Vol.14 (1-3) Jan-Dec. 2016 newsletter of malabar natural history society Akkulam Lake: Changes in the birdlife Breeding of in two decades Black-winged Patterns of Stilt Discovery of at Munderi Birds in Kerala Kadavu European Bee-eater Odonates from Thrissur of Kadavoor village District, Kerala Common Pochard Fulvous Whistling Duck A new duck species - An addition to the in Kerala Bird list of - Kerala for subscription scan this qr code Contents Vol.14 (1-3)Jan-Dec. 2016 Executive Committee Patterns of Discovery of Birds in Kerala ................................................... 6 President Mr. Sathyan Meppayur From the Field .......................................................................................................... 13 Secretary Akkulam Lake: Changes in the birdlife in two decades ..................... 14 Dr. Muhamed Jafer Palot A Checklist of Odonates of Kadavoor village, Vice President Mr. S. Arjun Ernakulam district, Kerala................................................................................ 21 Jt. Secretary Breeding of Black-winged Stilt At Munderi Kadavu, Mr. K.G. Bimalnath Kattampally Wetlands, Kannur ...................................................................... 23 Treasurer Common Pochard/ Aythya ferina Dr. Muhamed Rafeek A.P. M. A new duck species in Kerala .......................................................................... 25 Members Eurasian Coot / Fulica atra Dr.T.N. Vijayakumar affected by progressive greying ..................................................................... 27 Mr. C.J. Thomas Dr. Dinesan Cheruvat European Bee-eater Merops apiaster Dr. K. Kishorekumar from Thrissur District, Kerala......................................................................... 29 Mr. V. Syam Mr. T. Ajithkumar A mating pair of Grey-headed Fish- Eagle at Sholayar ...................... 31 Dr. Vijayanthi Dr. K. Fousy Nilgiri Thrush from coastal north Kerala ................................................ 34 Mr. Muralikrishnan. V.P Dr. Rajesh K.P Fulvous Whistling Duck -An addition to the Mr. Abdul Riyaz. K Bird list of Kerala .................................................................................................. 36 Mr. Balakrishnan Valappil Mr. V. Ramakrishnan Recent records of rare Earthworm genera from Kerala, India ..... 38 Mr. Vijesh Valikunnu Dragonfly survey of Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary Mr. Hameedali Vazhakkad Kannur district, Kerala - A report ................................................................. 44 Mr. Naveenlal. P Dr. Vineeth Viswanathan MNHS in Action ..................................................................................................... 47 Mr. Abhilash Ravindran Mr. Navaneeth Nair Book Shelf .................................................................................................................. 49 Editor Mr. C. Sashikumar Editorial Board Dr. Dinesan Cheruvat Dr. P.V. Karunakaran Dr. K.P. Rajesh Dr.P. Pramod Mr. Praveen. J Nature Education Officer Dr. K. Kishore kumar Cover Photo: Courtship display of Black-winged Stilt Vijesh Vallikunnu Layout: nAvi Naveenlal Payyeri MALABAR TROGON 2 Vol.14 (1-3) Jan-Dec. 2016 Contents Patterns of Discovery of Birds in Kerala ................................................... 6 From the Field .......................................................................................................... 13 Akkulam Lake: Changes in the birdlife in two decades ..................... 14 A Checklist of Odonates of Kadavoor village, Ernakulam district, Kerala................................................................................ 21 Editorial Breeding of Black-winged Stilt At Munderi Kadavu, Kattampally Wetlands, Kannur ...................................................................... 23 Common Pochard/ Aythya ferina The term ‘ecosystem services’ ,coined by Ehlrich P R and A new duck species in Kerala .......................................................................... 25 Mooney H A in 1983 and defined as ‘those aspects of Eurasian Coot / Fulica atra the earth that benefit humans’, attracted the attention affected by progressive greying ..................................................................... 27 of ecologists and environmental activists since The European Bee-eater Merops apiaster Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) report was from Thrissur District, Kerala......................................................................... 29 published in 2003. The objective of the MA, initiated A mating pair of Grey-headed Fish- Eagle at Sholayar ...................... 31 by the United Nations Secretary General in 2000, was Nilgiri Thrush from coastal north Kerala ................................................ 34 ‘to assess the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being and the scientific basis for action Paul Ehrlich Fulvous Whistling Duck -An addition to the Bird list of Kerala .................................................................................................. 36 needed to enhance the conservation and sustainable use of those systems and their contribution to human well-being’. MA found that, generally, little was Recent records of rare Earthworm genera from Kerala, India ..... 38 known about the ecosystem services and even much less about the economic Dragonfly survey of Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary value of the non-marketed services. There was a visible change in this state of Kannur district, Kerala - A report ................................................................. 44 affairs after 2003 and an exponential increase in the number of publications on MNHS in Action ..................................................................................................... 47 ecosystem services related to various taxonomic groups was noticed. Book Shelf .................................................................................................................. 49 Interpreting and quantifying ecosystem services of any component of the ecosystem in monetary value (commodification) is not easy. But in a consumerist society, this may be the only way to convince the policy makers as well as the layman on the importance of mammals, birds, insects, spiders, fungi, plants etc. A good example of this type of interpretation was Harold A. Mooney provided by Markandya, A., et al., 2008 in t their paper MALABAR TROGON Vol.14 (1-3) Jan-Dec. 2016 3 ‘Counting the cost of vulture decline — An appraisal of the human health and other benefits of vultures in India’( Ecological Economics, doi:10.1016/j. ecolecon.2008.04.020). In this paper, the authors assessed, through economic valuation, the outcome of the catastrophic population crash (99.9%) of Gyps vultures in India from 1992 to 2007 caused by the use of the veterinary drug diclofenac. The disappearance of vultures caused accumulation of rotting domestic ungulate carcasses in most parts of India resulting in environmental pollution and an increased incidence of infectious diseases among people and livestock. Other non-obligate scavengers like feral dogs, rats etc. increased in numbers causing the spread of diseases like leptospirosis and rabies. India has the highest rate of human rabies infections in the world, and 95% of human deaths here due to rabies are caused by dog bite. An increase of 72.5 lakhs feral dogs in the period 1992 to 2006 has been calculated by the Census Ministry of Agriculture in the 17th Livestock Census, 2003. 1.67 crore dog bites are estimated for an year leading to an additional 3.85 to 3.97 crore dog bites and 48,000 human deaths. The cost for the treatment of the bites alone was estimated to be Rs.1310 to Rs.2440 crore. The authors estimated that the total health cost due to the decline of vultures could be Rs.99,800 to Rs.1,09,500 crore. Apart from this, the Parsi community had a loss of Rs 16 lakhs as their ‘sky burial’ custom had to be replaced other means. Overall, this is a huge amount considering the low annual income of the majority of the common people who were the victims. This is the consequence of the decline in the population of one group of birds, explained in terms of money, that too a very conservative estimate. But this is enough to show the impact on the loss of a species of bird to humanity as a whole. The phenomenal cost of the long term programme on the conservation breeding and reintroduction of these critically endangered species, which will run into billions of rupees, also has to be considered. Thus, quantifying the services provided by Nature may give us a lot of new insights about the resources that we squander without a second thought. Write us... Send your suggestions and articles to C. Sashikumar [email protected] MALABAR TROGON 4 Vol.14 (1-3) Jan-Dec. 2016 THE DISAPPEARING SCAVENGER... Vultures at Nagorhole, Karnataka Abhilash Raveendran MALABAR TROGON Vol.14 (1-3) Jan-Dec. 2016 5 Patterns of Discovery of Birds in Kerala Praveen J., B303, Shriram Spurthi, ITPL Main Road, Brookefields, Bengaluru, Karnataka - 560037. [email protected] Introduction álim Ali reported a definitive list of 356 species in his book Birds of Kerala published in 19691. After this publication, there have been Sseveral compilations to update our knowledge of the birds of the region and keep the state checklist up-to-date. Here, I attempt to analyse the discovery patterns of new bird species added to the Kerala checklist after Ali’s work and to see if this pattern is dependent on the changes in bird diversity or changes in the profile of the birdwatcher network