A Sight Record of Mew Gull Larus Canus in Goa

2007·1.1 MB·

by  Paul Holt

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
Doubtful results and discussion contain lesser protein and other minerals than their
Thisarticleclaimsthat“amongtheplantpartseatenby corresponding values existed in teak bark. Further
Gaur, teakbarkwas the most frequent i.e 14% (see p. 240). investigations canconfirm ifthere are otherreasons forthe
It,however,isevidentfromthedata inTable 1 thatteakbark Gaurto consume teak bark.
was a supplementary for some and the main forage item by The statement “it was easy for the gaur to strip the
Gaur in Pench comprised of other plant parts (86%), bark in largequantityand toreachthephloem andcambium
specifically leaves (52.7%). layers that are rich in nutrients” (see p. 242) seems to be
The authors suggest that teak bark was advantageous illogical. It gives an impression that Gaur also removes
to Gauroverotherplantparts as it has high mineral content cortex, endodermis and phloem layers completely in order
(seeTable 4, p. 242). However, novalues forbrowsed parts to reachthe hardcambium layers,whichare found between
of other plant species have been presented to support the phloem and xylem tissues. For a layman who has some
argument. Further,theyfailtoenlightenthereaderifmineral knowledge ofdicotyledon’s stem anatomy, bark is mainly
and protein contents in the barks of other available tree composedofdeadphloemcellsandremnants(ifany) ofthe
species were analysed, and whether they were found to peridermis.
6. A SIGHT RECORD OF MEW GULLLARUS CANUS IN GOA1
PaulHolt2
'AcceptedFebruary22,2005
2Bracken Dean, Pendleton,Clitheroe, Lancashire, BB7 1PT,U.K.
Email: [email protected]
ThemouthofRiverChaporaatMorjim,Pernern,north ridibundus present, yet was significantly smaller and more
Goa(15°37'N;73°44'E)isaregularhauntforlargenumbers daintilyproportioned than all the accompanying large gulls
ofgulls. Brown-headed GullsLams brunnicephalus usually (bothHeuglin’sGullLamsheugliniandCaspianGullLams
form the bulk ofthe birds present, withvariable numbers of cachinnans).Besideamoreneatlyroundedheadandslimmer
up to six otherspecies often being encountered. legs,the MewGull alsohadaproportionatelyshorter, neater
Asthe leaderofSunbird Tours, 1 have visited Morjim bill,withamuchreducedgonys, when comparedwiththese
about30times. Duringonesuchvisit,on December 14, 1996, largerbirds.
1 found a first-winter Mew Gull Lams canas among the The mantle, back, and most ofthe scapulars were a
several thousand gulls that were roosting on the beach. The uniformblue-greycolourandwereobviouslydarkerandbluer
bird was watched for about 20 minutes, at ranges down to in hue than the upperparts on all the small gulls present.
about 40 m by Paul Hyde, six other observers and me. We Several ofthe bird’s lower scapulars were stilljuvenile and
usedavarietyofoptical equipmentbetweenus. 1 usedapair retainedthescaly,brownish,palefringedappearancetypical
of7 x 42 binoculars, and a telescope with magnification of ofthat age.
up to almost 60x. Since many ofthe other observers and I The white forehead and loral area shaded into denser
lived in Britain,the MewGull wasa species which we were streakingoverthecrown andear-covertsextendsdown onto
very familiar with, and the bird presented no identification thepalernape.Therewasadark,almostblackish spotonthe
problems. Nevertheless, I recognized its local rarity, took lores immediatelyin frontofthe eye, whilethe streaking on
somenotesandmadeahurriedfieldsketch. Ihadpreviously thelowerhindnecksweptaroundthefronttoformaweakly
seen oneotherMewGull in India,a second-winterbirdwith defined breast band oflarger chevron-shaped scaling. The
other gulls on the Ganges, at Garhmuktesar, Uttar Pradesh remainderofthebird’sunderpartswerewhitish,althoughthe
(28°48'N;78°06'E)onMarch05, 1993.This lattersighting longer, lateral undertail coverts were also marked with
has not been published otherthan as a briefreport (Robson conspicuous, rear pointing, brownish chevrons. Rump,
1993). uppertail coverts and most ofthe tail were also white, and
therewasaneat,andrathernarrow, darkbrownterminaltail
Description band(thelattercoveredapproximatelyonequarterofthetail’s
Whenperched,thebirdappearedperhaps5-10%larger total length).
than most of the neighbouring Brown-headed Gulls and Thefoldedwingswereessentiallybrown,butoncloser
noticeably bigger than all ofthe Black-headed Gulls Lams inspection, all of the smaller coverts were intricately
J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007 347
.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
patterned, each with a darker brown shaft and pale fringe. Asecond-winterontheGangesatGarhmuktesar,Uttar
Therewasanoticeablypalergreatercovertpanel,thetertials Pradesh (28° 48' N; 78° 06' E) on March 05, 1993 (Robson
werecontrastinglydarkbrownandneatlyfringedwithwhite, 1993).
this fringe being broadest around the tips ofthese feathers. A first-winter visitor seen by Per Underland at the
Thefoldedprimarieswereevendarkerbrownthanthetertials Harike LakeWildlife Sanctuary, Punjab(31° 10'N; 74° 57'E)
and appeared similar in shade to thetail band. on January 9-15, 1994 (Robson 1994).
The legs were dull pink, aswasthe bill base. The distal The RiverChaporaatMorjim, Pemem,Goa(15° 37'N;
thirdofthebillwasneatlytippedblack,andtheeyesweredark. 73° 44' E) on December 14, 1996.
Thebirdappearedindistinguishablefromthenominate An adult at Pong Wetland, Kangra district, Himachal
western Lams canus canus, which we see abundantly in Pradesh (32° 05' N; 76° 00' E) on February 06, 2004 (Jan
Britain, but on range is most likely to have been the very WillemdenBesteninlift. December2004Unpublisheddata).
similar Lams canus heinei. These two subspecies are not Elsewhereintheregion,thespeciesisconsideredtobe
safely distinguishable in the field. avagranttoNepal,whereInskippandInskipp(1985)listthree
records, all in January-Februarybetween 1979 and 1983. The
Status MewGull israre in Pakistan,where Roberts(1991)notedfive
This is perhaps onlythe fourth ofthe five sightings in records,involvingsixbirds,includingaprobablyexceptionally
India, and is currently probably the southernmost anywhere sightingas late in theseasonasApril 04, 1984.
inAsia. Kazmierczakandvan Perlo(2000)mapfourrecords
forIndia,whileGrimmettetal. (1998)mapthethreeearliest ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
sightings, and there is an additional, more recent record. In
date orderthese are:- I thank Krys Kazmierczak for helping with the
Afirst-wintervisitorontheRiverYamunaatOkhla,Delhi references and proofreading this short note and Jan Willem
(28° 34' N; 77° 17' E)onJanuary 19, 1992 (Alstrom 1994). den Besten forproviding informationon his sighting.
Alstrom, P. (1994): Common GullLams canus Linnaeusrecorded in the Indian Subcontinent. PicaPress, Sussex. Pp. 130.
India.J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 90: 509-510. Olsen, K.M. & H. Larsson (2003): Gulls ofEurope, Asia andNorth
Grimmett, R., C. Inskipp & T. Inskipp (1998): Birds ofthe Indian America. Helm,London. Pp. 65-92.
Subcontinent. ChristopherHelm, London. Pp. 504. Roberts,T.J.(1991):TheBirdsofPakistan,Vol. 1 Non-passeriformes.
Inskipp,C. &T. Inskipp(1985):AGuidetothe BirdsofNepal. 2ndedn. Oxford University Press,Oxford, pp. 375-376.
ChristopherHelm, London. Pp. 158. Robson, C. (1993): FromtheField. OrientalBirdClubBull. 17: 51
Kazmierczak,K.& B.vanPerlo(2000):AFieldGuidetotheBirdsof Robson, C. (1994): FromtheField: OrientalBirdClubBull. 20: 57.
WINTERING RANGE EXTENSION OF WHITE-THROATED BUSHCHAT
7.
SAXICOLA INSIGNISGRAY IN INDIA1
Kulojyoti Lahkar2and Mridu Paban Phukan3
'AcceptedJanuary27,2006
2JETABAN,AryaNagar,P.O. GopinathNagar,Guwahati781 016,Assam,India. Email: [email protected]
'MilanNagar,Naharkatia786610, Dibrugarhdistrict,Assam, India. Email: [email protected]
ThewinteringrangeofthegloballyVulnerableWhite- 40'E)andMerbil(27° 19'N;95° 18'E)nearNaharkatia.The
throatedBushchatSaxicolainsignisGrayinIndiawasknown White-throatedBushchathasalsobeenobservedinotherareas
tobefromHaryanatoJalpaiguri,northWestBengal(Aliand ofAssam otherthan thesetwo places.
Ripley 1987) before two records in Assam extended its In the afternoon of January 25, 2004, a male was
wintering range further east to Manas National Park (26° observed in Merbil nearNaharkatia, foraging on anAlpinia
40'-50' N; 90° 50'-91° 25' E) (Narayan and Rosalind 1997), allughas grove and calling “tsek ... tsek ... tsek’'. The bird
and laterto KazirangaNational Park (26° 30'- 45'N; 93° 5'- was observed at about4 m height fromthe water level.
40'E)(Sarmaetal. 1997). Recentobservation ofthis bird in A female bird was observed on the northern edge of
easternAssamhasfurtherextendeditswinteringeasternrange DeeparBeelBirdSanctuary(26°05'N;91°40'E)onFebruary
to Dibru-Saikhowa National Park (27° 35'-50' N; 95° 10- 02, 2003 by the first author. It was foraging among short
348 J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (3), Sep-Dec 2007