Wildbuzz | A golden surprise at dawn
Her diligence, that led to the discovery of an outlier avian, was bound to invite wordplay on an obvious idiom: the early bird gets the rare bird (worm)!
Quite a few notables from the tricity’s ‘bastion of babudom’ enjoy a walk at the Sukhna lake in the morning hours. A handful blend exercise with birding. On Monday morning, a ‘golden surprise’ came the way of Dr Suman Singh, director, health services and family welfare, UT Chandigarh, before she proceeded to dispose of files pending over the weekend.
The good doc is not just a birder but a naturalist who seeks delight in “flowers...bees butterflies...gardening...the entire ecosystem...eco-preservation...in the entirety of things”. Her diligence, that led to the discovery of an outlier avian, was bound to invite wordplay on an obvious idiom: the early bird gets the rare bird (worm)!
“Over the past weeks, my morning walks acquired a new routine: daily birding beyond Sukhna’s regulator-end. To my surprise and exuberance, I glimpsed a green bird atop an acacia tree. This bird was preening and undistracted by other avians. It seemed larger than a green bee-eater and was different from the regular birds of my morning rambles. A view with binoculars then, and backed by a subsequent search using eBird and the Merlin Bird ID App, established it as a Golden-fronted leafbird (Chloropsis aurifrons aurifrons),” Singh told this writer.
By this time, she was joined by another birder, Lalit Bansal, an SDE with the UT engineering department, whose revelations extend to securing the first record of the Barnacle goose for South Asia (Mote Majra, January 27, 2024)! The area to the east of Sukhna and south of Saketri (where the leafbird was photographed Monday by Singh and Bansal) is rich in biodiversity encompassing scrubland, trees, cultivation and fallow fields. But it has come under urbanisation by the Haryana government. The leafbird discovery is perforce to be tempered with a sense of impending doom over this accessible birding haven.
{{/usCountry}}By this time, she was joined by another birder, Lalit Bansal, an SDE with the UT engineering department, whose revelations extend to securing the first record of the Barnacle goose for South Asia (Mote Majra, January 27, 2024)! The area to the east of Sukhna and south of Saketri (where the leafbird was photographed Monday by Singh and Bansal) is rich in biodiversity encompassing scrubland, trees, cultivation and fallow fields. But it has come under urbanisation by the Haryana government. The leafbird discovery is perforce to be tempered with a sense of impending doom over this accessible birding haven.
{{/usCountry}}Though a grim augury is aforesaid, the leafbird find is in itself notable. “It constitutes the first photographic record of the species for the Inter-State Capital Region (ISCR) encompassing an area within a radius of 50 km from the heart of Chandigarh. There is a claim of this species seen and heard from Nepli (Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary) on July 11, 2019, but it is not backed by photographic proof. There are other mentions of leafbirds --- one from Ropar and in the ‘Checklist of the birds of Chandigarh’, 2004, compiled by Suresh C Sharma and the late RD Jakati --- but no details or photographs are available to authenticate,” professor Gurpartap Singh told this writer.
“The presence of this species is, otherwise, well-established around Nahan and in Simbalbara (HP), adjoining Kalesar (Haryana), and towards the east, and parts of central and southern India. In all probability, the leafbird discovered near Sukhna is a specimen that moved to a lower altitude after the end of peak breeding season (July/August) in the more northern areas. As a known short-distance vertical migrant, this species may be found in the foothills and contiguous jungle, as in Chandigarh,’’ he added.
The leafbird is known as ‘Harewa’ (green) in Hindi. The plumage renders it invisible in the leaves where it hunts insects and spiders, and relishes fruits and nectar. Its songs wafting from a leafy purdah attract poetic intrigue. To enlist Wordsworth: “Seen less, heard more, no bird but an invisible thing, a voice, a mystery.”
Some descriptions compiled of the leafbird: “Hunts industriously...Prettily fans the tail when feeding...At one moment it will hover like a sunbird in front of a flower, at another it clambers along the lower surface of a branch and sometimes will swing round and round in somersaults...or around a twig like a trapeze performer...An accomplished mimic, it obscures its own presence by imitation of the calls of other birds..and can confuse accomplished birders! The various impersonations follow without a break and convey the impression that a veritable avian League of Nations is in plenary session! Calls of migratory birds are often intriguing when they are reproduced long after the originals have left the locality by the ingenious leafbird, evidencing its retentive memory.”
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