Bird ringing in Point Calimere

I recently completed a yearlong Online course in Ornithology offered through Bombay Natural history society. During the course, I had the good fortune of visiting Bird migration study centre at Point Calimere and interacting Dr Balachandran, Deputy Director, BNHS. Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary (PCWBS) is a 21.47-square-kilometre (8.29 sq mi) protected area in Tamil Nadu, South India along the Palk Straight where it meets the Bay of Bengal at Point Calimere at the southeastern tip of Nagapattinam District. The sanctuary was created in 1967 for conservation of the near threatened blackbuck antelope, an endemic mammal species of India. It is famous for large congregations of waterbirds, especially greater flamingos.^[1] Bird Migration Study Centre was started in 2009 is involved in Research and Conservation of migratory birds. Bird Migration Study Centre located in Point Calimere, Tamil Nadu is a brainchild of Dr. S. Balachandran, Deputy Director, Bombay Natural History Society. The first ever bird migration project in India was started in 1950s by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS)[2].

Bird ringing or Bird banding is the attachment of small, individually numbered metal or plastic tag to the leg or wing of a wild bird to enable individual identification.[3] Bird ringing is being done primarily to study the migratory patterns of birds.  Bird ringing is happening at four locations in India at present – Point Calimere (Tamilnadu), Chilka Lake (Orissa), Uran (Mumbai, Maharastra) and Pong Dam (Himachal Pradesh) Point calimere is a permanent Ringing station in India.

Let us look at the process of Bird ringing in detail.

Bird Capturing:

Birds are captured using a variety of techniques like claptraps and mistnets. Former bird trappers work closely with BNHS scientists, deploying their traditional skills for research. Knowing where to set traps, and selecting the right method for the species being targeted, is crucial for success. Leg-hold snares work well with waders such as sandpipers and godwits. Near invisible nets called mist nets work with some other species. A large proportion of the ringed birds were recaptured during subsequent seasons, proving that birds return to the same areas every year if conditions remain favourable. This is known as Philopatry [site fidelity].

Study and inference:

Once captured, the bird is studied if it is a juvenile or adult, if it is a male or female, the condition of the brood patch, the weight of the bird, the length of the beak, length of the shank,  length of tail feathers and length of the wing. The stage of moult of adult birds is also studied. All this information is collected in a datasheet. Some observations like the high number of juveniles in a give an indication that the breeding season has been a successful one and we can expect an increase in the number in that species. In addition, observation of adults and juveniles at the same time can indicate that there are two separate independent breeding populations. (This inference can be drawn from the established fact that juveniles usually migrate first and adults follow them).

Ringing:

Finally, an aluminium ring is being attached to the bird’s leg. The ring is engraved with a unique serial number and a short message – Inform BNHS. If it is an oceanic bird, the ring is attached to the upper leg (On large waders, the flags are usually both placed on the tibia On smaller waders one flag is placed on the tibia and one on the tarsus.) and if it is a passerine bird, the ring is attached to the lower leg.

Sometimes, even resident birds and local migrants are also ringed in order to determine their local migratory patterns and the duration of their lives. The rings are very light – less than 5% of the birds weight, and are designed to have no adverse effect on the birds – indeed, the whole basis of using ringing to gain data about the birds is that ringed birds should behave in all respects in the same way as the unringed population. The birds so tagged can then be identified when they are re-trapped, or found dead, later.

Release and aftermath:

The birds are released in their respective habitats so that they are not preyed upon. If the bird is recaptured anywhere in the world, the information is passed on to BNHS so that the research team can know of the migratory route of the bird. In addition, data collected over the years can let us know the changes in migratory patterns, success of breeding colonies, how long each bird lives and so on.

The role of a bird watcher:

Now, when you see a bird, watch it carefully, you too, may find one with rings. If you do pass the information to some senior birder in your area, you could help in bird conservation by doing your bit.

What to do when you find a tagged bird in India?[4]

Anyone who spots a shorebird with a flag or other colour markings, should please forward the following information:

1.           Name and contact address of observer(s):

2.           Species:

3.           Location (with latitude and longitude if available):

4.           Kinds of band(s) (metal ring/ flag/colored ring):

5.           Color and number of color band if observed:

6.           Position of bands:

·         Right or left leg:

·         Above the joint (type of marker / color):

·         Below the joint (type of marker / color):

7.           Date and time of observation:

8.           Number of birds of the same species spotted:

9.           Photo, if available, attached:

The above information can be sent or shared at:

1. Report the observation with any images obtained to Dr. S. Balachandran, Senior Scientist bnhsbala@rediffmail.com. BNHS maintains Indian ring recovery records and is the Key Banding Scheme Contact for India.

2. Wetlands International has developed a website to promote sharing of information on colour marking and satellite tracking of waterbirds. The key contacts for birds tagged in the Asia-Pacific region can be found on http://www.wetlands.org/listmenu.aspx?ID=325826a3-a72b-4763-86df-6fee3ab161dc

3. Additional tagging programme details are found at http://wetlands.tekdi.net/colorlist.php

4. For birds tagged in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, reports can be sent to Clive Minton at mintons@ozemail.com.au in case you cannot establish country of origin from lists such as are available at http://www.shorebird-network.net/leg-flags.html

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[1] Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary. (2015, April 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:26, July 30, 2015, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Point_Calimere_Wildlife_and_Bird_Sanctuary&oldid=657074254

[2] Kumar, A. (2009, February 23). BNHS opens bird migration study centre at Point Calimere - The Times of India. Retrieved July 30, 2015, from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/BNHS-opens-bird-migration-study-centre-at-Point-Calimere/articleshow/4171970.cms

[3] Bird ringing. (2015, July 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:36, July 30, 2015, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bird_ringing&oldid=670873047

[4] K Sen, S. (2011, May 11). Birds of India: Migration and banding of birds. Retrieved July 30, 2015, from http://www.kolkatabirds.com/migration.htm

Need for revisiting Nidification of Indian birds

I am sure we all have noticed an ominous disclosure in most online birding forums: “No Nesting pictures”. This is of course a well meaning and prudent notice. Nothing can do more harm than an over enthusiastic photographer who wants to photograph nests, eggs and fledglings. He might cause unnecessary alarm of the parent bird. This might result in abandoning of the nests with eggs and chicks in them. It disrupts the breeding success of our country’s already fragile bird populations. Even if the parent birds don’t abandon the nests, his actions might lead predators to the nest which then proceeds to devour the hapless chicks and eggs. In addition, in climbing towards the nest, he might accidentally break the branch on which the nest is resting again destroying the nest and its contents.

It might be surprising to our readers that not so long ago, collecting eggs of wild birds was the part of most school higher secondary zoology curriculums! Thankfully some educationist saw the futility of this exercise and did away with it. Our passerine birds will be ever so thankful to these anonymous educationists.

Despite all this, it is more important than ever to revisit our nesting knowledge. India has about 1300 species of birds. Roughly a third of this number is resident birds and rest is cross border migrants. It is quite unfortunate that despite the work of many naturalists, ornithologists and scientists, we still know so little about the nesting behavior of our resident birds.

Most of the nesting knowledge comes from Naturalist EC Stuart Baker’s Four Volume “Nidification of the birds of Indian empire” published in 1932 [1]. To critique on his work, for lack of better words, I will paraphrase the words of another author[2] “One of the most controversial collections was that of E.C. Stuart Baker. He actually built up two collections, one of “Indian Eggs” and the other of “Cuckoo Eggs”. The first of these covered the Indian sub-continent, i.e. former British India. It was the most comprehensive egg collection ever assembled for this area. I can think of no species of the area for which the eggs are known and for which Baker did not have eggs. And there are species for which he had the only eggs known. Knowledge of the nidification of Indian sub-continent birds has hardly progressed at all since Baker’s time. The other collection, of cuckoo’s eggs, was scarcely less comprehensive. Needless to say it is based on the same area, where Baker spent most of his collecting life, but he also had eggs sent to him from other parts of the Old World - indeed everywhere where parasitic cuckoos occur. The problem with his collection is that his data are often suspect. His handwriting is difficult, but I have got used to it. He wrote with his left hand, not because he was left-handed but because he had no right arm. In his youth he was on a tiger hunt, and a leopard suddenly leaped out of the bushes and attacked him. The only thing he could think of to do was to plunge his right arm down the tiger’s throat with all the force he could muster. This action so startled the tiger that it stopped it for the few vital seconds necessary to allow the beaters to rush up and kill it. So, Baker lost his arm, but saved his life. When I began to curate the Baker collection, I discovered that in lots of clutches there were single eggs which did not seem to match the rest of the clutch. The difference was subtle but, when one had got used to it, distinctive. If you examined the writing on these eggs, sometimes one found that the date was slightly different from that on the rest of the clutch. But then again, sometimes one found the same anomaly on eggs which didn’t perceptively differ from those of the rest of the clutch. The question was always: is this a genuine clerical error, or is it an attempt to deceive? Baker lived in an era when egg collecting and the buying and selling of eggs were perfectly legal and indeed big business. Large clutches were more collectable and therefore more valuable than smaller ones. The temptation in front of dealers (and Baker “dealt” in eggs in a big way) was to add eggs that sort-of matched to existing clutches to make them into larger ones. A story is told of Baker, though it may be apocryphal. A visitor called to see him one day and the door was answered by one of his children, who said “Oh Daddy’s upstairs making up clutches”. As I said, I have no proof that this story is true, but it inevitably raised doubts as to Baker’s integrity. There were a number of suggestions over the years, by, I think, Charles Vaurie among others that the Baker collection was so unreliable that it should be destroyed. But the collection is so vast and so well written-up in the published literature that it cannot be ignored. All one could do was to go through it with a toothcomb and note carefully every little thing that seemed to be doubtful, which is exactly what I did. Future workers must take it from there”.

From this account, it must be clear to our readers the suspicious quality of Stuart baker’s work. Most of the ornithological works which followed used Stuart baker’s unreliable information without taking the effort to obtain firsthand knowledge. Salim Ali in his Book of Indian Birds chapter on “Some nests and nesting behaviour” puts his aspirations regarding our knowledge on bird nesting behaviours in the following words-“We have a great deal to learn about the breeding biology of even some of our commonest birds.  Egg collecting alone is not enough.  Some of the points on which detailed information is desirable are- (1) The share of the sexes in nest building, incubation and care of the young; (2) Periods of incubation; (3) Intervals between the laying of each egg in a clutch; (4) Nature of food and quantity fed each day to the young; (5) Behaviour of parents and young”[3]

When I visited Salim Ali bird sanctuary in Thattekad in February 2015, I had the opportunity to interact with Dr Sukadhan, the field ornithologists and one of the old timers who had opportunity to work alongside Dr Salim ali. During our inteation, he stressed upon the urgency in the need to revisit Nidification work of Indian birds considering the rapid decline in many species. Unless, we know adequately enough about the ecology of the birds and their nesting behaviour, it is difficult to come up with fruitful management plans for conservation and proliferation of our native bird species.

At the moment, as Coimbatore nature society, if we are to record nesting behaviour of our native birds, it is important to frame some guidelines and rules which will  enable us to make some meaningful observations  without disturbing the bird species. I have no doubt that we are up to the challenge and together, we can do it. We can we will.

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[1] The book is very difficult to locate. A scanned version of the four volume can be located here: https://archive.org/details/NidificationOfBirdsOfTheIndianEmpire1

https://archive.org/details/NidificationOfBirdsOfTheIndianEmpire2

https://archive.org/details/NidificationOfBirdsOfTheIndianEmpire3

https://archive.org/details/NidificationOfBirdsOfTheIndianEmpire4

[2] Walters, M.P. My life with eggs.

Zool. Med. Leiden 79-3 (1), 30-ix-2005, 5-18.— ISSN 0024-0672.

Michael Walters, Bird Group, The Natural History Museum, Akeman Street, Tring, Herts, HP23 6AP,

U.K. (e-mail: mpw@nhm.ac.uk).

http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/document/42159

[3] Dr Salim ali “ Book of Indian Birds”

My observations on the nesting of Tailor bird

I would like to share an interesting incident which had happened in my home a few months back with my birding friends. It was September 13^th 2014. My home normally has quite a lot of human traffic because my office also functions out of my home. In addition, owing to my large family both from my fathers and mothers side, we have no dearth of visitors every day. In front of my home is a Beach Cordia (Chordia Subchordata) [1]tree. That day morning, my mother had observed a peculiar looking leaf. It was looking quite diseased from a distance and my mother asked me to take a closer look.

When I approached the leaf, I could hear a hissing sound like the one made by a snake. For a moment I was alarmed and looked around to see if there was any snake nearby. It took me a moment to realize that the sound was coming from the leaf. When I took a closer look, I found that it was not a diseased leaf but an active nest of a Common Tailor bird! (Orthotomus sutorius) (Tamil: தைலக்குருவி). A dry brown leaf was attached to a healthy green leaf. Two leaves were brought together quite expertly and joined together at their margins with ‘rivets’ with punches made by the bird’s beak. Inside were two tailorbird fledglings sitting smugly in comfortable bed of fibers, feathers, down and spiderwebs.

I was so surprised to find the nest in such a high traffic area. However, the nest wouldn’t have been discovered unless a person was very observant.

I decided to leave the fledglings alone and instructed my family members not to disturb the nest or the area near the nest. It was a moment of great joy to me and my family members to find that the bird had chosen to build a nest right inside my house. While keeping a distant watch of the birds, I tried to look up some facts about the breeding information of the common tailor bird.

It is fairly easy to tell apart the male from the female during the breeding time. The breeding season is March to December peaking from June to August in India, coinciding with the wet season.[2]This matches with my nesting observation in September, which happens to be the rainy season in my area. They generally nest in large leaved plants, once a nest has been observed in a brinjal plant[3]. It is general believed that the female is responsible for making the nest but I did not have the good fortune of witnessing the nest building activity so I cannot confirm this. It is also believed that the male feeds the incubating female. This again is an unconfirmed belief. It is quite surprising that we know so little about the nesting habits of one of our most common garden birds. As I mentioned in a recent article to Coimbatore nature society, it is more important than ever to revisit the nidification (pertaining to the nest) work of Indian birds. Ornithologists and naturalists seem to agree that the Tailor bird lays about 3 eggs. I could only observe two fledglings in the nest. This was a time in which, there was a glut of caterpillars from the tree. (I haven’t yet identified the species of the butterfly) It is of no wonder the bird chose this timing for raising its chicks.

However, to my surprise, I could find no mention in literature about the hissing sound of the fledglings. It was quite remarkably similar to a snakes sound. It was perhaps a defence mechanism to thwart predators from approaching the nest.

Some three days after I had observed the fledglings for the first time, I looked at the tree and could not see the leaf. I went closer to see where the leaf went and I saw that the leaf attached to the tree had withered away and had fallen to the ground along with the chicks still in them. I don’t know for how long the chicks had being lying there crying for help. The tailor bird was also looking at it from some distance away. It was hopping about nervously with helplessness written in its face (If there is such a thing). There was absolutely no way that it could pick up the leaf and take it to a safe location considering the weight of the nest and the fledglings.

Now, from my extensive readings, I had come to an opinion that I should not step in nature’s way. However, I decided to make an exception to the rule for the sake of these hapless chicks and intervene. I picked up the nest along with the nest and with a help of my wife, a plastic chord and some scissors (No prizes for guessing which was more helpfulJ), I hung the stem of the leaf to the branch closest to the location of the original nest. I wanted to see whether the parent bird would still continue to feed its chicks. If one of M Krishnan’s essays, he had mentioned that the tailor bird would abandon its nest if it has been discovered. I wanted to check this theory out. From some distance away, I placed my camera equipped with a 150-300mm zoom lens mounted on a tripod and set it to video record mode. My DSLR camera, for some strange reason, only permits shooting 20 minute videos. I was happy to know that the parents was still making their runs to feed its chicks, but it was doing so at the rate of 5- 6 times in the observation window of 20 minutes (imposed by my camera).

I would have liked to end this essay on a happy note.  It would have been perfect to report that a new generation of tailor birds were seen hopping about in my garden. However, it was not to be. Honestly, I do not know what became of the fledglings. On the morning of September 18^th, I observed that the nest was empty. The nest was intact, but there was no sign of the fledglings. Had they learnt to fly and left it overnight? Were they caught by a predator? I like to wish for the former option. I concede that I can never know the answer to the question. All through the rainy season, I kept hoping to see another nest being built so I could make better notes, but my wait was futile. Well, tomorrow is another day.

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[1] Valke, D. (n.d.). Cordia subcordata - Beach Cordia. Retrieved August 1, 2015, from http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Beach Cordia.html

[2] Common tailorbird. (2014, November 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 00:41, August 1, 2015, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Common_tailorbird&oldid=634389278

[3] Baker, E. (1932). The nidification of birds of the Indian empire, (1st ed., Vol. 2, pp. 370-372). London: Taylor and Francis.

Intriguing mystery of the bank myna

Bank Myna (Acridotheres ginginianus), is a lively bird for those who have come across it. It’s not a bird you would come across in our parts. At present, its habitat is restricted to the Gangetic plains in the north of our country. For the casual reader, the name doesn’t mean much but a closer look reveals an intriguing mystery. The species name of the bird is based on the name given by Latham from a description by Pierre Sonnerat who described Le petit Martin de Gingi in 1782, referring to Gingee near Pondicherry in southern India[1].  The French ornithologist also goes to add that this bird occurs throughout the coramendal cost. This means that in the 17th century this must have been a common bird in our state, at least in the costal locations. However, this bird clearly is not present in our state off late. Does it mean that this bird has become locally extinct because of habitat destruction or human intervention?

The mystery doesn’t end there. In a following publication in 1863, Ornithologist Thomas C. Jerdon noted that the species did not occur in southern India[2]. It could mean two things: One, that something must have happened between 1782 and 1863 that must have caused the bird to become locally extinct.  How this could have happened? This was a pre industrial era where human intervention into the natural order was minimal. Hunting of birds was also quite restricted compared to the excesses in the 19th century and immediately after Independence. Ofcourse, One cannot rule out the possibility of a natural cause like disease or food shortage casuing the bird population to decline or causing them to migrate.

Of course, it is also entirely likely that the original description of Pierre Sonnerat could be inaccurate. Pierre Sonnerat is credited with the first scientific description of our Grey jungle fowl to the world. He is also credited with the first scientific description of the Lychee tree. He is the person who misinterpreted the call of a helpful Malagasy guide who had spotted a lemur and shouted "indri!" ("look!" in Malagasy). Sonnerat took this to be the animal's name, and it is still known as an Indri (Indri indri) today (the actual Malagasy name is babakoto). The birds Dacelo novaeguineae and Pygoscelis papua[3], neither of which are found in New Guinea (Papua), were also misnamed due to Sonnerat. Hence it appears that it is quite possible that Pierre Sonnerat might have made a mistake in describing this bird in the first place.

Futher complicating matters is an isolated sighting of this bird in 1914 at Vandalur near madras[4]. Many observations in the recent years are also pointing to the fact that the bird is extending its range down south[5][6].

With all these complex issues, it is difficult to come to a satisfactory conclusion on this bird. It remains an intriguing mystery. However, there is no doubt that it’s a reason to rejoice if the bird should extend its range and make its home in our state. Lets keep our eyes out during the next birding trip!

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[1] Sonnerat, Pierre (1782). Voyage aux Indes Orientales et la Chine. Volume 2. p. 194

[2] Jerdon TC (1863). The birds of India. Volume 2. Part 1. Military Orphan Press, Calcutta. pp. 326–327.

[3] In his 1776 book on New Guinea, Pierre Sonnerat claimed to have discovered three species of penguin on the island, so this species was named accordingly. In fact Sonnerat had stolen the skins from the collection of fellow naturalist Philippe Commerson. There have never been penguins in New Guinea, and Sonnerat never travelled as far east as New Guinea.

[4] Raj,B Sundara (1914). "The occurrence of the Bank Myna (Acridotheres ginginianus) near Madras". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 23 (1): 155

[5] Taher, Humayun; R. Sreekar; Sivaji Anguru & Siraj A. Taher (2009). "Range extension of Bank Myna Acridotheres ginginianus in southern India with new records from Andhra Pradesh". Indian Birds 5 (5).

[6] Khanna,L (1976). "Bank Mynas Acridotheres ginginianus near Poona". Newsletter for Birdwatchers 16 (5): 12–13