Sighting of Indian Skimmer Rynchops Albicollis (Swainson) in the Purbasthali ganges Islets, Burdwan District, West Bengal

2008·1 MB·

by  Arunayan Sharma

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
on Acacia tortilis trees along the road. Two to three birds
were observedpicking foodoffthe seedpods ofthe tree.
Apparently,theSindSparrowhashadarestrictedrange
sinceitwasdiscovered,withonlycircumstantialevidenceof
even short distance migrations. It is a bird oftamarisk and
Acacia scrub with tall grass or reeds along rivers, pools or
marshes,invariablyincloseassociationwithwater(Clement
et al. 1999). Although basically non-commensal, it has
benefitedfromhumanactivity.Theextensiveirrigationschemes
undertaken after independence in 1947 have transformed the
arid plains of the Punjab and Haryana. The lengthy canals,
reservoirs and waterbodies due to seepage fromthe canals
have facilitatedthe species tocolonisenew areas.
The earliestrecords ofthe Sind Sparrow inthe Indian
Punjabarefrom the R. Sutlej side ofLudhiana, Phillaurand
Ferozepur(Whistler 1911, 1913).Ahithertolargelysedentary
and localized species was first found in Haryana in 2001.
Thespeciessuccessfullybredandwasrecordedfromtwelve
sites in eastern Haryana and north Delhi during January-
August, 2001 (Harvey and Sharma2002).
Apart from theproximity ofwater, the majorconstant
intheecologicalrequirementofSindSparrowsappearstobe
the Acacia nilotica (Harvey and Sharma 2002).
Circumstantially,theevidenceisthatthespecieshasmoved
intonorthernRajasthan recentlyalong the Rajasthan Feeder
Fig. 1: Locationsof Sind Sparrow sightingsalongthe Rajasthan Canal (Fig. 1). The canal starting from Harike, Punjab
Canal and the riverSutlej
evidently provided the known ecological requirements for
ThespecieswassightedagaininHanumangarhdistrict thespeciestoexpanditsrange.Whatotherfactorshavehelped
at Badopal lake near Suratgarh on March 01, 2002. Eight the species to colonise new areas is not known yet, but it is
males andfive females were countedin twoseparategroups clearly on the move.
REFERENCES
Clement, P.,A. Harris&J. Davis(1999): FinchesandSparrows.ChristopherHelm,London. Pp.448.
Harvey, B. & S.C. Sharma (2002): The initial colonisation of the Yamuna floodplain by the Sind Sparrow Passer pyrrhonotus.
J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 99: 35-43.
Summers-Smith,J.D. (1988):TheSparrows.T&A.D. Poyser,Calton. Pp. 194-198.
Whistler,H. (1911): The Rufous-backedSparrow (PasserpyrrhonotusBlyth).J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 20: 1151.
Whistler, H. (1913): The Rufous-backedSparrowPasserpyrrhonotaBlyth.J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 22: 392.
SIGHTING OF INDIAN SKIMMER RYNCHOPSALBICOLLIS (SWAINSON)
3.
IN THE PURBASTHALI-GANGES ISLETS, BURDWAN DISTRICT, WEST BENGAL'
Arunayan Sharma2
'AcceptedJuly30,2007
2CentreforEcologicalEngineering,NetajiSubhashRoad,InfrontofT.O.P.Malda732 101,WestBengal,India.
Email: [email protected]
The globally threatened Indian Skimmer Rynchops ofOccurrence’ of2,52,000sq.km.Ithasaglobalpopulation
albicollishas alargerange with anestimatedglobal ‘Extent estimated to be 6,000-10,000 individuals (Wetlands
92 J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 105 (1), Jan-Apr 2008
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
International 2002). This species is listed as Vulnerable Ganga.Thiswetlandcomplexisactuallyaclusterofriverine
(Birdlife International 2007) because its population is isles, ox-bow lakes and river channels. A large number of
undergoing a rapid decline as a result of widespread migratory waterbirds, especially waterfowl are foundhere.
degradation and disturbance oflowland rivers and lakes. As the Indian Skimmer is a Vulnerable species, here
TheIndianSkimmerisconfinedtoPakistan,India,Bangladesh I give recent sightrecords. On January 26, 2007 at 1220hrs
and Myanmar. A large proportion of the population of this InoticedfourIndian Skimmersrestingalongtheriverbank
species winters in Bangladesh, principally in the attheNidoyaChar. Furtherupstreamoftheriverat 1345 hrs
Padma-Meghna delta, and Myanmar. It is a rare visitor to twoindividualsweresightedhoveringabovethewaterlineat
Nepal. It was formerly widely distributed across the Indian theRajarChar.OnJanuary27,2007at 1150hrstwoindividuals
subcontinent, along themajorriversofMyanmar, and along ofthis species were sighted at the same spot at the Nidoya
the Mekong in Indo-China. In India its distribution range is Char. Onthe sameday at 1410hrs at the RajarCharagroup
mainly confined to the River Ganga. It has declined in of four individuals was sighted on the riverbank side. On
India and Pakistan (Birdlife International 2007). As perthe January 28, 2007 at 1215 hrs a group ofsix individuals was
published account, from West Bengal it has been recorded sighted at NidoyaChar. It appears thatthe NidoyaCharis a
from the Buxa Tiger Reserve (Allen et al. 1996) in the suitableforagingground forthis species, asthis specieswas
Jalpaiguri district, from the Farakka Barrage in the Malda sightedonly here everyday.
district (Jha 2006; Sharma 2001) and fromthe Chattaranjan The Purbasthali-Ganga Islets is an unexplored
Bara Dam in the Burdwan district on January 30, 2003 waterbird habitat of West Bengal. It is estimated that the
where nine individuals were recorded (Bombay Natural Purbasthali-Ganga Islets support at least 72 species of
History Society 2007). waterbirdsandarerankedasatopprioritylisttobedesignated
FromJanuary26-28,2007,1wenttoPurbasthali-Ganga as a Ramsar Site (Vijayan etal. 2004). Recently, I recorded
Islets for a survey on waterbirds. The Purbasthali-Ganga 101 species of waterbirds from the Purbasthali-Ganga
Islets situated in the Burdwan district is adjacent to Nadia Islets (Sharma 2007). It was found that this wetland area is
districtinWestBengal.ThevastriverinetractofPurbasthali suitable for Indian Skimmers also, where it may occur
is located close to Kasthashali in Chupi Char along River regularly.
Allen, D., J. Anderton & K. Kazmierczak (1996): Report on an Sharma,A. (2001): BirdsofFarakkaBarrage.Environ. 7(4&5).
ornithologicalvisittoBuxaTigerReserve,WestBengal,India, Sharma,A. (2007):WaterbirdsofPurbasthali-GangesIslets,Burdwan
February 17 toMarch 6, 1992.ForktaiI(12): 31-37. district. West Bengal. Indian Birds (Submitted). New Ornis
BirdLife International (2007): Species factsheet: Indian Skimmer Foundation, Hyderabad.
Rynchopsalbicollis.Downloadedfromhttp://www.birdlife.org. Vijayan, V.S., S.N. Prasad, L. Vijayan & S. Muralidharan (2004):
Bombay NaturalHistorySociety(2007): StatewiseAsian Waterfowl Inland Westlands of India-Conservation Priorities.
Report for 2003, 2004 and 2005. Downloaded from Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History,
http://www.bnhs.org. Coimbatore.
Jha,S.(2006):RecordsofsomerarebirdsfromFarakkaBarrage(West Wetlands International (2002): Waterbird Population Estimates -
Bengal,India)IndianBirds,Vol:2,No:4.NewOmisFoundation, Third Edition. Wetlands International Global Series 12,
Hyderabad. Wageningen,theNetherlands.
4. FIRSTRECORD OF CASPIAN GULLS LARUS CACHINNANS INTHE INDIAN SUNDERBANS DELTA1
Arunayan Sharma2andChristophZockler3
'AcceptedJuly 30,2007
VentreforEcologicalEngineering,NetajiSubhashRoad,InfrontofT.O.P.,Malda732 101,WestBengal,India.Email: [email protected]
3ArcConaEcologicalConsulting,CambridgeCB30HY,United Kingdom.Email: [email protected]
On January 24, 2005, we approached Halliday Island surveywasapartofaninternationalornithologicalexpedition
Sanctuary,locatedattheextremeendoftheIndianSunderbans looking for the globally threatened Spoon-billed Sandpiper
deltanearthe BayofBengalcoastline, which is apartofthe Eurynorhynchuspygmeus (Zockler etal. 2005). The Island
Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve, to look for waders. The issituatedsouth-eastofKolkatainSouth24 Parganasdistrict.
J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 105 (1), Jan-Apr 2008 93