A flock of one-legged greenshanks Tringa nebularia

1 Pages·1991·0.59 MB·

by  Ranjit Manakadan

452 JOURNAL, BOMBAYNATURALHIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 88
fishkillsoccur. Ondayswhenwaterispumpedin,weak weak or dying fish,
fish swim t1o4.wards the fresh sea water at the pumping
station. Greenshanks utilise this opportunity and catch September 19, 1989 RANJIT MANAKADAN
A FLOCK OF ONE-LEGGED GREENSHANKS TRINGA NEBULARIA
On 20 February 1989, I sighted a flock of 15 formflocksofmorethan 15-20(handbookofthebirds
greenshanksTringa nebularia in one ofthe condensers ofINDIAANDPAKISTAN, Ali, S. andRipley, S.D. 1983). I
&
ofthe Mettur Chemical Industrial Corporation near presume the flocking of one-legged birds was not
the Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary in Thanjavur incidental but forced grouping of handicapped birds
dist1r5i.ct, Tamil Nadu. Ofthese 15 birds, nine had only together for migration back to their wintering grounds
one leg each. What could be the reason for the as they were not able to keep up with healthy birds.
congregation ofone-legged greenshanks?
The greenshank is usually solitary or in small
MANAKADAN
parties of 3-5. However during migration they may September 19, 1989 RANJIT
RIVER TERN STERNA AURANTIA GRAY SNATCHING A FISH FROM PARIAH
KITE MILVUS MIGRANS (BODDAERT) IN FLIGHT
On 3 November 1989, I visited Tighra dam in repeatedly attacked the claws of the kite with its bill.
Gwalior districtofMadhyaPradesh in connectionwith The kite tried to defend itselfby turning, twisting and
16.
my month-wise survey of birds. I saw a pariah kite increasing speed. But after some efforts the tern
Milvus migrans flying over the water with a fish in its succeeded in snatching the fish. While snatching the
claws, coming towards me from across the dam. Ihad fish, the tem seemed tobe stationary forasecond orso.
noway ofknowingwhetherthekitehadactuallycaught The tem devoured the fish before landing on the
a live fish, or hadjust picked up a dead one. ground.
A
river tern Sterna aurantia that was trying to
catch prey in the water, suddenly attacked the kite and
tried to ‘snatch’ the fish from its claws. The tern September 18, 1989 RAJIV SAXENA
RANGE EXTENSION OF ASHY WOOD PIGEON
COLUMBA PULCHRICOLLIS BLYTH
AHimalayan forest bird, the ashy wood pigeon WildlifeSanctuaryon3May 1988.Itwasspottedonthe
Columba pulchricollis occurs between c. 1200 and road in a mixed, fairly dense forest (26°43’N, 91°E) of
m
3200 from west-central Nepal through Sikkim, tropical semi-evergreen type, about halfway between
Bhutan,ArunachalPradeshandprobablyNagalandand Basbari and Mothanguri. The altitude ofthe sighting
m m
Mizoram. Like other fruit pigeons it is subject to was less than 100 (c. 80 according to local forest
considerablewanderingdependingon fruitsupply.Itis department authorities). This is perhaps the first sight
recorded locally in the Bengal duars and Arunachal recordofthispigeon fromthe foothills inAssambelow
m
foothills as low as 100-150 (handbookofthebirds BhutanHimalayas, andthattoo atsuch alowelevation.
of India and Pakistan, Compact edition, Ali, S. and
Ripley, SD. 1983). However, there is no record from
GOUTAM NARAYAN
the foothills in Assam.
One individual ofthis species was seen in Manas August 30, 1989 LIMA ROSALIND