Additions to the birds of Assam: Black-necked grebe Podiceps nigricollis Brehm

2 Pages·1992·1.3 MB·

by  A Choudhury

1.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
DOES THE MANIPUR DEER CERVUS ELDI EXUDE A LEECH REPELLENT?
My father T.H. Tehsin shot a number ofsam- There are plans by conservation authorities
bar Cervus unicolor and thamin Cervus eldi in to build up the wild population ofthe endangered
north-east India in the 1930s. One aspect of his thamin by releasing captive animals. Due to long
observation2s.isparticularly interesting. Thehabitat isolation fromtheirnaturalhabitat,theleechrepel-
ofthe thamin is full of leeches. He found a large lent mechanism in captive thamin may have
number of leeches on the carcasses of sambar he atrophied. Before releasing captive animals, this
had shot, but none at all on carcasses of thamin aspect should be studied in more detail.
he had shot in the same locality. He inferred that
the thamin exudes a chemical repellent (possibly
salt) which keeps leeches at bay. August 13, 1991 RAZA TEHSIN
BROOD OF THE INDIAN FIELD MOUSE MUS BOODUGA IN AN
ABANDONED BAYA NEST
On 14 April 1990, somevillageboysbrought nest’s new location and used to emerge to forage
two baya nests from the Rakhal (Reserved forest) both in the tent and outside and would return to
adjoiningourcampsiteontheedgeofFulayvillage thebrood, where itwould remain most ofthe time.
in Chhari3.Dhandh, Kutch. One of the nests had According to Prof. I. Prakash (pers. comm.), this
an unusual opening on its anterior end close to is the first instance of Mus booduga breeding in
thepoint fromwherethenestisusually suspended. an abandoned baya nest. We again came across a
The opening was smaller than the usual nest similar nest near one ofour nettingplots. The nest
entrance, and seemed to have been neatly cut at was suspended on an Acacia nilotica tree, about
m
a later date. 2.5 from the ground and had a similar opening
The opening led to the egg chamber which leading into the egg chamber. A Mus booduga
on examination revealed a field mouse Mus emerged from the nest, and when we examined it
booduga with two young ones, whose eyes were further, a brood of three young ones was noticed.
still closed. We left the nestundisturbed and hung The above two instances indicate a hitherto un-
it up in a safe corner. On examining it again the recorded nesting behaviour of the field mouse.
next day, we found that one more younghad been
ASAD AKHTAR
littered in the night. S.
The adult mouse had by now got used to the November 22, 1990 J.K. TIWARI
ADDITIONS TO THE BIRDS OF ASSAM - BLACKNECKED GREBE
PODICEPS NIGRICOLLIS BREHM
On6January 1991,1anda fewothermembers than the tufted ducksAythya fuligula which were
ofthe Florican Society were counting birds in the nearby. Soon they came out ofthe mixed flock of
Deeper Beel Wildlife Sanctuary near Guwahati as ducks and started diving, sometimes together,
part of the A&ian Waterfowl Census. At around sometimes one after the other. On further obser-
1100 hrs about 1000 ducks were seen settling in vation, I noted the following characteristics: head
the eastern half of the beel. We immediately took (up to the eyes or just below), foreneck and back
our boat to the spot. Among the ducks, two birds blackish or deep brown. Head (from around eyes
caught my attention. to chin), breast and flanks white. The colour of
Using 20x binoculars I identified them as the parts underwater were not seen. It was a pair
grebes, but they appeared much smaller than the ofblacknecked grebesPodicepsnigricollisBrehm,
great crested grebe P. cristatus and also smaller in winter plumage, a first record for both Assam
,
246 JOURNAL, BOMBAYNATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol 89
and the whole of eastern India. The birds were to theIndiansubcontinent,withjusta fewsporadic
seen in open water and observed for about 10 records from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The
minutes. 4. sighting is therefore the new easternmost locality
According to the handbookofbirdsofIndia for this species in the subcontinent.
andPAKISTAN (Ali, S. and Ripley, S.D. 1983), the
blacknecked grebe is an uncommon winter visitor January 19, 1991 A. CHOUDHURY
RECOVERY OF A RUSSIAN-RINGED ROSY (WHITE) PELICAN
PELECANUS ONOCROTALUS LINN. IN KUTCH, GUJARAT
On 10 November 1989, Alimamad Manjothi, 08' E), former U.S.S.R. This would mean that the
Range Forester, saw a large dead bird in Medisar young bird had flown a distance of at least 2800
Rakhal (23°22' N, 69°30' E) near Niruna village km within three months 12 days.
of Bhuj talu5k.a, Kutch, Gujarat. It had a ring on The rosy pelican is partly resident and was
one leg bearing no. Moskwa KK 2398 which is first recordedbreeding in the GreatRann ofKutch
at present with Forest Division, Bhuj. The bird in 1960 (Ali, S., JBNHS 57: 414). It is mainly a
was identified by M.K. Himmatsinhji as an im- winter visitor to Pakistan (Sind, Baluchistan) and
mature white (rosy) pelicanPelecanusonocrotalus northern India from Punjab to Assam (Uttar
Linn. Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kutch, Saurashtra, north
On enquiry with the ICBP/IWRB PelicanRe- Gujarat, Andhra (Visakhapatnam) and Madras?).
search Group we found that the bird was a rosy
VARU
pelican ringed as a pullet on 29 July 1989 at the S.N.
Ily delta in the lake Balkash area (45°22' N, 74° November 8, 1990 M.B. KHATRI
6.
POND HERON ARDEOLA GRAYII (SYKES) FEEDING ON BEES
While watching birds on the morning of 30 every small bee that came within strikingdistance.
December 1990, close to Lalbagh Tank (12°57' Surprisingly, the herons were not observed cap-
N, 77°35' E) in Bangalore, we were attracted to turing the rock bees.
four Indian pond herons Ardeola grayii perched Pond herons are chiefly ground foragers and
m
on top- of a 7 tall Indian willow tree Salix areknown to feed on animal mattermainly aquatic
tetraspermaRoxb., growingcloseto thetankedge. innature(handbookofthebirdsofIndiaandPakis-
The willow tree was in full bloom and many small tan, Ali, S. and Ripley, S.D. 1987). The present
bees Trigona leviseps and rock beesApis dorsata observation ofpeculiar arborealbehaviourand diet
(Apidae : Hymenoptera) wereobservedvisitingthe of the bird is therefore of interest.
willow flowers. The pond herons, perched
precariously on the small end-branches close to J.N. PRASAD
HEMANTH
the flowers, snapped their beaks at and swallowed February 14, 1991 J.
PAINTED STORK MYCTERIA LEUCOCEPHALA (PENNANT) IN KERALA
OnavisittothePeriyarTigerReserveinKerala opposite the boat landing at Thekkady, again with
in October 1990,1observed apaintedstorkMycteria whitenecked storks. That afternoon itwas standing
leucocephala (Pennant) there on the 19th afternoon, on one of the dead trees in the reservoir, off the
feeding alongside a pair of whitenecked storks Edapalayamlanding.Onthemorningof21October
CiconiaepiscopusattheedgeofthePeriyarreservoir. it was back at the Thekkady boat landing, with a
This was not far from the Edapalayam watch tower, group of whitenecked storks. This sighting is the
by boat. I saw a solitary painted stork, presumably second record of the painted stork for Kerala.
the same individual, on three other occasions during
the next two days.
On the morningafter the first sighting, it was March 7, 1991 KUMARAN SATHASIVAM