Table Of ContentMISCELLANEOUS NOTES 587
A NOTE ON THE ENDEMIC BROADTAILED GRASS WARBLER
11.
A
On a brief visit to Upper Kodayar, Ashambu sounded like those ofa lark. few mimicking notes
Hills, Tamilnadu, in September 1992, 1 had the good were alsoheard. The callswereuttered whileperched
fortune of encountering one of the rarely seen as well as in flight. The birds took off from their
m
endemicbirds oftheWestern Ghats - theBroadtailed perches at angles of 45° to about 15 in the air,
Grass Warbler Schoenicola platyura). This bird is singing for brief periods and then diving back into
(
foundin thegrassy areas in thehills ofWestern Ghats cover. Though they were shy, we managed to get
m
south ofBelgaum (Karnataka state) between 900 good views of the bird and we could see the dark
m
to 2000 (handbook Vol 8. pg 93-94). The only mouths of the singing birds, a feature also seen by
encounter I had earlier had with this bird was at the R. Kannan at Grass Hills, Annamalai, Tamilnadu
Poochippara area in the Silent Valley National Park (pers. comm).
in Kerala, in December 1990, in a grassy area. The breeding season of this bird has been
m &
The altitude atUpper Kodayar is over 1500 described in the handbook (Ali Ripley, 1987) as
and thehabitat is mainly grassland-shola forest type. March-May and July-September. The presence of
On 10th September, I saw a singlebird on a Lantana singing and displaying birds in mid-September
bush opposite the Staff Quarters, close to the indicates that the nesting season may well extend
reservoir, where thehabitat is greatlydisturbed. The further. More observations are needed to determine
bird appeared to have a tail moult and we could see this.
the fine markings on thetail. When itcalled, wecould I am grateful to my colleague and good friend
make out the pinkish mouth. T. Ganesh for hosting meduring my stay at Kodayar
On thenextday, wevisited the Seventh Saddle and accompanying me to the field.
area, en routeto Muthukuzhi. Here, from among the
tall grass and low bushes, wecouldhear single noted August 17, 1995 V. SANTHARAM
“pink” calls. We stopped to take a closer look and 68, 1st Floor, Santhome High Road,
we saw atleast three individuals of the Broadtailed Madras 600 028.
Grass Warbler. The birds were calling the single- Present address: SACON, Kalampayalam,
noted calls as well as a series of warbling notes that Coimbatore 641 010.
Reference
Ali, S. & S.D. Ripley (1987): Handbook ofthe Birds ofIndia andPakistan. Compact Edition, Oxford University Press, New
Delhi.
WHITEBROWED BLUE FLYCATCHER (MUSCICAPA SUPERCILIARIS)
12.
DELINEATION OF ITS WINTERING RANGE IN WEST INDIA
This attractive little flycatcher is a summer Bahawalpur in Pakistan (no date).”
breeding bird of the middle elevations ofthe entire One supposes thatit is absent fromthe Western
Himalayan range. It winters over a wide area ofthe Ghats and the plateau country of Marathwada,
Indian peninsula rather vaguely indicated in the AndhraandKarnataka. Presumably Abu and thehills
handbook and the synopsis thus: “In Central India ofeastern Gujarat arein therange though the species
from Delhi south to Northern Maharashtra, does not figure in the Gujarat list. It therefore seems
Southeastern Karnataka, Northwestern Andhra, worth recording two sightings from Gujarat.
Orissa, Bengal and Bihar. Recorded from Shri Lalsinhbhai Raol, a highly competent
588 JOURNAL BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 93 (1996)
,
birdwatcher spoke to me about a drawing given to the same size, have very similar calls and
him by Dr. Bakul Trivedi who made it during a demonstrate common mannerisms, and though the
WWF-I outing to the lessor Hills just south ofMt. males are distinctive, the females resemble each
Abu. Theprominent white eyebrow, blueupperparts other. These facts suggest why the Blue may have
and whiteunderparts with aprominent greyish band been given a go by.
broken by white on the chest were shown. Shareneshwarisbetween thetowns ofIdar and
Lalsinhbhai and Dr. Trivedi went out birding Vijaynagar in Sabar Kantha (Himmatnagar) District
to Himmatnagar on 5th February and in a grove of northeast of Ahmedabad.
trees edging the river at Shareneshwar temple, Dr.
LAVKUMAR KHACHER
Trivedi pointed out his puzzle bird. Lalsinhbhai has April 6, 1995
seen the Whitebrowed Blue Flycatcher in the 646 Vastunirman,
,
Himalaya. Lalsinhbhai mentions Redbreasted Gandhinagar,
Flycatchers also being around. The two species are Gujarat-382 022.
References
Ali, S & S.D. Ripley (1987): HandbookoftheBirds ofIndia Ripley, S.D. II (1982): A Synopsis ofthe Birds ofIndia and
andPakistan. CompactEdition, Oxford UniversityPress, Pakistan. Bombay Natural History Society.
New
Delhi.
NOTES ON GREEN MUNIA
13.
Seven species ofmunia are found in theIndian is not given for obvious reasons). An isolated
subcontinent (Ali & Ripley 1987). Of these, the population ofabout60to 70birdswas seen in astony,
Green munia (Estrilda formosa) is listed as arid wasteland. They appear to move around in a
threatened in India(Collar, Crossby and Stattersfield limited area of about 1 sq. km.
1994). The survey was done in the non-breeding
The green munia is an endemic species, very season. Themaximum flock sizewas seven. The first
locally and unevenly distributed. It is found mainly bird was sighted at 0545 hrs and I could observe
in central India from Mt. Abu, Gwalior, Jhansi and them almost throughout the day. Bimodal activity
Surguja south to Mahabaleshwar, district Adilabad pattern of feeding was noticed. Most of the long-
and upto the Vishakhapatnam Ghats. It is also duration sightings were in the afternoon when the
recorded fromLucknow andLahore and from Bihar birds used to gather and rest in Ipomea shrubs. The
&
(Ali Ripley 1983). In recent years nothing has birds were seen reaching the resting site from 0900
been reported on the species, although it is apopular hrs where they remained till 1500 hrs. The resting
cage bird. site was comparatively cool due to water and
I conducted a short survey between 5-7 June, presence of vegetation. The day resting site was
1994, on the species around Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh. shaded by tall, dense Ficus trees.
According to the information gathered from local It was seen that the Green Munia mostly keep
bird trappers, the specieshas been largely wiped out to themselves whileresting and foraging. Itwas also
from nearJhansi although a few populationsdo exist observed that they never roosted communally with
near Tikamgarh. An extensive two day search on the Red munia Estrilda amandava) or other species
(
the Chatarpur road resulted in locating a small in congregation in the sugarcane field. This is also
population in a nearby village, (name of the village confirmed by trappers who catch many species of
