Balloons as a device for scaring birds

1 Pages·1992·0.61 MB·

by  H S A Yahya

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 117
birdsthrough atelescopewetookacount; andby our Suhanra Reserve (Pakistan). So far it has been
estimate there were about 200 of this rare teal recordedinthispart ofthecountry asarare straggler,
present. As far as we are aware, this is the largest including one bird obtained in Kutch in 1940 (birds
collection of M. angustirostris recorded within our ofkutch,Ali,S. 1945,p. 169).
limits. The sky was overcast with intermittent
sunshine, but the visibility was good. We wonder S.A.AKHTAR
whether our sighting was an indication of the J.K.TTWARI
successful reintroduction of this species, e.g. at Lai April 4, 1990 N.N.BAPAT
BALLOONS AS A DEVICE FOR SCARING BIRDS
4.
I closely observed the roostingofa flockof32 alarmedand lefttheroostingbranchesandcircledthe
pariah kites Milvus migrans govinda from 1987 to treewithtypicalcalls.Attimeseventheymobbedthe
1989. The birds used to occupy high branches of balloonbutwhen nothinghappened, after 15 minutes
Eucalyptus trees just in front of my (Aligarh) all the kites moved away and did not roost there for
residence. They were regular in their roosting hours the night. The balloon remained hanging for three
and slept undisturbed except on windy and rainy daysandsomebirdsdidreturnonthesecondday,but
days. after seeing the balloon still hanging, moved away.
One evening, when my daughter was playing The kites then deserted the site finally and did not
with an gas filled balloon of dark grey colour, the returnforthenextthreemonths,whentheEucalyptus
balloon flew up and got entangled in the. central treeswerecutdown.
branch of a tree in the Eucalyptus grove where the It appears that at times balloons could be
kites used to roost. It was becoming dark and kites effectively usedtoscareawaybirds .
started arriving within 10 minutes. As soon as some
of them saw the hanging balloon they became May31, 1990 H.S.A.YAHYA
5. UNUSUAL NESTING SITE OF BRAHMINY KITE HALIASTUR INDUS
The brahminy kite Haliastur Indus is the most mudflats of the Great Vedaranyam Swamp. A
common raptor in the coastal fishing village of complete nest with two eggs was seen at that spot
Kodikkarai at Point Calimere, Tamil Nadu. Large under a two metre tall Prosopis chilensis bush
numbers congregate here during the fishing season growing on the slope of the bund. The nest was
and along with gulls they are the major scavengers. constructed the usual way but it was right on the
m
Several ofthesebirdsstaybackevenafterthe fishing ground, about 12 away from the water’s edge.
season gets over in March and their nesting activity IWigs ofProsopischilensis,Arthrocnemumindicum,
starts around mid-January. Usually they nest about Suaeda sp., mud and cowdungwere used to line the
6-15 m up in large banyan, peepul, tamarind, neem, nest. The bund passes between the natural mudflats
casuarina or other trees (handbook of the birds of and the reservoir used for storing sea water for salt
INDIAandPAKISTAN,Ali,S.andRipley,S.D. 1983).At extraction. One of the birds was again seen
Point Calimere, palmyra Borassus flabellifer incubatingthe eggs the next day, while another sat a
,
coconut Cocos nucifera and bhendi Thespesia little away onthemudflat.Unfortunately the nestwas
populnea arethemore commonnestingtrees. preyed upon after a couple of days, probably by a
On 14 February 1990 a brahminy kite was mongoose or a jackal, and the kites abandoned the
flushed beside a low earth bund passing through the site.