Khasi Hills Swift Apus Acuticauda: First Record from Nagaland and Manipur, North east India

2007·1.2 MB·

by  M Firoz Ahmed

:
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
dangerofcompletelossofroostinghabitatforharriers.
An initiative by the public towards conservation of
roost-sites of migrant harriers is the need of the hour. The I gratefully acknowledge Mr. Abhishek Patil,
RCF. by declaringtheroostpatch asaprotected area, should Mr. Jegannath Patil, Mr.Ashok Patil and Mr. Ganga Reddy
setanexamplefortheprivate sector. from Mumbai and Drs. Jayant Deshmukh, Ajit Deshmukh
Long-term monitoring of roosting populations of and Deepak Bhat fromAkolafortheirkindcooperation and
harriers can prove to be the best indicator ofthe changes in logistic support during my harrier roost surveys in these
ourenvironment. districts.
REFERENCES
Ali, S. & S.D. Ripley (1983): Handbook of the Birds of India and London. Pp. 597.
Pakistan.CompactEdition.OxfordUniversityPress,NewDelhi. Peterson, R.T. (1963): The Birds. Life Nature Library. Time
Pp. 737. Incorporated, New York. Pp. 192
.
Clarke,R.&V. Prakash(1997/98):Thewinteringecologyofharriers Prakash, V. (1988): The General Ecology of Raptors in Keoladeo
at Rollapadu Wildlife Sanctuary. Raptor25 43-46. National Park, Bharatpur. Pli.D. Thesis. Bombay University.
Clarke, R., V. Prakash, W.S. Clark, N. Ramesh & D. Scott(1998): Rahmani,A.R. (1988):APiedHarrierCircusmelanoleucosinnorthwest
World record count of roosting harriers Circus in Blackbuck Madhya Pradesh. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 85(2): 419-420
National Park,Velavadar,Gujarat,north-westIndia. Forktail14: Rahmani, A.R. & R. Manakadan (1986): A large roost ofharriers in
70-7 1. Andhra Pradesh, India. ./. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 83: 203-204.
Cramp,S.&K.E.L.Simmons(1980):HandbookoftheBirdsofEurope, Samant,J.S.,V.Prakash&R.Naoroji(1995):EcologyandBehaviour
theMiddleEastandNorthAfrica.TheBirdsofWesternPalearctic. ofResidentRaptorswithspecialReferencetoEndangeredSpecies.
Vol. 2. Oxford University Press, London. Pp. 722. FinalReport(1990-93).BombayNaturalHistorySociety.Pp.111.
Ganesh, T. & P. Kanniah (2000): Roost counts of harriers Circus Satheesan,S.M. & P. Rao(1990): Roostingandfeedingofhanders in
spanning seven winters in Andhra Pradesh, India. Forktail 16: Secunderabad,AndhraPradesh,./. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 87(1):
1-3. 143.
Grimmett,R.,C. Inskipp&T.Inskipp(1999): PocketGuidetothe Birds Verma,A. (2002a): WinteringecologyofMarshHarrier. Pli.D.thesis.
ofthe Indian subcontinent. Oxford University Press. Pp. 384. MumbaiUniversity,Mumbai.
Kenyon, K.N. (1947): Breeding populations ofthe Osprey in Lower Verma, A. (2002b): A large roost ofEurasian Marsh Harriers Circus
California. Condor 49: 152-158. aeruginosusatKeoladeoNationalPark,Bharatpur,India.Forktail
Newton, I. (1979): PopulationEcologyofRaptors. ButeoBooks Inc., 18: 150-151.
Vermillion. S.D. Pp. 399 . Vyas, R. (1992): Pied Harrier, Circus melanoleucos (Pennant) in
Newton, I. (1998): Population Limitation in Birds. Academic Press, southeast Rajasthan. J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 89(2): 248.
5. KHASI HILLS SWIFT APUS ACUTICAUDA: FIRST RECORD FROM
NAGALAND AND MANIPUR, NORTH-EAST INDIA'
M. FirozAhmed2 4 AbhijitDas2-5 VivoselihMeyase3
, ,
'Accepted July 10, 2004
2Aaranyak, 50, Samanwoy Path, Survey, Beltola, Guwahati 781 028, Assam, India.
'KNCTS, Khonoma Village, Kohima. Nagaland, India.
4Email: [email protected]
5Email: [email protected]
TheKhasi HillsSwiftApusacuticauda(Jerdon 1864)is observationsonitsdistribution(Inskippetat. 1999; BirdLife
a poorly known vulnerable species from Meghalaya and International2001 Ahmedetal.2001,2002;Kazmierczakpers.
,
Mizoram in north-east India, as well as from Bhutan and comm.).
Thailand(Inskippetal. 1999;Brooke 1969;Kazmierczakpers. The Khonoma Nature Conservation and Tragopan
comm.). The known distribution ofthe species is shown in Sanctuary(KNCTS)(25°39'32"N,94°02’01"E, 1900-2750m
Fig.1. above msl), a 25 sq. km primary and secondary, temperate
Very little information is available on the distribution, broadleafand subtropical evergreen forest, is located 16km
ecologyandbehaviourofthisenigmaticspecies. Baker(1927) south of Kohima city, bordering Manipur to the south. The
collected and observed this species in Cherrapunjee, averageannualrainfallisabove2000mm.Whilethemaximum
Meghalaya (erstwhile Assam), and described its taxonomy temperature reaches 30° C in summer (May-July) it drops
andbreedingindetail. Brooke(1969)dealtwiththetaxonomy below zero in winter (December- January), particularly at
m
and distribution of this species. There have been recent 2,500 abovemsl.
J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (1), Jan-Apr 2007 87
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
of observation we saw them collecting wind blown moss,
probably for nesting.
Though we did not see any breeding behaviour ofthe
Khasi Hills Swift other than that flying close to each other,
andcollectingprobablenestingmaterial, wewereconvinced
that they were in breeding. MFA has observed the breeding
behaviourofthis species in Cherrapunjee foraconsiderable
timefrom2001 to2003(Ahmedetal.2001,2002).TheKhasi
Hills Swift A. acuticauda is thus reported for the first time
from the statesofNagalandandManipurinnorth-eastIndia.
Khonoma is 235 km east of Cherrapunjee (25° 17.016' N,
91° 44.114' E), and 248 km north-east ofAizawl (23° 45' N,
92°43'E),thetwonearestknownlocalitieswherethespecies
was reported previously.
Accordingtothe locals,theremaybeothersuch Khasi
Hills Swift breeding colonies in the gorges and cliffs ofthe
Fig. 1: DistributionofApusacuticauda river Dziipfii, which originates from the Dzuku Valley, and
14..NCephaelr;ra2p.uTnyjpeee,lo5c.alBiltuy:eBMhouutnatna;i3n.aSnadmTdlruungpveZlo,ngIkndhiaar;, flowsintotheBarakriver.
6.Khonoma,Thailand;ChangMaiProvince The Angami Tribe of southern Nagaland has
traditionally been conserving forests, even within their hill
The KNCTS includes part of the Dzuku valley in slopeterracecultivation. In 1989,thevillagecouncilagreedto
Nagaland through which Dzupfii river, atributary ofBarak, protect the forest of the Khonoma watershed, an important
flowsdowncuttingdeepgorgesandcliffsinthenarrowvalley, source ofwaterforthe village and its wet paddy cultivation.
providing a suitable habitat for the Khasi Hills Swift. The They constituted an independent body called the KNCTS
subtropical and temperate broadleafforest in the Sanctuary Trust for the management of the Sanctuary. Khonoma is a
is a suitable habitat for Blyth’s Tragopan Tmgopcm blythii. traditional village and has banned hunting within the village
The call ofthe Tragopan was not uncommon in the KNCTS boundary.
duringourvisit.
On April 10, 2003, during a visit to the KNCTS, a ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
communityinitiatedconservationareain southern Nagaland
(Fig. 1, location 5) we observed a breeding colony of the We thank the Bombay Natural History Society and
KhasiHillsSwift.AttheSanctuaryFalls(25° 36' N,94° 1 E, Aaranyakforfinancialandlogisticassistance.Wearegrateful
'
2470mabovemsl),ontheborderofNagalandandManipur,a totheVillageCouncilofKhonoma,whichwaskindenoughto
seriesoftallcliffswithcrevices,provideasuitable habitatfor permit us to conduct the survey. We are grateful to Tsilie
thisthreatenedbird.Weobserved8-10individualsalongwith Sakhire,Director,KNCTSforhisalloutsupportandhospitality,
about20-25 PacificSwiftA.pacificus.TheKhasiHillsSwifts andtotheSecretary, KNCTS, KhrietoMor,PetelhulieRatsa,
wereflyingwithin 150mfromthecliff.Duringour45minutes ThomasKent, KhekihoShoheandApil fortheirhelp.
REFERENCES
Ahmed, M.F., B.P. Lahkar & B.K. Talukdar (2001): Survey ofthe Dark-rumped Swift (Apus acuticauda) and its possible suitable habitat in
Meghalaya, India. Technical Report, Aaranyak. Pp. 1-21.
Ahmed, M.F., B.P. Lahkar & B.K. Talukdar (2002): Survey ofthe Dark-rumped Swift (Apus acuticauda) and its possible suitable habitat in
Mizoram, India. Technical Report, Aaranyak. Pp. 1-10.
Baker, E.C.S. (1927): FaunaofBritish India: Birds. 8 Vols. Taylorand Francis, London. Pp. 327-328.
BirdLife International (2001): Threatened Birds ofAsia: The BirdLife International Red Data Book. BirdLife International, Cambridge. Pp.
1784-1787.
Brooke, R.K. (1969): Taxonomic and distributional notes onApusacuticauda. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club 89: 97-100.
Inskipp, C.,T. Inskjpp & R. Grimmett 1999): Birds ofBhutan. A. & C. Black/Christopher Helm, London. Pp. 192.
(
Jerdon, T.C. (1864): Birds ofIndia. George Wymann & Co., Calcutta. [Vol 1: 177, No. 99 (Nepal); Vol. 2: 870],
88 J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (1), Jan-Apr 2007