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Correspondence 119
Kemp, A. C., & Boesman, P., 2018. Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D. A., & de Juana, E., (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (Accessed from https://www.hbw.com/node/55904 on 13 May 2018).
Poonswad, P., Tsuji, A., & Ngampongsai, C., 1986. A comparative ecological study of four sympatric hornbills (Family Bucerotidae) in Thailand. Acta XIX Congressus Internationalis Ornthologici. Vol. II: June 22–29, 1986, Ottawa, Canada. University of Ottawa Press.
Primrose, A. M., 1921. Notes on the “Habits of Anthracoceros albirostris, the Indo-Burmese Pied Hornbill, in confinement.” Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 27 (4): 950–951.
– Naman Goyal & Akanksha SaxenaWildlife Institute of India, PO Box 18 Chandrabani, Dehradun 248001,
Uttarakhand, India. E-mail: [email protected]
Noteworthy records from Virajpet, Kodagu District, Karnataka This note describes four interesting photographic records, made in February–March 2018, from the outskirts of Virajpet (12.18°N, 75.78°E), Kodagu District, Karnataka.
Lesser Florican Sypheotides indicus: A female was photographed sitting in a grassy field, and then in flight [117], on 22 February 2018. BM had seen and photographed this species in the same area six years ago, on 19 March 2012 (Monnappa 2012). There are no other reports from the district (Betts 1951, 1952; Narasimhan 2004; Narasimhan pers. comm.). The most recent record from southern Karnataka was from Bengaluru District in 2012 (Raghavendra 2012).
117. Lesser Florican.
Western Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus: A dark morph/melanistic bird, probably a male, based on smaller size, was seen on 24 February and photographed [118] on 26 and 27 February 2018. This is a colour aberration, which is occasionally reported for both sexes of this species, including juveniles (Naoroji 2006; Orta et al. 2018), and was also photographed recently in Kole Wetlands, Kerala (Nair 2018, George 2018) on 25 February—just a day after our sighting.
118. Western Marsh Harrier.
CorrespondenceOriental Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros albirostris hunts an adult Common Myna Acridotheres tristisThe Oriental Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros albirostris is a frequent visitor to the city of Dehradun (30.3165°N, 78.0322°E), Uttarakhand, which is surrounded by moist deciduous forest. In large campuses with good green cover, like the Forest Research Institute (henceforth, FRI) and the Wildlife Institute of India, a few pairs have been recorded as year-round residents.
On 01 June 2013 at 1500 hrs we saw a flock of adult Common Mynas Acridotheres tristis perching on a sandalwood Santalum album tree in the FRI campus. Shortly, a single male Oriental Pied Hornbill flew into the flock, grabbed a myna by its neck, and carried it off to another tree. It held the dead myna in its beak, tossing it and catching it, perhaps trying to align the bird properly to eat it. This method of feeding was similar to the one described by Ali & Ripley (1987) for the Malabar Pied Hornbill A. malabaricus. It struggled with the myna for sometime, but couldn’t balance it properly, probably due to the weight of the dead bird in its beak [116]. Eventually, it gave up, and dropping the myna to the ground, flew off.
116. The male Oriental Pied Hornbill with the Common Myna
The Oriental Pied Hornbill is primarily a frugivore, feeding on wild berries, figs, and drupes, apart from various insects, centipedes, millipedes, scorpions, spiders, snails, earthworms, and lizards. It is also known to occasionally hawk animals in flight, take live fish from shallow pools, and feed on reptiles, small birds and nestlings (Primrose 1921; Baker 1927; Ali & Ripley 1987; Poonswad et al. 1986; Arora 2013; Kemp & Boesman 2018). This instance of it predating on a healthy adult myna seems noteworthy.
We would like to thank all our colleagues at the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, in motivating us to write this note.
ReferencesAli, S., & Ripley, S. D., 1987. Compact handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan
together with those of Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. 2nd ed. Delhi: Oxford University Press. Pp. i–xlii, 1 l., 1–737, 52 ll.
Arora, G., 2013. Oriental Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros albirostris albirostris —Male with prey. Website URL: http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?Bird_ID=330&Bird_Image_ID=74933&p=13. [Accessed on 13 May 2017.]
Baker, E. C. S., 1927. The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Birds. 2nd ed. London: Taylor and Francis. Vol. IV of 8 vols. Pp. i–xxiv, 1–471.
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Bristled Grassbird Chaetornis striata: A pair of Grassbirds was seen on 24 February 2018, photographed [119] on 26 February, and seen on the subsequent day as well. This adds to the recent knowledge on its wintering status in Karnataka. Other records are from Dakshin Kannada (Harshith 2016; Kamath 2016; Viswanathan 2017), Mysuru (Vijayalakshmi 2016), and Belgaum (Sant 2017).
119. Bristled Grassbird.
Chestnut-eared Bunting Emberiza fucata: A male, in non-breeding plumage, was photographed [120] on 17 March 2018. The bold dark striations on the buffy (vs chestnut) flanks indicate a wintering E. f. kuatunensis of north-eastern India, rather than the western Himalayan E. f. arcuate (Rasmussen & Anderton 2012). Chestnut-eared Bunting is not known south of Rajasthan (Sangha et al. 2016) except for an isolated record from Alappuzha District, Kerala, in March 2015 (George 2015). The latter report was not considered for the state checklist of Kerala, as its provenance could not be established; buntings are traded in large numbers and it was suspected that the individual could have also been an escapee. Another possibility, considered for not including it then, was the behaviour of reverse migration, where some birds deviate 180 degrees from their normal migratory route, and land at a distant site exactly in the opposite direction. These two March records from southern India indicate a possible straggling behaviour of this species, in spring, which might bring some disoriented individuals as far as southern India. This is an addition to the list of birds of Karnataka (Praveen et al. 2016).
120. Chestnut-eared Bunting.
ReferencesBetts, F. N., 1951. The birds of Coorg. Part I. Journal of the Bombay Natural History
Society 50 (1): 20–63. Betts, F. N., 1952. The birds of Coorg. Part II. Journal of the Bombay Natural History
Society 50 (2): 224–263.
George, A., 2018. Website URL: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S43199767. [Accessed on 13 August 2018.]
George, P. J., 2015. Chestnut-eared Bunting Emberiza fucata from Ezhumaanthuruthu, Kuttanad Wetlands, Kottayam District. Malabar Trogon 13 (1): 34–35.
Harshith, J. V., 2016. Website URL: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S33278635. [Accessed on 13 August 2018.]
Kamath, R., 2016. Website URL: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S33148312. [Accessed on 13 August 2018.]
Lakshmi, V., 2015. Website URL: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S21432671. [Accessed on 13 August 2018.]
Monnappa, B., 2012. Website URL: https://www.indianaturewatch.net/displayimage.php?id=317526. [Accessed on 14 August 2018.]
Nair. A. 2018. Website URL: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S43311515. [Accessed on 13 August 2018.]
Naoroji, R., 2006. Birds of prey of the Indian Subcontinent. Reprint ed. New Delhi: Om Books International. Pp. 1–692.
Narasimhan, S. V., 2004. Feathered jewels of Coorg. 1st ed. Madikeri, India: Coorg Wildlife Society. Pp. 1–192.
Orta, J., Boesman, P., Marks, J. S., Garcia, E. F. J., & Kirwan, G. M., 2018. Western Marsh-harrier (Circus aeruginosus). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D. A., & de Juana, E., (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Website URL: https://www.hbw.com/node/53021. [Accessed on 13 August 2018.]
Praveen J., Subramanya, S., & Raj, V. M., 2016. A checklist of the birds of Karnataka. Indian BIRDS 12 (4&5): 89–118.
Raghavendra, M., 2012. Occurrence of Lesser Florican Sypheotides indica in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Indian BIRDS 7 (5): 140–142.
Rasmussen, P. C., & Anderton, J. C., 2012. Birds of South Asia: the Ripley guide: attributes and status. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C. and Barcelona: Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions. Vol. 2 of 2 vols. Pp. 1–683.
Sangha, H. S., Singh, S., & Garg, S., 2016. Chestnut-eared Bunting Emberiza fucata wintering in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Indian BIRDS 11 (1): 26–27.
Sant, N., 2017. Snapshot Sightings: Bristled Grassbird from Belgaum, Karnataka. Indian BIRDS 13 (6): 168A.
Viswanathan, A., 2017. Website URL: https://ebird.org/india/view/checklist/S40877077. [Accessed on 13 August 2018.]
– Bishan C. Monnappa & Santhosh Kumar P.Bishan C. Monnappa, PNM Hospital, Gonikoppal, Kodagu 571213,
Karnataka, India. E-mail: [email protected] Kumar P., Boregowda Complex, Virajpet 571218,
Karnataka, India. E-mail: [email protected]
Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus in Coimbatore, Tamil NaduI frequently birdwatch at Koltheri Lake (10.96°N, 76.74°E), near Semmedu village, in the Velliangiri foothills, Coimbatore District, as I live near it. On 28 November 2017, I visited the lake at 1130 hrs. It had been de-silted lately and the water level kept high, as a result of which, the numbers of waders and other waterbirds was low.
While walking along the embankment, towards the centre of the lake, I saw a rather different looking bird taking off and circling the lake before landing on the other end of the lake. In flight, I noticed that it had a white underbelly and a peculiarly shaped head, and bill; which made me I ruled out the Indian Spot-billed Duck Anas poecilorhyncha, or a wader. Luckily, after some time, the bird came close to my end of the lake and I could take its photograph, using my binoculars as a tele-lens. The images were sent to Pramod Padmanabhan at the Sálim Ali Center for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), and to other birding friends. Meanwhile I was perusing illustrations in bird books, and could guess that the mystery bird might have been a Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus. Other birders also arrived at the same conclusion and they came to the lake to take good photographs, and confirm its presence [121]. During four hours we spent observing it, we watched it rising pretty high
120 Indian BIRDS Vol. 14 No. 4 (Publ. 23 october 2018)
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