Table Of Content140 JOURNAL, BOMBAYNATURALHIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 91 (1994)
OCCURRENCE OF THE EASTERN MARSH HARRIER
9.
CIRCUSAERUGINOSUS SPILONOTUS KAUP IN CORBETT NATIONAL PARK:
A RANGE EXTENSION
During March 1992, a juvenile Eastern importantrange extension and the firstrecordfor
Marsh HarrierCircusspilonotus was observedin thepark. However, it needs to bedeterminedover
Corbett National Park in northern Uttar Pradesh a period of time whether the species is a vagrant
(29°31' N, 70°41' E). The harrier was frequently or a regular winter visitor to the north central
seen for 5/6 days quartering the open grasslands Sivaliks. Two additional sightings in the An-
of the Dhikala Chaur and along the Ramganga daman Islands and at Periyar Tiger Reserve in
river in the Park. Its identity was confirmed later Kerala (Eames 1991) need further confirmation
by William S. Clark through photographs. Once and would greatly extend the southward range
treated as a race of the Western Marsh Harrier from the main north-eastern wintering grounds.
Circus aeruginosus, it is now considered a Special thanks to Dave Ferguson ofthe U.S. Fish
separatespecies(Amadon andBull 1988, Howard & Wildlife Service which funded the BNHS rap-
andMoore 1991). The forests ofthe north central tor project for infrastructural support, Mr R. S.
Sivaliks and Terai which were once contiguous Bhadauria, I.F.S., C.C.F. U.P. (Wildlife) who
are today disjointedly so with the forested readily gave permission for field work and Mr A.
foothills and Duars ofthe North-east, facilitating S. Negi, Field Director, Corbett, whoprovided all
east to west movement of avifauna. The species facilities and to William S. Clark.
breeds in the eastern central Asian steppes and
winters in the Orient and Eastern India (Brown
and Amadon 1968). It has not been previously January 22, 1993 RISHAD NAOROJI
recorded west of Assam (Ali and Ripley 1978). GodrejBhavati, Home Street,
Therefore, the sighting in Corbett signifies an Bombay 400 001,
Refer nces
Ali, S.A. & S.D. Ripley (1978): Handbook of Birds of Brown, L.H. & D. Amadon (1968): Eagles, Hawks and
India & Pakistan, Vol. I. Oxford University Press, FalconsoftheWorld. HamlynFeltham,Middlesex.
Delhi. Eames,J. (1991):Recentreports. Bulletinno. 13. Orien-
Amadon, D. & J. Bull (1988): Hawks & Owls ofthe tal Bird Club. 50.
World. A Distributional and Taxonomic List. Howard, R. & A. Moore (1991): AcompleteChecklist
Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology. 1100 of the Birds of the World. Second edition.
Glendon AvenueLos Angeles, California90024. Academic Press Inc., San Diego, CA92101.
10. LONGEST LONGEVITY RECORD FOR THE LESSER SANDPLOVER
CHARADRIUSMONGOLUS PALLAS
Among the waders, the lesser sand plover is Calimere were retrapped after 18 and 20 years
one ofthe most abundant wintervisitor to India. In respectively. The details are as follows:
southIndiaabout8000individualshavebeenringed Ring Date of Date of Time
by the Bombay Natural History Society’s Bird No. ringing recapture interval
MigrationProject.AtPointCalimere(10° 18'N; 75° AB 57508 24-11-1971 31-1-1990 18 years
51'E) ringing waterbirdshasbeencarriedonforthe AB 49238 29-11-1970 5-1-1991 20 years
last 12 years. Previously ringing was done between
1969-1973. A few individuals of some species As there is no previous published record on
ringed between 1969-73 were retrapped between the longevity of this species, it is a very interest-
1980-82. After that in 1990 and 1991 two lesser ing longevity record for the wader researchers.
sand plover ringed in 1970 and 1971 at Point Being eastern species, the lesser sand plover and
MISCELLANEOUSNOTES 141
greater sand plover Charadrius leschenaultii species is about 10 years (Cramp and Simmons
havenotbeen studiedextensively, as they migrate 1983, THEBIRDSOFTHEWESTERNPALAEARCTIC, Vol.
along the Australasian flyway which has notbeen 3.). Hence, the present longevity record of 20
monitored earlier. Other related species such as years for the lesser sand plover is the longest
kentish plover Charadrius alexandrinus, little among all the plovers.
ringed plover Charadrius dubius,and ringed
plover Charadrius hiaticula have been studied May 7, 1992 S.BALACHANDRAN
extensively along the East Atlantic flyway and S.A. HUSSAIN
their longevity have been documented based on Bombay Natural History Society,
the ringing and recapture dates. However, the HombillHouse, S. B. Singh Road,
recorded longevity period for the above three Bombay 400 023.
SIGHTING OF LITTLE GULL LARUS MINUTUS PALLAS AT
11.
BHAVNAGAR NEW PORT, GUJARAT
Since the late Dr Salim Ali reported seeing dian subcontinent, there being only one specimen
flocks ofLarus minutus (JBNHS 71: 609-610) in collected by Walter Koelz from Ladakh.
the Great Rann of Kachchh, in 1956, 1957 and
1960, we have come across them [10 km, SE. of May 22, 1992 B. M. PARASHARYA
BhavnagarCity (21° 46' N, 72°11' E)] on January AICRPonAgricultural Ornithology,
12, 1992. Three individuals of these birds in a GujaratAgricultural University,
flock of Brownheaded Gulls, L. brunnicephalus Anand388 110.
were seen. They were half the size of the
MATHEW
Brownheads, and had a black bill, an indistinct K.L.
spotbehindeye, lightgreyon thewings andwhite N.C. BHATT
on rest of the body. 24, Bank Society, Subhashnagar,
Bhavnagar364 001.
This gull is an accidental vagrant to the In-
12. DUETTING IN THE GREAT HORNED OWL, BUBO NIPALENSIS HODGSON
(STRIGIFORMES: STRIGIDAE)
(With a text-figure)
While staying at Nagarahole National Park, calls are identical to the first element ofthe three
Karnataka from 7-13 February 1990 the senior note calls. It seems quite clear on listening to the
author had the opportunity to record owl calls recording that there are two owls vocalizing, al-
which were made intermittently near his bun- though this was not apparent to my unaided ear
galow almost every night. The calls were when initiallyrecording the owls. The singlecalls
recorded around 0300 hours on 8 February with appear to be "prompting calls" or unanswered
a Sony WalkmanProfessionalModel WM-D6 and duets; our interpretation of the recording is as
an ECM- 929LT stereo microphone. On listening follows: when birdB answered the first note, bird
to the recording the next morning I was surprised A always producedthe third noteofthe sequence.
to find that the three note call had a distinctive To examine spectral and temporal features,
stereophonic effect with the first and third notes we analyzed the calls with a Kay Elemetrics DSP
being of lower amplitude than the middle note, 5500 Sona-Graph. Notes one and three of the
which came from a different direction. A total of seven hypothesized duets were similar in
10 calls wererecorded, 7 consistedofthree notes, amplitude and frequency, while the intervening
and 3 consisted of single notes. The single note note was always louder and of lower frequency
10
