Table Of ContentMISCELLANEOUS NOTES
Keoladeo National Park, especially Ms. Shruti February 200 ASHOK VERMA
6, 1
Sharma, Director of the Park, for the facilities Bombay Natural History Society
US &
extended. I thank the Fish Wildlife Service Hornbill House, S.B. Singh Road,
for funding the project, especially Mr. David Mumbai 400 023, Maharashtra, India.
Ferguson for help and encouragement. Thanks Email: [email protected]
are due to Mr. Peter Bloom for help in trapping
the handers, Mr. J.C. Daniel, Hon. Secretary and Present Address: Sarafa Bazar,
Dr. A.R. Rahmani Director, BNHS for Rekha Naanga Gali,
encouragement and critical assessment of the Bharatpur 321 001,
manuscript. Rajasthan, India.
Refe
E N C E S
De Bont, A. (1952): Breves communications. Le Gerfaut Price, T. (1981): The ecology of the greenish warbler,
42: 255. Phylloscopus trochiloides. in its winter quarters.
Fischer, D.H. (1981): Wintering ecology of thrashers in Ibis 123: 131-144.
Southern Texas. Condor 83: 340-346. Schuster, L. (1940): Langjahrige Weederkehr eines
Newton, 1. (1979): Population ecology ofRaptors. T. and Mausebussards (Buteo buteo) an denselben
A. Poyser Ltd. England. Uberwinterungsplatz. Vogelzug //: 86.
W
Olsson, O. (1958): Dispersal, migration, longevity and itkowski, J. (1989): Breeding biology, and ecology
death causes of Strix aluco Buteo buteo Ardea of the marsh harrier. Circus aeruginosus in
, , ,
cinerea and Lams argentatus. Acla Vertebratica the Barcycz valley, Poland. Acta Orn. 25: 223-
/: 91-189. 320.
SOUTHERNMOST RECORD OF EASTERN CALANDRA-LARK
14.
MELANOCORYPHA BIMACULATA AND SIGHTING OF LESSER KESTREL
FALCO NAUMANNI FROM MATHERAN, A HILL STATION NEAR MUMBAI
Matheran is situated at c. 73° 18' E and Charlotte Lake, a man-made reservoir in
18° 28' N in the Western Ghats and is about Matheran, I spotted a solitary, relatively large
105 km from Mumbai. This tiny hill station has member of Alaudidae. It moved hurriedly in the
an area of7.35 sq. km, out ofwhich 3.87 sq. km dry leaflitter, along the bank ofthe lake, stopping
is reserved forest while 3.48 sq. km is under intermittently to peck at some edible morsel. The
buildings, plots, tanks, roads etc. It has a two very distinct features that caught my attention
maximum elevation of 803 m and an average were its broad white supercilium and a black
rainfall of about 7,500 mm. was in Matheran patch on the side ofthe breast. The tail was short,
I
during the second week of April 2000. During with a stroke of white on its tip. The bird was
the two day visit, I had the good fortune ofsight- well camouflaged against the leafy background.
ing the eastern calandra-lark Melanocorypha It was noticeably stockier and more upright than
bimaculata ofwhich this was the southernmost the greater short-toed lark Calandrella
,
record and the lesser kestrel Falco naumanni a brachydactyla. All the field characteristics
,
Red Data species. The following is a briefaccount pointed at only one candidate - the eastern
ofthe same. calandra-lark. Later, on April 9, two more birds
were sighted near One-Tree-Hill, the
Eastern Calandra-lark southernmost tip of Matheran. They were
Melanocorypha bimaculata foraging in a rocky slope interspersed with dry
On April 8, 2000, while returning from grass beds. They remained in sight for over
118 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 100(1). APR. 2003
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
15 min before disappearing behind a ledge. conspicuous moustachial stripe of the common
M
The handbook states that bimaculata is kestrel was not visible. The bird was holding on
a winter visitor to Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, to a grasshopper with its claws. The claws lacked
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and an occasional visitor the dark tinge ofthe common kestrel and by then
to Kutch. Himmatsinhji (1960) and Tiwari (1993) 1 was convinced that it was a female ofthe lesser
have also reported the bird from Kutch. According kestrel Falco naumanni.
tothe handbook, there is no record ofthe bird from According to Ali and Ripley (1987), Falco
Maharashtra. However, Grimmett et al. (1999) naumanni is more patchily distributed than its
NW
mention its presence upto Maharashtra. There larger cousin, F. tinnunculus and is an irregular
A
is also aconfirmed unpublished record oftwo birds passage migrant to East Africa. few stragglers
near a waterbody in Nasik dist. (Raha, B. pers. are known to remain behind and have been
comm, in 1999). The present record is therefore sighted between November and April in Ambala,
the southernmost one for M. bimaculata. Delhi, Lucknow (U.P.), Dinapur (Bihar),
Balasore (Orissa), Kolkata (Bengal), Dibrugarh,
Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni Naga hills and N.E. Cachar (Assam), Manipur,
On the afternoon ofApril 9, 2000, I saw a to as far south as Chennai (Coonoor-Nilgiris).
bird ofprey that had just landed on a barren tree Within Maharashtra, a flock of several hundred
m
on the rocky slope; 50 separated the two ofus. birds has been sighted in Sholapur, apart from a
It was difficult to decipher its identity from that flock ofa dozen birds in Ahmednagar in January.
distance, but from the size, it looked like a falcon. Apart from this, there have been unpublished
On a keener view, it resembled the female ofthe records of the bird from Nasik (Raha, B. pers.
common kestrel Falco tinnunculus. comm., 1999). F. naumanni is also recorded from
After preening for a few minutes, the bird Sri Lanka (Hoffmann, 1996).
began hovering in a typical kestrel-like fashion Though rare, it is widely distributed in India.
with short bouts of rapid wing beats interrupted The inadequate data on the bird could probably be
by equally short flights. 1 needed a closer look to attributedto its resemblance to F. tinnunculus. The
see other characteristics to confirm my initial females of the two species are difficult to
identification. The bird glided in my direction and differentiate in the field. Only a trained eye can
was below me, providing a dorsal view. The flight distinguish be—tween the two birds from their
was definitely less laboured than that of the hovering styles instead ofthe up and down wing
common kestrel. Just when 1 was weighing up its strokes ofthe common, the lesser kestrel beats its
true identity, the bird got hold of a strong wind wings forward and backward. This is apparently
current that carried it at least 20 m above me in a because the body ofthe lesser kestrel is raised 45°
fraction ofa second. The underbelly was streaked while that of the common is held parallel to the
while the wings had darker wing margins. ground. The most important identification is the
Meanwhile, the bird spotted something in paler, almost colourless claws of F. naumanni
the grass and swooped down on it. At this compared to the black ones ofF. tinnunculus. This
juncture it went out ofsight while I waited to get isthe first record ofthis red data book species from
another glimpse ofit. Within moments it returned Matheran and therefore worth mentioning.
with something in its bill and settled on a
Ficus sp. jutting from the vertical rock face to November 25, 2000 ANISH ANDHER1A
my right, but at a lower level than me. While the 2, Sagar Building, V.R Road, Andheri (W),
bird dismembered its booty, I crept up to almost Mumbai 400 058, Maharashtra, India.
15 m from it. The head was pale and the Email: [email protected]
JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 100(1), APR. 2003 1 19
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
References
Ali, S. & S.D. Ripley (1987): Compact Handbook ofthe nat. Hist. Soc. 57: 408.
Birds of India and Pakistan together with those of Hoffmann, T.W. (1996): New bird records in Sri Lanka
Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. 2nd edn, and some connected matters. J. Bombay nat. Hist.
Oxford University Press, Delhi, pp.737 + 104 plates. Soc. 93(3): 382-388.
Grimmett, R., C. Inskipp & T. Inskipp (1999): Birds ofthe Tiwari, J.K. (1993): Sighting of Eastern Calandra Lark,
Indian Subcontinent. Oxford University Press, New Melanocorypha bimaculata (Blyth) in Kutch.
Delhi. In: Proc: Changing Scenario of Bird Ecology and
Himmatsinhji, M.K. (1960): The Eastern Calandra Lark Conservation, Ornithological Society of India,
(Melanocorypha bimaculata) in Kutch. J. Bombay Bangalore.
UNUSUAL FEEDING ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SIBERIAN CRANE
15.
GRUS LEUCOGERANUS AND WILD BOAR SUS SCROFA
IN KEOLADEO NATIONAL PARK, BHARATPUR, RAJASTHAN
Siberian cranes Grus leucogeranus are individually not ofmuch food value to cranes,
wetland-dependant birds and unlike other but since they were available in abundance,
cranes that often forage in dry upland areas the cranes may have found it profitable to feed
near wetlands, they usually forage in ankle on the larvae, which are not on their regular
deep shallows (Sauey 1985). Three Siberian diet. Only the captive bred released birds,
cranes were observed feeding in dried up areas which were a part ofan experiment to augment
of wetland in the Keoladeo National Park, the wild population of Siberian cranes, were
Bharatpur, India. The cranes were in areas observed feeding on larvae. It was probably
where the soil appeared ploughed and were behaviour learnt from sarus cranes, as the
observed picking up tufts of grass and putting Siberian cranes were associated with them
them aside, and then picking up small items more than with the wild Siberian cranes. The
offood. After the cranes had moved away from captive released birds would often venture out
the foraging sites, we noticed that the area with the sarus cranes to forage in the dry areas.
had wet soil and was dug up by boars Sus The Siberian cranes are known to feed largely
scrofa as was evident from the hoof marks on vegetable matter and occasionally on
,
and droppings ofwild boars. All the grass was aquatic insects in their wintering grounds (Ali
uprooted; tufts of roots and partly eaten insect and Ripley 1983, Vijayan 1991).
larvae were lying all over. A bunch of larvae Birds are known to benefit from feeding
were wriggling under the tufts of grasses, associations with other animals. Egrets
which were lying all over the dug up areas. Egretta spp., drongos Dicrurus spp., starlings
Wild boars are known to feed on roots Sturnus spp., mynas Acridotheres spp., and
of grasses and sedges, and also on insects many other species follow grazing animals and
(Prater 1971). They had probably uprooted the pick up insects disturbed by the movement of
grasses to get to these larvae. The cranes took these animals in the grass (Ali and Ripley
advantage ofthe ploughing by the wild boars, 1983). However, we have not come across any
as they themselves would have found it reports of Siberian cranes, which are largely
difficult to uproot the grasses in the dried up wetlands birds, getting direct benefit from the
area where the soil had hardened after drying. action of a terrestrial animal like the wild
The insect larvae were very small and boar.
120 JOURNAL BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY 100(1). APR. 2003
