Occurrence of the Grey Bushchat Saxicola Ferrea (Gray) Near Nanjanagud, Mysore District, Karnataka

2004·0.56 MB·

by  S Thejaswi

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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
alighting on the ground after espying some insect, the bird planted vegetation and thick cover of grass. Stoliczka’s
wouldpuffoutitsbreastandstartswayingitfromonesideto BushchatperchedonthebaretwigsofP. chilensisrepeatedly,
theotherandthenpickupan itemoffood. Aftermovingona but scrupulously avoided entering the area ofthick ground
little,theperformancewouldberepeatedonceortwice. This cover. After every foray for food, whether aerial or on the
behaviourwasperformed byboth sexes. Theyalso launched ground, these birds generallyreturnedtothe same perch. As
aerialsalliesonce inawhiletocatchsomeflyinginsectandat describedbyAliandRipley(1973),thehabitsofthisBushchat
timesdartedverticallyupwards. Thepuffingoutofthebreast aresimilartotheothermembersofthegenus. However,owing
feathers and the swaying motion on the ground give the to itsextremerarity, ithasperhapsnotbeen possibletostudy
appearanceofathreatdisplay,but it ismore likelythatthis is all aspects in this regard. The very fact that the species was
aresorttoflushouttheinsectsfromtheirsparsegrassground observed inKutchaftera lapseofoveracenturyandaquarter
cover.Thehabitatpreferredbythisspeciesconsistsofground proves its rarity.
sparsely covered by short grass and dotted about by stunted
bushes ofProsopis chilensis (=juliflora), Ziziphus sp. etc. March20,2002 M.K. HlMMATSfNHJI
To the north of the area under observation was a closely JubileeGround, Bhuj,
planted rowofP. chilensis,beyondwhichweresome closely Kutch,Gujarat, India.
REFERENCES
Ali, Salim& S.D. Ripley(1973): Handbookofthe BirdsofIndiaand Roberts, T.J. (1992): The Birds of Pakistan. Vol. 2, pp. 131-132.
Pakistan, Vol. 9, pp. 23-24. Oxford University Press, Bombay. Oxford University Press, Karachi.
22. OCCURRENCE OF THE GREY BUSHCHAT SAXICOLA FERREA (GRAY)
NEAR NANJANAGUD, MYSORE DISTRICT, KARNATAKA
A male Saxicola ferrea was observed close to The Grey Bushchat is “a common resident, subject to
Narasambudhi lake, a large irrigation tankwith a 2000 acre altitudinal and short-range seasonal movements. The
waterspreadnearNanjanagudtown(12°5'N,76°43'E;20km Himalayas from NWFP to Arunachal Pradesh, thence south
southofMysorecity), onDecember9,2001 throughNagaland (?), Manipur, Meghalayaand Mizoram...
The bird had a striking white supercilium and a black Winters from.... into the Gangetic plain southto the Yamuna
‘mask’ around the eyes, ears and cheeks, whitish throat and riverandthroughoutAssamandBangladesh”(Ali and Ripley
a light grey wash on the underparts. Crown and back were a 1987). It has been subsequently recorded from the Kanha
very dark grey, appearing almost black from a distance, but National Park (Newton et al. 1986), Bandhavgarh National
with faint brownish-white vertical striations at close range. Park(Tyabji 1990)andKareraBustardSanctuary,allinMadhya
The tail was black with faintly visible white edges. A white Pradesh, and Bharatpur in Rajasthan (Kannan 1993). These
shoulder patch was distinct in flight, scarcely visible when representthesouthernmostrecordedextensionofthisspecies.
alight. Billandlegswereblackish. Therecord fromNanjanagud is thefirstfrom southern India.
Thebirdwasobservedat0745hrs,huntingfromaperch The intensecoldwaveinnorthernIndiaatthetimeofsighting
on an Acacia leucophloeatree beside the outlet canal ofthe might have been the cause for the flight ofthe bird so far
lake, amid open area and close to a coconut grove. The south, where it is usually not found.
surrounding area was open, partially irrigated land. The
behaviour was characteristic ofbushchats, but it was twice March 19,2002 S.THEJASWI1
noted, unusually, to venture intothetreecrown and feed like A.SH1VAPRAKASH
awarbler.Thisbehaviourisatypicalofbushchatsandperhaps Mysore Amateur Naturalists,
not common in this species, but we have observed it on two 227,3rdMain,A-1 Block,Vijayanagar3rdStage,
separate occasions previously in the Pied BushchatSaxicola Mysore570017, Karnataka, India.
caprata. E-mail:[email protected]
REFERENCES
Ali, S. & S.D. Ripley (1987): A Compact Handbook of the Newton, Paul N., Stanley Breeden & Guy J. Norman (1986): The
Birds of India and Pakistan. Oxford University Press, birdsofKanhaTigerReserve,MadhyaPradesh,India.J Bombay
Bombay. Nat. Hist. Soc. 83(3): 477-498.
Kannan, R. (1993): Dark Grey Bushchat, Saxicolaferrea (Gray) in Tyabji,H.N.(1990): RecordofsomebirdsfromBandhavgarhNational
RajasthanandMadhyaPradesh.J. BombayNat.Hist.Soc. 90(1): Park previously unrecorded in this area. Newsletterfor
98. Birdwatchers 30(5-6): 12.
324 J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 101 (2), May-Aug 2004