Sighting of Black throated Thrush Turdus Ruficollis Atrogularis in the Desert National Park, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan

2008·1.2 MB·

by  Harkirat Singh Sangha

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
October 1991 by Balachandran and Alagar Rajan (1994). from the mainland (Point Calimere and Parambikulam)
Basedontheirearlierbirdringingexperiences Balachandran specimens. The fore-crown of the individual caught at
andAlagarRajan(1994)alsosuggestedthatsomeindividuals Andamans was paler than the individuals caught at
of this species had been mistaken for the Lanins cristatus ParambikulamandPointCalimere. The palerfore-crownof
cristatus on the assumption that the plumage difference the bird handled at Andamans suggests that the wintering
(greyish whiteheadforlucionensisandbrown forcristatus) population of the Andamans may be from a different
was due to age. On January 22, 1999, two individuals of geographical population.
L.c. lucionensis were caught and ringed at Parambikulam
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Wildlife Sanctuary in the Western Ghats ofKerala. Though
thisspecieswasrecordedin 1876by Hume(1876)inKerala,
it is not listed in the birds of kerala by Ali (1969). Hence, ThestudywascarriedoutaspartoftheBombayNatural
thisrecordisnotonlythesecondauthenticrecordforKerala, HistorySociety’s(BNHS)BirdBandersTrainingProgramme,
butfromtheWesternGhatstoo. Hume(1876)statedthatthe supported by theU.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, underagrant
plumage characters of the only specimen collected from from PL-480 funds No.INT/FWS-14 released through
KeraladidnotagreewiththespecimensobtainedfromChina Department of Environment, Wildlife and Forests,
and the Andamans. The Philippine Shrikes caught at GovernmentofIndia. We wish toexpressoursincerethanks
ParambikulammatchedwiththebirdsringedatPointCalimere. to Mr. J.C. Daniel, the Honorary Secretary, BNHS, and the
However, the Philippine Shrikes caught and observed at Principal Investigator of this project, for his guidance and
Andamans in February 2000, varied in plumage characters forgoing through this manuscript.
REFERENCES
Ali, S. (1969): BirdsofKerala. Oxford Llniversity Press, New Delhi. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 91(1)'. 142-143.
Au, S. & S.D. Ripley (1983): Handbook of (he Birds of India and Hume,A.O. (1876): Afirst list ofthe birds ofTravancore Hills. Stray
Pakistan (Compact edition). Oxford University Press, New Feathers4: 393.
Delhi. Vol. 5: pp. 100. Mohapatra, K.K. & V. Santharam (1992): Occurrence of Philippine
Balachandran,S.&S.AlagarRajan(1994):PhilippineShrikeLanins Shrike Lanins cristatus lucionensis Linn, in coastal Andhra
cristatus lucionensis a regular winter visitor to south India. Pradesh. J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 89(2): 255.
SIGHTING OF BLACK-THROATED THRUSH TURDUS RUFICOLLIS ATROGULARIS
11 .
IN THE DESERT NATIONAL PARK, JAISALMER, RAJASTHAN1
HarkiratSingh Sangha2
'AcceptedJuly07,2008
:B-27, Gautam Marg, Hanuman Nagar, Jaipur 302 021, Rajasthan, India. Email: [email protected]
Atabout 1 150hrsonDecember03,2006,whilereturning hasoccurredfairlyoftensouthtoJhang,Ludhiana, Bharatpur
from the Sudasri, Desert National Park to Jaisalmer, after and Gorakhpur and has been recorded as far south as
birdwatching in the morning, John Penhallurick and Anantpur. Andhra Pradesh and once in Jakhau, Kutch (Ali
I saw a Black-throated Thrush Turdus ruficollis atrogularis andRipley 1998).
foragingclosetotheroadnearSamvillage.Weobservedand Individual birds are occasionally found at great
photographedthebirdforaboutfive-sixminutes.Fortunately, distances from their range. The appearance is invariably
the bird was not shy and allowed close approach to be well correlated with weather, as some individuals wander,
observed.ThebirdwasidentifiedasafirstwintermaleBlack- especially during hard winter weather (Elkins 1998). The
throatedThrush. sighting near Sam in Desert National Park represents the
Black-throatedThrushoccursinwinteracrossPakistan first record from the Thar Desert ofRajasthan. Though the
from the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) through sighting of the species near Sam is far to the south of its
Baluchistan to the Makran Coast, Sind; the Himalayas and normalwinterrange,itisnotsurprising.Thespeciesisknown
adjacent plains from the Indus Valley and Gilgit eastward for straggling (Grimmett et at. 1998), and has occurred as
through Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh, vagrant to many parts ofthe Western Palearctic andMiddle
Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Bangladesh. Its extension Eastintheautumnandearlywinter(ClementandHathaway
intotheplainsisgovernedbywinterconditions.Thespecies 2000).
J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 105 (2), May-Aug 2008 221
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
REFERENCES
Ali, S. & S.D. Ripley (1998): Handbookofthe Birds ofIndia and Pakistan. Vol. 9. Secondedn. Oxford University Press, Delhi. Pp. 130-132.
Clement, P. & R. Hathaway (2000): Thrushes. Christopher Helm, London. Pp. 377-381.
Elkins, N. (1998): Weather and Bird Behaviour. Second Edition. T & AD Poyser, London. Pp. 155-162.
Grimmett, R„C. Inskipp&T. Inskipp(1998): Birdsofthe IndianSubcontinent.ChristopherHelm. Pp. 628-629.
12. 'NEW BIRD DESCRIPTIONS WITHOUT PROPER VOUCHER SPECIMENS’:
FURTHER TO KANNAN'
N.J. Collar2
'AcceptedJune 17, 2008
:BirdLife International,WellbrookCourt,Girton Road,CambridgeCB30NA,U.K. Email: [email protected]
Kannan's (2007) review ofthe issues surrounding the particular, but also jizz). In any case the point about
description of the Bugun Liocichla Liocichla bugunorum photographsistheirgreatvalueassupporting—evidence,while
(Athreya 2006) is wide-ranging, fair-minded and good- the point about science is its repeatability within weeks
natured, but in missing a few points and dwelling perhaps ofthe announcement ofthe new species, birdwatchers and
too long on others, it requires a little furtherperspective. biologists were making their way to Eaglenest to see it for
1havedeliberatelyputthemaintitleofmycommentary themselves. Athreya’s use of photographs was essentially
here in inverted commas in order to indicate that it is supplementary (although of course they supplied the most
Kannan’s, not mine. This is because I do not share the view convincingtestimonyofall),anditisworthnotingthatmany
that the Bugun Liocichla was described without a proper modern descriptions ofnew bird species carry photographs
voucher specimen. This is the first crucial point, which in this support role.
Kannan at first admits, but then spends much time However, there is a crucial issue here, untreated by
questioning. If it is the case that ‘an animal or a part of an KannanorindeedbyAthreya(althoughImentionedittothe
animal' isrequiredtoserveasthetypeofanewspeciesunder latter in our correspondence), which is that recently a new
the rules of the International Commission on Zoological species of animal was described, in no less ajournal than
Nomenclature(ICZN),thenthefeathers,includingdiagnostic Science usingonly photographs asthe type material (Jones
,
ones from the tail, provided by Athreya must be allowed to etal. 2005). It would be interesting to know how Kannan’s
constitute a ‘proper voucher specimen’. Further debate on museum ornithologists have reacted to this development,
the issue is irrelevant: Athreyabroke norules, and Kannan’s rendered all the more surprising by its support by
view thatfeathersareoflimitedvalue,andhiscommentthat representatives ofICZN (Polaszek etal. 2005). To me, this
‘Withoutapropervoucherspecimen,thetaxonomicstatusof seems a far more problematic circumstance: digital
the newly reported Liocichla will always be open to doubt', photographscan easilybe altered, and Icannotseehow this
areboth, Ithink,offthemark.Thesamecanbesaidofall the does notexpose taxonomy to fraud. Nevertheless, the facts
criticisms and complaints that followed in the wake of the arethat(1)since2005 thenotionthatphotographsalonecan
description of Laniarius literatus for which feathers and form the basis ofnew species descriptions appears to have
,
blood vouchsafed the existence of the animal from which received strong (albeit not yet formal) endorsement from
they came (and which, incidentally, have now been ICZN,and(2)photographsofAthreya’sundescribedliocichla
successfully used to demonstrate that liberatus is a colour were circulatingon the internet in that yearandearly 2006.
morph: Nguembocketal. 2008).Arecentexchange (Dubois This meant that anyone could have downloaded those
andNemesio2007;Donegan 2008)coverstheseissuesinfar photographs and published what in some quarters would
greaterdetail, but reaches the same conclusion. have been considered a valid description prior to Athreya,
Kannanpointsoutthatphotographscanbeinsufficient thediscovererandthereforerightfuldescriberofthespecies.
to reflect all true characters, yielding a fraction of what is Apart from his concern over the impact that collecting a
gleanable from a specimen, and can even be doctored or specimen might have had, Athreya himself
deteriorate. It is, however, worth remembering that gave three reasons for proceeding with his description in
photographs can sometimes tell us taxonomically useful the way he did, all relating to conservation; to them may
things that museum skins cannot, unless the collector has be added this point, that someone else could easily have
noticed and documented them (eye and bare-part colour in trumped him, particularly as the time needed for
222 J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 105 (2), May-Aug 2008