Correspondence 155 breeding season in Kumaon (Ambedkar 1969), though this has not been reported since then (Bhargava 2017). Though it has been reported to be resting and roosting on Ipomea (Bhargava 2017), ours is probably the first report of its breeding onIpomea reeds. Residents of the area are cultivating water chestnut in these waters, and fishing is also a common activity in the area. Human disturbance could be a possible threat for the birds to leave the colony as we noticed some fishermen fishing very close to the colony during the course of our observations. Our reports from 2014, till date, confirm that a breeding population ofc .25 birds occur at this site and it appears to be one of the last few remaining sites for the nominate subspecies in India. We are thankful to Dibyendu Ash, who made us aware of the presence of this bird at Baur Reservoir, and to Kaajal Dasgupta and Saravana Janakarajan for joining us on our surveys. We thank an anonymous referee for improving the manuscript. 153. Finn’s Weaver male in breeding plumage on 22 June 2020. References Ahmed, T., Bargali, H.S., Bisht, D., Mehra, G.S. & Khan, A. 2019. Status of water birds in Haripura-Baur Reservoir, western Terai-Arc landscape, Utarakhand, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 11(9): 14158–14165. htps://doi.org/10.11609/ jot.3924.11.9.14158-14165 Ali, S., & Crook, J. H., 1960. Observations on Finn’s Baya (Ploceus megarhynchus Hume) rediscovered in the Kumaon terai, 1959. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 56 (3): 457–483. Ambedkar, V. C., 1969. Observations on the breeding biology of Finn’s Baya (Ploceus megarhynchus Hume) in the Kumaon Terai. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 65 (3): 596–607. Ash, D., 2014. Finn’s Weaver Ploceus megarhynchus - male in breeding plumage. Website URL: http://www.orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?Bird_Image_ ID=95786&Bird_ID=2061. [Accessed on 07 July 2020.] Both: Rajesh Panwar Bhargava, R., 2017. Status of Finn’s Weaver in India: Past & present. Mumbai, India: 154. Finn’s Weaver female in breeding plumage on 22 June 2020. Bombay Natural History Society. Pp. i–xii, 1–124. BirdLife International. 2020. Species factsheet: Ploceus megarhynchus. Website URL: http://www.birdlife.org. [Accessed on 02 July 2020.] Craig, A., 2020. Finn’s Weaver (Ploceus megarhynchus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. Website URL: https://doi.org/10.2173/ bow.yelwea1.01. [Accessed on 02 July 2020] Saha, S. S., 1967. The Finn’s Baya Ploceus megarhynchus Hume [Aves: Passeriformes: Ploceidae] and its breeding colony near Calcutta. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of Calcutta 20: 181–185. SoIB 2020. State of India’s Birds, 2020: Range, trends and conservation status. The SoIB Partnership. Pp. 50. – Rajesh Panwar, Sheela Panwar, Deepak Rastogi & Anita Rastogi Rajesh Panwar, Milieu Villa, Corbett’s Village- Chhoti Haldwani, District, Nainital 263140, Uttarakhand, India. E-mail: [email protected] (RP) Sheela Panwar, Milieu Villa, Corbett’s Village- Chhoti Haldwani, District, Nainital 263140, Uttarakhand, India. E-mail: [email protected] (SP) Deepak Rastogi, Omaxe Riviera, Rudrapur, District Udham Singh Nagar 263153, Sheela PanwarSheela Uttarakhand, India. E-mail: [email protected] (DR) 155. Finn’s Weaver female on 22 June 2020. Anita Rastogi, Omaxe Riviera, Rudrapur, District Udham Singh Nagar 263153, Uttarakhand, India. E-mail: [email protected] (AR) Finn’s Weaver has been reported to breed on silk cotton Bombax ceiba and shisham Dalbergia Sissoo, apart from banyan Oriental Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros albirostris in Ficus bengalensis, Indian coral Tree Erythrina, mango Mangifera Visakhapatnam city, Andhra Pradesh indica, flame of the forestButea monosperma, and udal At 0730 h on 29 February 2020, UJ spotted two female Oriental [elephant rope tree] Sterculia villosa (Ambedkar 1969; Bhargava Pied Hornbills in the Kailasagiri Hills, Visakhapatnam (= Vizag), 2017). Ali & Crook (1960) reported nests from reeds but alluded Andhra Pradesh, being mobbed by a flock of crows Corvus( sp.). at the possibility that those were practice nests made by first year They were perched on top a Banyan tree Ficus bengalensis in the males. Saha (1967) reported them breeding in reeds standing Kailasagiri Hill Top Park (17.74°N, 83.34°E), which is a famous in one meter of water at Kolkata. Finn’s Weavers have been tourist destination. The pair was first found perched on a huge reported to breed in Typha reeds, specifically during the second banyan tree, from where they moved on to the nearby trees 156 Indian Birds VOL. 16 NO. 5 (PUBL. 26 NOVEMBER 2020) Kemp, A. C., & Boesman, P. F. D., 2020. Oriental Pied-Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris), version 1.0. In: Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.orphor1.01. Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C., & Inskipp, T., 2011. Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. 2nd ed. London: Oxford University Press & Christopher Helm. Pp. 1–528. – Uppada Janardhan, V. Bhagyasree & V. V. L. Subhadra Devi Uppada Janardhan, Flat No. 501, Satya Saudha Apts, J. R. Nagar, Venkojipalam, HB Colony Post, Visakhapatnam 530022, Andhra Pradesh, India. E-mail: [email protected] [UJ] V. Bhagyasree, D. No: 1-120-18, Koteswara Rao Illam, Sector 12, Lawson’s Bay Colony, Pedda Waltair, Near Ushodaya Junction, Visakhapatnam 530017, Andhra Pradesh, India. E-mail: [email protected] [VB] V. V. L. Subhadra Devi, Deputy Conservator of Forests, O/o PCCF, Saifabad, Hyderabad 500004, Telengana, India. E-mail: [email protected] [VVLSD] A report of the Northern Long-eared Owl Asio otus from Seri, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, and its status in India 156. Oriental Pied Hornbill pair sighted at Kailasagiri Hills, Visakhapatnam, The Northern Long-eared Owl Asio otus is found in North America, Andhra Pradesh, India. Europe, Asia, and some parts of Africa (Heynen 1999). It is found in semi-desert, groves, plantations, thickets, wetlands (inland), [156] in a frenzy. To every tree the crows followed, and constantly forest (coniferous, mixed, and deciduous), shrubland, artificial/ mobbed them. The birds were not in a hurry, but kept moving terrestrial, and grassland, habitats, and edges and clearings from one tree to another within the park premises because of the (Heynen 1999; König & Weick 2008; Marks et al. 2020). It has crows. They were in what seemed like a beak ‘fight’ most of the isolated records from Pakistan, western India, north-eastern India, time, in almost what looked like playful jousting. After a span of Gujarat, Nepal, and Bhutan (Ali & Ripley 1981; Grimmett et al. 15 to 20 minutes, both took off from a tree on the periphery of 2011; Rasmussen & Anderton 2012). the hill and flew away. This species is a winter visitor to most parts of India, but has The range of the Oriental Pied Hornbill is known to overlap erratic records over the country. It has most frequently been (Grimmett et al. 2011) with that of the Malabar Pied Hornbill A. recorded in winter but also, occasionally, in May, June, and July coronatus in Jharkhand and the hill forests of Odisha, and north- (Table 1). We also report a record of this species for the western eastern Andhra Pradesh (Kemp & Boesman 2020). Similar to the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh. record now in Vizag, reports of Oriental Pied Hornbill sightings At 1324 h, on 04 February 2020, SK, Satish Kumar Thakur in highly urbanised cities such as Chandigarh, and Delhi, were (SKT), and Vikas Thakur (VT) incidentally recorded the presence observed in the past few years (Datta et al. 2018). of a Northern Long-eared Owl at Seri (31.02°N, 77.29°E; 2,047 m In addition to this observation, there have been two other asl).A single Northern Long-eared Owl was spotted perched on a previous records of Oriental Pied Hornbill from Andhra Pradesh. chir pine Pinus roxburghii tree. It flushed to a nearby patch (15 m One of us (VVLSD) had spotted a pair during her initial days away) of chir pine Pinus roxburghii and deodar Cedrus deodara of posting at Sileru in Narsipatnam Division, Visakhapatnam, where it was photographed [157]. Eventually, three additional during 2008–2009. These hills are known for their extensive individuals were seen within 20 m from the first individual. lush green vegetation and diversity of flora and fauna. The other record is from Papikonda National Park (Pochavaram, Donkarayi, and Tummmileru) in 2015–2016, where Vikram Aditya, research scholar from ATREE, had spotted these birds during his study tenure. A nest was observed in Pochavaram, inside Papikonda National Park, and at every site, a minimum of two to four birds were observed (Vikram Aditya, pers. comm., e-mail dated 03 July 2020). All these observations indicate that the Oriental Pied Hornbill occurs sparingly in the northern Eastern Ghats along with the Malabar Pied Hornbill. The authors sincerely thank fellow members of Vizag Birdwatcher’s Society for their support. We thank Vikram Aditya for sharing his observations. We also thank the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department, and C. Selvam, DFO (Visakhapatnam) for their timely support and help extended. Sanjeev Kumar References Datta, A., Naniwadekar, R., Rao, M., Sreenivasan, R., & Hiresavi, V., 2018. Hornbill Watch: A citizen science initiative for Indian hornbills. Indian BIRDS 14 (3): 65–70. 157. Northern Long-eared Owl. .