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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES THE EASTERN IMPERIAL EAGLE AQUILA HELIACA NEAR MYSORE, SOUTHERN INDIA 8. The Eastern Imperial Eagle Aquila heliaca Savigny coverts of spotted eagles. The take-off and initial flight 1809, listed as a globally threatened (Vulnerable) species appeared to be sluggish and laboured, but once soaring, the (BirdLife International 2001), is considered to be a “rare bird gained an effortless manner. resident,butmainlywintervisitor”towesternPakistan,North The bird was observed again atthe Lingambudhi lake andNorthwestIndiauptoGujaratinthesouth(AliandRipley (12° 16' N, 76° 37' E) on the outskirts of Mysore city on 1987). IthasbeenrecordedregularlyinwinterfromNepaland February25, 2001 at 1010 hrs andcould have possibly been occasionally from West Bengal andAssam in eastern India, the same individual. The diagnostic scapular patches were BangladeshandBhutan(BirdLife International2001). There visible,confirmingitsidentity. Boththesitesare lakessituated are a few published records ofthe bird from the central and in dry lands, with irrigation being limited to the ayacut of southern parts ofthe peninsula - an adult was observed at small irrigation tanks that dot the countryside. Nandur-MadhmeshwarintheNashikdistrictofMaharashtra These sightings represent the second report ofthe bird in 1983 (Goenkaetal. 1985)andoneattheVedanthangal Bird from south India. Although Ali and Ripley (1987) state that SanctuaryinTamilNadu in 1991 (Anon. 1991 ). “...how much further east or south uncertain due to records An adult bird ofthis species was observed by one of beingvitiatedbyconfusioninfield identifications”,itispossible theauthors(Shivaprakash.A)atBilikere(12° 19'N,76°27E), to separate the Aquila eagles in field with practice, but it is a moderate-sized irrigation tank situated 27 km west of always prudent to exercise caution, as contended by Ali and Mysorecity(12° 18'N, 76°33'E),ontheMysore-Mangalore Ripley, in case of uncertainties. The advent ofnewer, better highway,onJanuary28,2001 at 1530hrs.Thebirdwasinitially illustratedfieldguideswithsufficientgoodpointerstoplumage observedon a‘Jaali’ {Acacianilotica)treeonthe lake shore details, flight patterns, adult andjuvenile phases has certainly and identified by the white scapular ‘patches’ on the large, helpedimprove identification. dark brown body and the pale, buffhead and nape. When it took off, fully feathered tarsi and light greyish-brown tail July24,2002 S. THEJASWI 1 withaterminalbandwerevisible. Wingswereheldflatwhen A. SHIVAPRAKASH thebirdbegantosoar,muchmoresothantheGreaterSpotted 639, ‘SibiaHouse’, 16thCross, Eagle Aquila clanga, which is usually seen at the lake and ‘B’Block,VijayanagarIIIStage, was present at the time ofthis sighting. In flight, underside Mysore570017, Karnataka, India. was a dark brown body without the white/buff under-tail 1Emai1:dumaketu@,rediffmai1.com REFERENCES Ali,S.&S.D. Ripley(1987): CompactHandbookoftheBirdsoflndia International Red Data Book. Vol. 1. (Eds: Collar, N.J., A.V. andPakistantogetherwiththoseofBangladesh,Nepal, Bhutan Andreev, S. Chan, N.J. Crosby, S. Subramanya& J.A. Tobias). and Sri Lanka. Second edition. Oxford University Press, New BirdLifeInternational, Cambridge, UK. Delhi. Goenka, Debi, Sunjoy Monga & Kiran Srjvastava (1985): Imperial Anon. (1991): Recent reports: India. OBCBulletin 13: 49-50. Eagle, Aquila heliaca Savigny, in Maharashtra - a southward Birdlife International (2001): Imperial Eagle Aquila heliaca. extension of its wintering range. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. Pp. 712-735. In: Threatened Birds ofAsia: The BirdLife 82(2): 406. STATUS OF THE GREATER SPOTTED EAGLE AQUILA CLANGA PALLAS 9. IN THE WETLANDS OF THE KAVERI BASIN OF KARNATAKA The GreaterSpotted EagleAquilaclanga is aglobally is based on the results of a survey in the wetlands of the threatenedspecies,categorizedas“Vulnerable”(Collaretal. Kaveri basin in southern Karnataka state. 1994,BirdLifeInternational2001). Previouslydescribedasa The Kaveri Basin: Itcovers an area of81,155 sq. km rare winter visitortothe southern peninsula (Ali and Ripley overthethreesouthern statesofKarnataka, KeralaandTamil 1987), the status ofthe species has undergone a change in Nadu,ofwhich34,272sq. km lies inthedistrictsofBangalore, thelightofnewreports(Perennou 1989,Santharam 1999)and Chamarajanagar, Kodagu(Coorg),Hassan, Mandya, Mysore can now probably be regarded as a localized winter visitor, andTumkurin southern Karnataka(Dikshitetal. 1993). The not uncommon in parts, based on new evidence (BirdLife basin is drained by the Kaveri river and its tributaries, International2001,George 1994,Grimmettcra/. 1998,Perennou significant among which are Kapila (Kabini), Hemavathi, 1989,Santharam 1999,AasheeshPittiepers. comm ).Thisnote Lakshmanathirtha, Shimsha, Harangi, Suvarnavathi and J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 101 (3), Sep-Dec 2004 447