10 Indian Birds VOL. 12 NO. 1 (PUBL. 26 AUGUST 2016) Nesting of Purple-rumped Sunbird Leptocoma zeylonica in southern Rajasthan, and its occurrence in the Thar Desert Gobind Sagar Bhardwaj & Harkirat Singh Sangha Bhardwaj, G. S. & Sangh, H. S., 2016. Nesting of Purple-rumped Sunbird Leptocoma zeylonica in southern Rajasthan, and its occurrence in the Thar Desert Indian BIRDS 12 (1): 10–11. Gobind Sagar Bhardwaj, Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Van Bhavan, New Pali Road, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. E-mail: [email protected] [GSB] Harkirat Singh Sangha, B-27, Gautam Marg, Hanuman Nagar, Jaipur 302021, Rajasthan, India. E-mail: [email protected] [HSS] [Corresponding author] Manuscript received on 17 March 2015. he Purple-rumped Sunbird Leptocoma zeylonica has been A pair of the sunbirds was continuously observed in this forest recorded in Banswara, Dungarpur, Pratapgarh, and Udaipur nursery from September 2006 onwards. The male regularly flew Tdistricts of Rajasthan, India (HSS pers. obsv.). However, to the Divisional Forest Officer’s bungalow and pecked at the its breeding was recorded for the first time in 2007 in a forest glass-framed photographs hung on the walls of the verandah. A nursery located in the middle of Pratapgarh (24.00ºN, 74.78ºE), nest was observed on 23 September 2007. It was an elongated southern Rajasthan. Its nest was discovered on a Manila tamarind pear-shaped nest, which was suspended at the extreme end of Pithcelobium dulce tree in a forest nursery. The well-wooded a branch of the Manila tamarind tree. The branch was in the 1.98 ha nursery provided suitable conditions for the sunbird to lower canopy, hardly 40 cm away from the wall of Forest Rest breed. The main tree species in the nursery included Teak Tectona House. The nest was 19 cm in length and 7.5 cm in diameter grandis, Eucalyptus species, Cassia siamea, C. fistula, Zizyphus and 2.73 m above the ground. The opening of the nest was 3.5 species, Acacia nilotica, Dalbergia sissoo, Holoptelea integrifolia, cm in diameter, and faced eastwards. The nest was mainly made Azadirachta indica, Albizia lebbeck, Mango Mangifera indica, of grasses, fibrous material including leaves, pieces of paper, Ficus religiosa, Prosopis juliflora, Lawsonia species, Bouganvillea bits of cow dung, pieces of bark, dry excreta of caterpillars, and species, Dendrocalamus strictus, etc. cobwebs [13]. It appeared to be ‘decorated’ with a piece of dry leaf dangling from its base with fine cobweb thread; the base of the nest was c. 5 cm thick, composed of dry leaves and pieces of paper. The entrance of the nest had a porch-like covering. The inner lining of the nest comprised very fine grass, and fibers. It matched with the description given by Dewar (1913), ‘the completed nest often passes for a small mass of rubbish that has been pitched into a bush, and, in view of the multifarious nature of the material used by the species there is every excuse for mistaking the nest for a ball of rubbish’. Occurrence of the species in the Thar Desert We first noticed a pair of Purple-rumped Sunbirds on 15 February 2015 in a small patch of Aloe vera growing inside the Arid Forest Research Institute (hereinafter, AFRI) campus (26.21ºN, 73.00ºE), in Jodhpur. They foraged regularly upon the nectar of Aloe vera flowers, with Purple SunbirdCinnyris asiaticus, and Common Tailorbird Orthotomus sutorius. Typically they fed upon nectar, flitting from one spike ofAloe vera to another. The birds were seen in the campus for three to four months before they disappeared. The AFRI campus, spread over 20 ha, is a small pocket of biodiversity surrounded by urban concrete. The main tree species in the campus are all planted, and include Azadirachta indica, Terminalia catappa, Tecomella undulata, Ailanthus excelsa, Bougainvillea species Leucaena leucocephala, Cassia siamea, C. fistula, Albizzia lebbek, Carissa carandus, Cordia mixa, Bougainvillea sp., Mangifera indica etc. There are old strands of natural Prosopis cineraria and Zizyphus mauritiana. Gobind Sagar Bhardwaj Sagar Gobind 13. Female Purple-rumped Sunbird Leptocoma zeylonica in nest. SanGHA ET AL.: Nesting of Purple-rumped Sunbird 11 Discussion will congregate in a place conducive to these. A tree with plentiful The Purple-rumped Sunbird is a common resident in the Indian blossoms will attract sunbirds, as will a zone of flowering trees or Subcontinent, and can be found in peninsular India from south of aloes (Aloe) (Cheke & Mann 2008). north-western Maharasthra, through Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar Cheke & Mann (2001) quote Craig & Hulley (1994) on (Ali & Ripley 1999; Cheke & Mann 2001). HSS first recorded movements of sunbirds in South Africa, including “nomads” the species in Banswara in 2001, and recently in Dungarpur on without home bases, which move unpredictably to new areas. 16 October 2015. It was also recently sighted at Ranakpur, Pali Possibly Jodhpur birds were also such “nomads” that disappeared District in September 2015, and at Mount Abu on 31 March after a few months. 2016 (Sahdev Singh, verbally, dated 31 March 2016). It has been seen almost regularly in Phulwari ki Nal Wildlife Sanctuary, Acknowledgements Thur Magra forest block, Banki forest research farm, and in and HSS thanks Satish Kumar Sharma of Rajasthan Forest Service, C . V. Singh, and Sahdev around Sajjangarah Wildlife Sanctuary in Udaipur District, (Satish Singh for sharing their unpublished observations, and M. A. R. Khan for sending Kumar Sharma, verbally, dated March 2016.) and on 12 August reprint of his note. 2013 it was recorded nesting in one of the gardens in Udaipur city (C. V. Singh, verbally). The above-mentioned districts are in References the extreme southern part of Rajasthan, adjoining Gujarat, where Ali, S., & Ripley, S. D., 1999. Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan together with the species is a common resident (Parasharya & Vyas 2002; those of Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. Flowerpeckers to buntings. Rasmussen & Anderton 2012). The presence of the species, 2nd (Hardback) ed. Delhi: (Sponsored by Bombay Natural History Society.) from the above-mentioned districts of Rajasthan, is not shown in Oxford University Press. Vol. 10 of 10 vols. Pp. i–xvii+1, 1–250, 9 ll. recent literature (Ali & Ripley 1999; Kazmierczak 2000; Grimmett Bohra, H. C., & Goyal, S. P., 1993. Checklist of the birds of Machia Safari Desert Park, et al. 2011; Rasmussen & Anderton 2012). Jodhpur (Rajasthan). Pavo 30 (1&2): 87–97. The Purple-rumped Sunbird breeds from March to May Cheke, R. A., & Mann, C. F., 2001. Sunbirds: A guide to the sunbirds, flowerpeckers, in West Bengal, and from February to April in southern India, spiderhunters and sugarbirds of the world. 1st ed. London: Christopher Helm. and also from July to September, just after the monsoon (Ali & Pp. 1–384. Cheke, R. A., & Mann, C. F., 2008. Family Nectariniidae (Sunbirds). In: Handbook of the Ripley 1999). The presence of a nest in Pratapgarh is a possible birds of the world. Volume 13. Penduline-tits to Shrikes. del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., & geographical extension of its breeding range. Further observations Christie, D., (eds.). Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. 13 of 16 vols.: Pp. 196–320. may confirm this. Craig, A. J. F. K., & Hulley, P. E., 1994. Sunbird movements: a review, with possible The presence of the species in the southern districts of models. Ostrich 65: 106–110. Rajasthan can be attributed to the proximity to its known Dewar, D., 1908. Local bird-migration in India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History distribution in Gujarat. However, the presence of the species Society 18 (2): 343–356. in Jodhpur, in the Thar Desert, which is climatically drier, and is Dewar, D., 1913. Glimpses of Indian birds. London; New York; Toronto: John Lane the Bodley Head; John Lane Company; Bell & Cockburn. Pp. i–xiv, 1–266. more than 300 kms north of its known distribution in Gujarat, Dookia, S., 2002. A checklist of birds of New Campus, J.N.V. University, Jodhpur, cannot be explained with certainty. Earlier ornithological works Rajasthan. Zoos’ Print Journal 17 (9): 883–885. have not recorded the species from the Thar Desert (Bohra and Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C., & Inskipp, T., 2011. Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. 2nd ed. & Goyal 1993 ; Dookia 2002; and Whistler 1938) London: Oxford University Press & Christopher Helm. Pp. 1–528. For almost half of all species in this family, not enough is Kazmierczak, K., 2000. A field guide to the birds of India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, known about their movements although altitudinal shifts Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. 1st ed. New Delhi: Om Book Service. Pp. or displacements, particularly in the Himalayan region, or 1–352. movements in association with rains or droughts, in the Western Khan, M. A. R., 1977. Local movements of Small Sunbird, Nectarinia minima (Sykes). Bangladesh Journal of Zoology 5 (1): 77–78. Ghats are recorded (Cheke & Mann 2008). The Crimson-backed Parasharya, B. M., & Vyas, R., 2002. Status of the Purple-rumped Sunbird Nectarinia Sunbird Leptocoma minima is absent during October–March zeylonica in Gujarat state. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 99 (1): in Coonoor (Tamil Nadu, India) and reappears by April (Khan 119–120. 1977). In Peechi-Vazhani Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala the sightings Rasmussen, P. C., & Anderton, J. C., 2012. Birds of South Asia: the Ripley guide. 2nd of Crimson-backed Sunbird suggest regular seasonal movements ed. Washington, D.C. and Barcelona: Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions. 2 that are possibly linked with the monsoon (Santharam vols. Pp. 1–378; 1–683. 1996). Dewar (1908) noticed that from August to March the Santharam, V., 1996. Seasonal movements in Small Sunbird (Nectarinia minima) and Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps indica). Journal of the Bombay Natural History Purple Sunbird was absent in Lahore (Pakistan), but arrived Society 93 (2): 296–297.