Feathered friends of India now homeward bound

IANS | Apr 14, 2013
SHIMLA: They still take the traditional Silk Route. Only, unlike ancient traders and travellers, they take wings.

The feathered guests that descend on various waterbodies across India with the onset of winter, after crossing national and international boundaries to avoid the extreme chill of their native habitats in Tibet, Central Asia, Russia and Siberia, are now set to make their annual return journey.

A migratory bird in the Kangra Valley's Pong wetlands in Himachal Pradesh, which was tagged with a global positioning system (GPS) transmitter last winter, has returned to its native China. A few other bird species are currently in lakes in Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan, after their winter sojourn in Pong's man-made wetlands, in the Himalayan foothills, about 250 km from state capital Shimla.

A few "holidaying" birds remain, though, in Pong.

"A pintail that was tagged with a satellite transmitter in Pong was recorded last week in China. Another bird of the same species has reached Kyrgyzstan," chief wildlife Warden AK Gulati told IANS.

He said the migratory routes of the birds stretched from India to China, with brief stopovers at key wetlands in the Himalayas and the trans-Himalayas.

The state wildlife department, in association with the Mumbai-based Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), under a central government-aided project to track their migratory routes through satellite, tagged 14 migratory birds of different species for the third consecutive year in Pong.

BNHS assistant director S Balachandran, who installed the GPS chips on the birds and monitored their movements, said a common teal, tagged in Pong, was recently recorded in Pakistan.

Two birds - a greylag goose and a shoveller - were recorded in Srinagar and Harike in Punjab, respectively, this month.

"They might be on their return journey from Pong to their native habitats," he said.

Balachandran said a tagged common teal and a shoveller are still roosting in Pong.

"Some common teals and shovellers are still in Pong. They could start their return journey to their native habitats anytime now," he said.

Crossing national and international boundaries, millions of migratory birds of several species descend on various water bodies and wetlands in the region. They start returning by the end of February or the beginning of March.

In the last two years, the BNHS also installed metal bands and red and white neck collars with a serial number, place and date on more than 350 migratory birds in Pong.

The prominent species were the bar-headed geese, pintails, common teals, coots, cormorants, European lapwing, shovellers and wigeons.

Wildlife officials said a common teal that was ringed in Pong last year was shot dead in northeast Russia this year.

Around 123,000 waterfowl of 113 species were recorded in a census conducted by the wildlife wing in the first week of February at Pong Dam wildlife sanctuary spread over 307 sq km.

The largest influx was of the bar-headed goose, a regular visitor from Central Asia, including Tibet and Ladakh. Their number was around 34,000, wildlife officials said.

The other main species found were northern pintail (21,000), common pochard (12,000) and little cormorant (7,700), besides common coot, red-crested pochard, great cormorant, pintail duck, river tern and great-crested grebe.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Feathered-friends-of-India-now-homeward-bound/articleshow/19541384.cms

Sparrows lose homes in urban jungle

Chinmayi Shalya, TNN | Mar 21, 2013
MUMBAI: Sparrows seems to be flying out in search of another habitat.

The house sparrows, the most commonly sighted bird in the country, is gradually losing its presence in the urban landscape.

According to the Common Bird Monitoring of India (CBMI), a year-old initiative of environment organization Nature Forever Society, the sparrow is now the fourth most common bird in the country.

The CBMI identified 794 locations in the country where rock pigeons are found, 822 locations where crows were often spotted, 743 where the common myna were spotted, and only 494 locations where the house sparrow were seen in the last one year.

CBMI observations also showed that Mumbai has the highest number of pigeons and crows in the country, while the presence of sparrows is almost half of their numbers.

The observations can be extended to major cities, including Mumbai, where the population of more resilient birds like pigeons and crows has grown despite rapid urbanization, but small birds, like sparrows, have faced a loss of habitat.

On World Sparrow Day ,on Wednesday, ecologists and nature lovers lament this change. Others feel that the bird's stint with humans might be over now.

"The city has many kabutarkhanas where abundance of grain has given an artificial boost to the number of pigeons. And, the open garbage provides a lot of food for the crows. Pigeons can subsist on grain and produce pigeon milk to feed their young ones. But it is not the same with sparrows," said Mohammed Dilawar from the Nature Forever Society.

Sparrows feed insects to their young. But the loss of green cover and open grounds in the city has modified the ecology and led to a decline in number of insects on which young sparrows feed.

Also, sparrows need nests, unlike pigeons. Sparrows require sheltered corners and trees to make a home. "There has been a fall in the number of nesting sites and loss of small prey due to loss of green patches. We must remember that Until sparrows and other small birds have little green patches, even derelict and overgrown little corners, where they can catch insects, it would be difficult for them to survive," said naturalist, writer and photographer Sunjoy Monga.

Ecologists believe that the sparrows represented a different world where houses were more open, and there were many nooks, crevices and green patches which made it easy for sparrows to co-habit with humans.

The change in urban architecture, characterized by small enclosed houses, wire meshed windows and lack of green space has left very little shelter for sparrows to nest.

"I feel the sparrow may have reached the peak of having made the most of its association and commensalism on humanity and will possibly stabilise to a different level under a different set of conditions now,"added Monga. He added that we cannot re-create the situations of the past.

On World Sparrow Day, the Nature Forever Society launched a campaign where people can observe sparrows in their area for 15 minutes and report it on their website. People can also report if they do not spot the bird.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Sparrows-lose-homes-in-urban-jungle/articleshow/19098923.cms

Scripting An Almanac, One Bird At A Time

A project to track bird movements across India may help pin down the reasons why the number of migratory birds is declining. Akshai Jain reports

Last flight? Migratory pelicans and
painted storks at a small pond near
Dholera, 110 km from Ahmedabad.
Photo: AFP

RAMIT SINGAL, a 22-year-old engineering student, was puzzled. The Common Sandpiper, a small dust-coloured bird that migrates every winter from Russia to India, had been late arriving. Instead of getting to Manipal, (where Singal studies), in early August, the birds had arrived in mid-September. “Other migrants, like the Lesser Sand Plover, were also late,” he says.

In Mysore, a few hundred kilometres away, A Shivaprakash was pondering over another ornithological question. Being a scientist at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, puzzles don’t ruffle him, but the decline in the number of water birds in the lakes around Mysore was still troubling.

Till a decade ago, his birding group counted nearly 3 lakh migratory birds every season across 200 small and big lakes in Mysore, Chamarajanagar and Coorg districts. “But in the past seven or eight years,” he sighs, “there’s been a drastic reduction. I don’t think we have counted more than 50,000 birds.”

Birdwatchers in other parts of the country have also been alarmed by the decline in the numbers of migratory birds and the increasingly late arrivals of species that do come.

Unfortunately, in the absence of any long-term monitoring data on Indian bird species, it’s impossible to evaluate these changes scientifically, with a certainty that goes beyond anecdotal evidence and conjecture. Without the reference point that this data constitutes — referred to as a baseline in scientific parlance — it is impossible to say whether the shifts reported by birdwatchers are routine fluctuations or indicators of a far graver problem. Ornithologists find themselves in the position of a football referee tasked with calling a goal in a field that has no posts.

“At present, we suspect even so-called common species such as Common Drongo, Indian Roller, Hoopoe, Magpie Robin and Common Nightjar have declined due to habitat destruction and extensive use of pesticides,” says Dr Asad Rahmani, director of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). “But we don’t have good scientific data to back this impression.”

Now, MigrantWatch, a ‘citizen science’ programme that relies on the observations of hundreds of amateur birdwatchers like Singal and Shivaprakash, is changing that.

The programme, started by Suhel Quader, an ecologist at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bengaluru, has built up a meticulous database of common winter migrants.

Birdwatchers from across the country upload detailed observations from their birding trips on the programme’s website. Quader and his team then collate it, charting the arrival and departure of migrant species, and tracking their movement through the country.

Anniversaries might be irrelevant in the natural world, but for MigrantWatch, the five years it has just completed is a milestone that marks significant progress towards establishing a baseline.

From monitoring just nine migratory species when it started, it now monitors 246 species, focussing on 30 common and easily identified migrants. Over 600 birders have contributed to this database, which just hit 19,000 observations.

After a slow start, interest in the programme has shot up. “More people have joined us in the past year-and-a-half,” says Quader proudly, “than in the first four years put together.”

More significantly, the observational dots are joining up and the faint outline of patterns emerging. For 20 species, MigrantWatch has accumulated 200 or more observations, and for another six, it has more than 500 observations each.

Source: http://tehelka.com/scripting-an-almanac-one-bird-at-a-time/

Madhya Pradesh conducts vulture population estimation in Panna Tiger Reserve

By Suchandana Gupta, TNN | Jan 23, 2013

The dramatic decline in vulture population prompted the
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
to put vultures on its list of 'critically endangered' species.

BHOPAL: The Vulture Population Estimation-2013 has been concluded in the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, the state government said on Wednesday. Counting started a week ago and 867 vultures including 160 migratory and 48 of unidentified origins were found. Technical report of Vulture Population Estimation-2013 is expected to be submitted by February-end. About 102 live nests were also found in the tiger reserve, the state claimed.

Another survey will be made in April-May 2013 to assess success rate of vulture breeding in Panna Tiger Reserve. Since the year 2010, Vulture Population Estimation is being undertaken in Panna Tiger Reserve in January every year. The number of vultures found this year is less compared to last year. The reason could be the sudden increase in temperature in the area during the estimation week. Seven out of nine vulture species in the Indian sub-continent were found in Panna, the state government said.

Regional director Panna Tiger Reserve R. Shriniwas Moorthy explained that 659 residential vultures were found in Panna Tiger Reserve during Vulture Population Estimation-2013. These included 476 Long Billed Vultures, 86 White Backed Vultures, 52 Egyptian Vultures and 45 Red-headed Vultures. Similarly, out of 160 migratory vultures found during the estimation, 41 were European Griffon, 115 Himalayan Griffon and four vultures of cinereous species. It is being considered to include Paragrin spies of vulture also in the Vulture Population Estimation next year.

Since 2011, Vulture Estimation in Panna is carried out with public private participation with the co-operation of bird watchers from across the country. For this two-phase estimation, 112 bird watchers from 10 states had applied. Following scrutiny, 94 participants were selected this year. The selected participants came from the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana, Bihar, Maharashtra, New Delhi besides Madhya Pradesh. They were assisted by 16 guides of the park. The team conducted estimation under the guidance of forest department officers.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Madhya-Pradesh-conducts-vulture-population-estimation-in-Panna-Tiger-Reserve/articleshow/18153168.cms

Agri pattern, poaching affect keep migratory bird arrivals

By T Ramavarman, TNN | Jan 17, 2013

KOCHI: The water bird count conducted at the Kole wetlands of Thrissur has found a significant dip in arrival of birds this year, compared to the last two years.

Kole wetlands had been declared 'Ramsar Site' or wetlands of international importance, as it is one of the globally recognized areas that see noticeable bird movements and is rich in biodiversity.

The survey was conducted as part of the Asian Water-bird Census, with support from the Kerala state forest department, Indian Bird Conservation Network, Kerala Birder and College of Forestry.

"A total of 30,764 birds were counted this year. This is about 16,000 birds less than the 46,002 counted in 2012, and about 7,000 birds less than the count of 37,742 in 2011,'' PO Nameer, head of the Centre for Wildlife Studies, College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University (KAU), who led the survey team told TOI.

Dr Nameer, however, observed such fluctuations in bird population have shown in past annual surveys as well, hence there was no need for undue anxiety over this.

"Kole fields have been witnessing changes in the cropping periods according to the water availability. This could be one of the reasons that has caused fluctuations in bird arrivals. There have been reports of poaching incidents in the area, and we must be vigilant about this,'' Nameer said.

Indian Pond Heron, Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Great Egret, Lesser Whistling Duck, Northern Pintail, Garganey, Asian Openbill and Whiskered Tern are some of the birds that have shown a decline in their arrival trend this year.

On the brighter side, the survey team located two vulnerable species -- Indian Spotted Eagle (Aquila hastate) and Greater Spotted Eagle (Aquila clanga). There has been a steady increase in the population of the near-endangered Oriental Darter, from 148 in 2011 to 163 in 2012 to 189 this year, Nameer said. Other threatened birds sighted at Kole this year included Black-tailed Godwit, Painted Stork and Black-headed Ibis.

About 100 birdwatchers participated in the counting conducted at 10 places in Kole.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/Agri-pattern-poaching-affect-keep-migratory-bird-arrivals/articleshow/18055138.cms

When the birds come calling

IANS

During the winter months the Odisha Bhitarkanika National Park plays host to thousands of birds. This year saw a record number of feathered friends visiting.

Black-tailed Godwit:Migratory birds.Photo: Lingaraj Panda

This year has been unusually good for bird watchers at the Odisha Bhitarkanika National Park in Orissa. They have spotted upto 81,000 migratory birds as well as resident birds at the park. Last year, the total count of birds was just 52,242.

According to the Divisional Forest Officer Manoj Kumar Mohapatra, at least 111 species of birds were spotted.

Visitors

The annual bird census was conducted on December 26, 2012 at the park in Kendrapada, about 170 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar. The major highlight of the census was that as many as 36,000 Black-tailed Godwits were spotted. The Black-tailed Godwit ( Limosa limosa ) is a large, long-billed shorebird. It is a member of the Limosa genus, the godwits. There are three subspecies, all with orange head, neck and chest in breeding plumage and dull grey-brown in winter. They have a distinctive black and white wingbar. They have a discontinuous breeding range stretching from Iceland to the far east of Russia.

Another interesting fact at the census was that enumerators spotted a rare group of birds which they are yet to identify.

Besides the Black-tailed Godwit the other prominent species visiting the park were the Brahmini ducks and the Bar-headed geese.

The Brahmini ducks are a small resident population in north-west Africa and Ethiopia. But, the main breeding area of this species is from south-east Europe across central Asia to south-east Asia. These birds are mostly migratory, wintering in the Indian subcontinent.

The Bar-headed goose breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes. It winters in South Asia, as far south as the Indian peninsular. It lays around three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest.

The Bhitarkanika park, also a wildlife sanctuary, is home to over 200 species of birds, including 98 varieties of migratory birds.

The sanctuary is widely known as the world’s largest rookery of Olive Ridley sea turtles.

Every year, more than a million migratory birds from places as far as Siberia and Iraq flock to various sites in Odisha in October, spending the winter here before returning in March.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-youngworld/when-the-birds-come-calling/article4285827.ece

15 rare birds sighted in Srivilliputhur

By Express News Service - SRIVILLIPUTHUR
27th December 2012 10:20 AM


Fifteen rare birds, including a Sri Lankan Frog Mouth Bird, were sighted during the enumeration of bird census held at the reserve forest in Srivilliputhur last week.

Totally, 15 teams found 200 birds. Out of these, 70 birds were sighted for the first time in this forest region. Among these 70, 15 were identified as rare species. For instance, the Sri Lankan Frog Mouth, which is found only in Kerala, was seen for the first time in here, said Murugesan, a bird lover and a member of one of the teams that were involved in the census work in the forest area.

Sri Lankan Frog Mouth, a nocturnal bird, used to feed mainly on insects during the night, he said.

Source: http://newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/article1396075.ece