K., 2015. Black-headed Munia Lonchura malacca malacca x atricapilla— Adult. Website URL: http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?Bird_ID=1898&Bird_ Image_ID=107732&Bird_Family_ID=. [Accessed on 05 September 2018.] Borad, C. K., Mukherjee, A., & Parasharya, B. M., 2000. Conservation of the avian biodiversity in paddy (Oryza sativa) crop agroecosystem. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 70 (6): 378–381. Bose, S., 2015. Black-headed Munia Lonchura malacca malacca x atricapilla— Adult. Website URL: http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?Bird_Image_ 196. In the center area of right side, a Tricoloured Munia showing light chestnut colour on ID=106443&Bird_ID=1898&Bird_Family_ID=&Location=. [Accessed on 05 lower parts. September 2018.] Breeden, S., & Breeden, B., 1982. The drought of 1979-1980 at the Keoladeo Ghana Sanctuary, Bharatpur, Rajasthan. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 79 (1): 1–37. Debata, S., Sahu, H. K., & Kar, C. S., 2013. A preliminary checklist of birds of Balipadar- Bhetnoi Blackbuck Conservation Habitat, Ganjam, Odisha, India. Newsletter for Birdwatchers 52 (4): 51–54. Dey, S., Dey, S., Choudhary, S. K., & Kelkar, N., 2014. An annotated bird checklist of the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, with an assessment of threats to bird conservation. Forktail 30: 34–40. Gole, P., 1983. Birds at standing crops. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 79 (2): 417–419. Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C., & Inskipp, T., 2011. Birds of the Indian Subcontinent.2nd ed. London: Oxford University Press & Christopher Helm. Pp. 1–528. Iyer, M. K., 2005. Terrestrial birds of Thol Bird Sanctuary and its surroundings. Flamingo 3 (1): 3–6. Jamdar, N., 1998. Southern Blackheaded Munia Lonchura malacca malacca in Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 95 (3): 509–510. Khacher, L., 1996. The birds of Gujarat - a Salim Ali centenary year overview. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 93 (3): 331–373. Both: Yagnesh BhattBoth: Yagnesh Khacher, S., 1985. Blackheaded Munia Lonchura malacca malacca in Jasdan, Gujarat. 197. A Tricoloured Munia (in middle of top part of picture) is intermediately coloured; its belly between white and chestnut. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 82 (1): 208–209. 168 Indian BIRDS Vol. 14 No. 6 (Publ. 10 January 2019)
Mashru, A., 2005. Breeding of Black-headed Munia: First record from Saurashtra. ed. Washington, D.C. and Barcelona: Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions. 2 Flamingo 3 (1): 6–7. vols. Pp. 1–378; 1–683. Mathew, K. L., Parasharya, B. M., & Yadav, D. N., 1992. Blackheaded Munia Lonchura Restall, R., 1996. Munias and Mannikins. 1st ed. Sussex, South Africa & The malacca (Linn.) in Gujarat. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 88 Netherlands: Pica Press, Russel Friedman Books & GMB Uitgeverij. Pp. 1–264. (3): 458–459. Sangha, H. S., 2002. A supplementary note on the avifauna of the Thar Desert Monga, S. G., & Naoroji, R. K., 1984. Birds of the Rajpipla forests - South Gujarat. (Rajasthan). Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 99 (1): 120–126. With notes on nests found and breeding recorded and some new observations. Sanyal, S., 2014. Black-headed Munia Lonchura malacca malacca x atricapilla—Adult. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 80 (3): 575–612. Website URL: http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?Bird_ID=1898&Bird_ OBC. 2018. Oriental Bird Images: A database of the Oriental Bird Club. Website URL: Image_ID=107206&Bird_Family_ID=. [Accessed on 05 September 2018.] www.orientalbirdimages.org. [Accessed on 05 September 2018.] Sanyal, S., 2016. Black-headed Munia Lonchura malacca malacca x atricapilla—Adult. Parasharya, B. M., & Patel, R. C., 1986. A new distributional range of Blackheaded Website URL: http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?Bird_ID=1898&Bird_ Munia, Lonchura malacca. Pavo 23 (1&2): 105–106. Image_ID=120086&Bird_Family_ID=. Accessed on 05 September 2018.] Patel, S., 2005. Wetland protection project of Nature Club Surat. Newsletter for Sharma, S. K., 2001. Range extension of Southern Blackheaded Munia Lonchura Birdwatchers 45 (1): 6–7. malacca malacca. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 98 (2): 283. Pittie, A., 2018. Bibliography of South Asian Ornithology. Website URL: http://www. Singh, L. A. K., & Rout, S. D., 1992. Range extension of Southern Black-headed Munia southasiaornith.in. [Accessed on 18/01/2018.] (Lonchura malacca malacca). Bihang Newsletter 1: 20. Prajapati, S., & Jani, K., 2017. Black-headed Munia in Jessore. Flamingo 15 (4): 22. Urfi, A. J., 2003. The birds of Okhla barrage bird sanctuary, Delhi, India.Forktail 19: Rasmussen, P. C., & Anderton, J. C., 2012. Birds of South Asia: the Ripley guide. 2nd 39–50.
Editorial Comment: Munias showing characters mostly of Chestnut Munia, or showing intermediate characters have been reported widely from Peninsular India (See https://ebird.org/media/india/catalog?taxonCode=x00932). Exact origins of these birds is unclear. Are they birds from the wild population, straggling south and/or potentially hybridising with resident Tricoloured Munias? Or are these cage escapee Chestnut Munias, or birds from subsequent generations after the cage escapee birds bred with the local Tricoloured Munias? Or could these just be aberrant colour morphs of Tricoloured Munias instilled by a recessive gene? Till date, there are no records of Tricoloured Munias in the flocks of Chestnut Munias. More studies are required to establish the origins of these birds (Rasmussen & Anderton 2012) and any conclusions and decisions drawn till then are only tentative. Sighting of the Golden-crested Myna Ampeliceps coronatus in Karimganj District, Assam, with notes on its distribution
Vijay Anand Ismavel & Rejoice Gassah
Ismavel, V. A., & Gassah, R., 2019. Sighting of the Golden-crested Myna Ampeliceps coronatus in Karimganj District, Assam with notes on its distribution. Indian BIRDS 14 (6): 168–172. Vijay Anand Ismavel, Makunda Christian Hospital, Karimganj District 788727, Assam, India. E-mail: [email protected] [VAI] Rejoice Gassah, Makunda Christian Hospital, Karimganj District 788727, Assam, India. E-mail: [email protected] [RG] Manuscript received on 05 February 2018.
n the 28 September 2017, RG visited a forest track in the Badsaitilla Reserve Forest (24.33°N, 92.35°E) Obetween Dullabcherra, Assam, and Mizoram, as part of the biodiversity documentation work of the Makunda Nature Club. He observed a large flock of Common Hill MynasGracula religiosa feeding on wild figs. Along with this flock were a group of distinctly different mynas. Some of these individuals (presumably adult males) had a golden-yellow forehead, crown, and nape, forming a recumbent crest. The same colour extended downwards, over the lores, the chin, and the center throat. Other individuals (presumably adult females) had less gold on their foreheads and only a strip of yellow down the chin and chest. Duller coloured birds, vis-á-vis adults, with pale lores, wing patch, and throat, with faint streaking below and lesser golden-yellow feathers, were also observed, and were probably juveniles. Photographs [198, 199] were taken, and the birds identified as Golden-crested Mynas Ampeliceps coronatus. Subsequently, VAI and RG visited the site on 08 October 2017. A large flock of Common Hill Mynas was spotted in a group of fig trees on the opposite side of a deep ravine. A Rejoice Gassah photograph of a Golden-crested Myna, perched on a tree along with Common Hill Mynas, was taken. The bird remained perched on the tree for some time and then flew away with the other mynas. Following this, this species has been sought, 198. Male Golden-crested Mynas.