JOURNAL OF THE BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY AUGUST 2008 VOL 105 (2) ->**1 fmmmwwmsm MIS i T'Kipvl'^l CONSERVING 11 IJLJlOt NATURE SINCE 1883 . JOURNAL OF THE BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY Hornbill House, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg, Mumbai 400 001 Executive Editor Asad R. Rahmani, Ph. D. Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai Copy and Production Editor Vibhuti Dedhia, M. Sc. Editorial Board Ajith Kumar, Ph. D. Aasheesh Pittie, B. Com. National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bird Watchers Society of Andhra Pradesh, GKVK Campus, Hebbal, Bengaluru Hyderabad C.R. Babu, Ph. D. G.S. Rawat, Ph. D. Professor, Centre for Environmental Management Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun of Degraded Ecosystems, University of Delhi, New Delhi K. Rema Devi, Ph. D M.K. D., Chandrashekaran, Ph. D. Sc. Zoological Survey of India, Chennai Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru J.S. Singh, Ph. D. Professor, Banaras Hindu University Anwaruddin Choudhury, Ph. D., D. Sc. Varanasi The Rhino Foundation for Nature, Guwahati S. Subramanya, Ph. D Indraneil Das, D Phil. University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, Hebbal, Bengaluru Universiti Malaysia, Sarawak, Malaysia R. Sukumar, Ph. D. Y.V. Jhala, Ph. D. Professor, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru K. Ullas Karanth, Ph D. Whitaker, B Sc. Wildlife Conservation Society - India Program, Romulus Bengaluru, Karnataka Madras Reptile Park and Crocodile Bank Trust, Tamil Nadu T.C. Narendran, Ph. D., D. Sc. S.R.Yadav, Ph. D. Professor, Department of Zoology, Shivaji University, University of Calicut, Kerala Kolhapur Senior Consultant Editor J.C. Daniel, M. Sc. Consultant Editors Raghunandan Chundawat, Ph. D. Wildlife Conservation Society, Bengaluru Nigel Collar, Ph. D. BirdLife International, UK Rhys Green, Ph. D. Royal Society for Protection of Birds, UK Qamar Qureshi, M. Phil. Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun T.J. Roberts, Ph. D. World Wildlife Fund - Pakistan Rachel Reuben, Ph. D. Mumbai Editorial Assistant: Sonali V. Vadhavkar, M. Sc. Layout and Typesetting: V. Gopi Naidu © Bombay Natural History Society 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be addressed to the Honorary Secretary, BNHS at the address given above. VOLUME 105(2): AUGUST 2008 CONTENTS METHODS OF CAPTURE AND RADIO TRACKING OF WESTERN TRAGOPAN TRAGOPAN MELANOCEPHALUS J. E. GRAY 1829 IN THE GREAT HIMALAYAN NATIONAL PARK, INDIA K. Ramesh, S. Sathyakumar and Gopal S. Rawat 127 STUDIES ON HAEMATOZOA OF FAMILY CORVIDAE OF KERALA M.J. Elizabeth 133 EVALUATING THE STATUS OF FORESTS AND RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF WILDLIFE: A RAPID SURVEY FROM A REMOTE AND LITTLE EXPLORED TROPICAL EVERGREEN FOREST OF NORTH-EAST INDIA Ambika Aiyadurai and Surendra Varma 139 DICLOFENAC LEVELS IN LIVESTOCK CARCASSES IN INDIA BEFORE THE 2006 “BAN” K.R. Senacha, M.A. Taggart, Asad R. Rahmani, Y.V. Jhala, R. Cuthbert, D.J. Pain and R.E. Green 148 THE WATERBIRDS OF PULICAT LAKE, ANDHRA PRADESH-TAMIL NADU, INDIA, INCLUDING THOSE OF THE ADJOINING WETLANDS AND HERONRIES V. Kannan, Ranjit Manakadan, Prakash Rao, K.K. Mohapatra, S. Sivakumar and V. Santharam 162 BIRDS OF THE UPPER NILGIRIS PLATEAU, WESTERN GHATS, INDIA Ashfaq Ahmed Zarri, Asad R. Rahmani and B. Senthilmurugan 181 FAUNAL DIVERSITY OF CLADOCERA (CRUSTACEA: BRANCHIOPODA) OF DEEPOR BEEL, ASSAM (NORTH-EAST INDIA) - A RAMSAR SITE B.K. Sharma and Sumita Sharma 196 NEW DESCRIPTION A REVIEW OF THE GENUS PARAHORMIUS NIXON WITH DESCRIPTION OF TWO NEW SPECIES (HYMENOPTERA: BRACONIDAE) FROM INDIA Anjum Z. Ahmad and Z. Ahmed 202 REVIEWS 1 . ENVIRONMENT AND SELF-ENDANGERED MAN Reviewed by Asad R. Rahmani 206 2. BIRDS OF PAKISTAN Reviewed by Asad R. Rahmani 206 3. THE BIRDS OF BORNEO Reviewed by Asad R. Rahmani 207 4. THREATENED MAMMALS OF INDIA: ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT Reviewed by Asad R. Rahmani 207 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES MAMMALS 6. A sight record of Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Merops 1. Movement patterns and habitat use of Golden Jackal persicus in Goa Canis aureus in Bhal Region of Gujarat Paul 1. Holt 217 Vinayak K. Patil and Yadavendradev V. Jhala 209 7. Malabar Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros coronatus preying 2. Identification of scat of Indian Fox, Jungle Cat and on Spotted Dove in Bandhavgarh National Park Golden Jackal based on morphometries Satyaranjan Behera 218 Abi Tamim Vanak and Shomita Mukherjee 212 8. Occurrence of Chrysocolaptes festivus in Goa 3. An unreported population of the Grizzled Giant Squirrel Parag Rangnekar and Pankaj Lad 219 Ratufa macroura 9. The longevity record of Greater Flameback Kumaran Sathasivam, V. Santharam, K.V. Sudhakarand Chrysocolaptes lucidus T. Badri Narayanan 213 S. Balachandran and Rajan Sehgal 220 BIRDS 10. Occurrence of Lanius cristatus lucionensis in the 4. Field observations on the Curlew Numenius arquata Western Ghats, Kerala wintering on the Gulf of Kutch Coast S. Balachandran and Rajan Sehgal 220 V.C. Soni and V.J. Bhuva 214 11. Sighting of Black-throated Thrush Turdus ruficollis 5. Occurrence of Oriental Scops Owl Otus sunia sunia in atrogularis in the Desert National Park, Jaisalmer, Melghat Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra Rajasthan Girish A. Jathar 216 Harkirat Singh Sangha 221 1 12. ‘New Bird Descriptions without proper voucher 20. Record of introduction of a tropical American weed specimens’: further to Kannan Evolvulus nummularius (L.) L. (Convolvulaceae) in N.J. Collar 222 Andaman and Nicobar Islands INSECTS L. Rasingam and G.S. Lakra 232 13. Hemipteran fauna (Insecta) infesting Sandal Santatum 21 . Tamarix passerinoides Delile ex Desv. var. macrocarpa album Linn, in southern India Ehrenb. (Tamaricaceae) - a new record for Rajasthan R. Sundararaj, L.R. Karibasavaraja, Gaurav Sharma Ramesh Kumar Aggarwal and Suman C. Sharma 232 and Raja Muthukrishnan 223 22. Acacia saligna (Labill.) Wendl. (Mimosaceae) - a new 1 4. New record of Hawkmoth Sataspes tagalica f. hauxwellii record for Rajasthan (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) from Sanjay Gandhi National Jeetendra Kantiya and Suman C. Sharma 233 Park, Mumbai, India 23. Enumeration of species of the genus Cornopteris Nakai V. Shubhalaxmi 226 (Athyriaceae: Pteridophyta) in India BOTANY Y.P.S. Pangtey 234 15. Calamagrostis pseudophragmites (Hall.f.) Koeler var. 24. Plagiochila junghuhniana Sande Lac. - a new record tartarica (Hook.f) Bor (Poaceae) - a new record for to Indian mainland (Nilgiri Hills, Western Ghats) Rajasthan Praveen Kumar Verma and S.C. Srivastava 236 Suman C. Sharma, Jeetendra Kantiya and 25. Latin diagnosis of Spirulina (=Arthrospira) mahajani Chandan Singh Purohit 227 Mahajan 16. A note on the occurrence of Melanocenchris S.K. Mahajan 238 jacquemontii (Poaceae) in Uttarakhand 26. Fig trees (Ficus), captive elephants, and conservation Prakriti Dobhal, Smriti Sawan, Suman Lata Bist, of hornbills and other frugivores in an Indian wildlife Manish K. Kandwal and S.P. Joshi 228 sanctuary 17. Arisaema tuberculatum C. Fischer (Araceae) from Ragupathy Kannan and Douglas A. James 238 Mukurthi National Park, Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, 27. Three new additions to the non-indigenous flora of Tamil Nadu, India - a note Andaman Islands, India V.S. Ramachandran and S. Paulraj 228 P.G. Diwakar and L. Rasingam 242 18. New records of orchids from Andhra Pradesh, India - S.P. Panda, D. Sahu and S. Misra 229 19. Barleria lupulina Lindl. (Acanthaceae) - an addition to Cover Photograph: Western Tragopan the flora of Orissa, India Tragopan melanocephalus A.K. Biswal, A. Mohapatra and C. Sudhakar Reddy ... 231 By John Corder it ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We ARE GRATEFUL TO THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Govt of India, FOR ENHANCED FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR THE PUBLICATION OF THE JOURNAL. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 105 (2), May-Aug 2008 127-132 METHODS OF CAPTURE AND RADIO TRACKING OF WESTERN TRAGOPAN TRAGOPAN MELANOCEPHALUS J.E. GRAY 1829 IN THE GREAT HIMALAYAN NATIONAL PARK, INDIA 1 4 2 5 23 2 - S. Rawat K. Ramesh , S. Sathyakumar and Gopal 'Accepted September 26, 2008 ’Wildlife Institute of India, Post Box 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun 248 001, Uttarakhand, India. ’Email: [email protected] ’Email: [email protected] ’Email: [email protected] Attempts were made to capture and radio track the Western Tragopan ( Tragopan melanocephalus J.E. Gray 1829) in the Great Himalayan National Park, Himachal Pradesh, India. Leg-hold snares and automated fall nets were used to trap the birds. During the intensive efforts of 6,694 trap hours, one female Western Tragopan and 12 other bird species were captured. The trapped Western Tragopan was radio-tagged with necklace collar and was tracked for six months. Using 72 radio locations and Minimum Convex Polygon Method, the estimated home range was 31.6 ha, and it was 20.5 ha for summer and 4.7 ha for autumn. The bird showed preference for high tree cover, thick undergrowth of montane bamboo, high litter cover and perennial water sources. In addition, much of the findings on its ecology broadly corroborated with the earlier observations, suggesting that in spite of a very low sample size, credible information could be gathered through radio tracking and data collection at a finer scale. This study still remains the only investigation involving trapping and radio tagging of the Western Tragopan anywhere in the world. We recommend that the approach and methods adopted in this study be taken forward for not only the Western Tragopan, but also for other ground dwelling birds with similar habits, for generating decisive ecological information and subsequent conservation planning for these species. Key words: Habitat use, Himalayas, home range, live trapping, pheasants, telemetry INTRODUCTION and population status of the species (Mirza et al. 1978; Islam 1982; Gaston et al. 1983b; Duke 1990; Pandey 1994; The Western Tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus Jandrotia et al.