Avian & Wildlife Biology

Correspondence:

Received: January 01, 1970 | Published: ,

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Abstract

Nandankanan Wildlife Sanctuary, Odisha, India is home to a rich assemblage of faunal and floral diversity including 121 species of bird species. The present communication reports addition of two new species namely Indian grey hornbill Ocyceros birostris (Scopoli, 1786) and Rufous woodpecker Micropternus brachyurus (Vieillot, 1818) to the existing checklist of Nandankanan Wildlife Sanctuary.

Observations

Nandankanan Wildlife Sanctuary (NWS) is located between 20º23’08” to 20º24’10”N and 85º48’09” to 85º48’13” E, spreading over an area of 4.37 sq.km in the state of Odisha, Eastern India. The sanctuary enjoys a moderately hot humid climate around 30ºC with annual average rainfall of 1350mm. The vegetation is of moist mixed deciduous type.¹ There is scanty literature on birds of NWS. Kamal et al.,² recorded 53 species of birds from “Kanjia” lake of NWS. A checklist of 120 species of birds of 41 families was reported by Panda et al.,³ Mohapatra et al. added one more species i.e., Stork billed kingfisher (Pelargopsis capensis) to the checklist.⁴ The present note intends to report addition of two new species to the above checklist. The sighted birds are Indian grey hornbill Ocyceros birostris (Scopoli, 1786) (Figure 1). Rufous woodpecker Micropternus brachyurus (Vieillot, 1818) (Figure 2). Both birds were sighted and photo-documented by the author during ad libitum field survey inside the sanctuary area. Both species were identified on site and confirmed.^5,6 Indian Grey Hornbill is grey colored with white under parts, red iris & a tail with white tip and dark sub-terminal band. The bill is dark-grey to black surmounted with a casque extending upto the point of curvature in the bill. Rufous Woodpecker is a medium sized rufous colored bird with short black bill and black barring on the wing and tail. The bird lacks a crest. Male has crimson patch on ear covert which is pale buff in case of female.^5,6

Figure 1 Indian grey hornbill Ocyceros birostris at NWS.

Figure 2 Rufous woodpecker Micropternus brachyurus at NWS.

Spatiotemporal details of sightings of Indian grey hornbill and Rufous woodpecker were given in the Table 1. Indian grey hornbill has a wide distribution range including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal.⁷ In odisha the species was reported from Sundargarh,^6,8 Ganjam,^9,10 Athagarh, Cuttack,¹¹ Joda, Keonjhar districts¹² and Baisipalli Wildlife Sanctuary¹³ spreading over Nayagarh and Boudh districts of Odisha. Rufous woodpecker is having a very wide distribution range including India; Bangladesh; Bhutan; Brunei Darussalam; Cambodia; China; Indonesia; Lao People's Democratic Republic; Malaysia; Myanmar; Nepal; Singapore; Sri Lanka; Thailand; Viet Nam.¹⁴ In Odisha, the species was recorded from Mayurbhanj district¹⁵ and Kalrapat Wildlife Sanctuary, southern Odisha.¹⁶

SNo	Species	Date	Time	Latitude	Longitude
1	Indian grey hornbill	25-03-2018	04:03pm	20º23’43.99”N	85º49’17.79”E
2	Indian grey hornbill	28-04-2018	07:48am	20º23’44.11”N	85º49’21.58”E
3	Rufous woodpecker	22.05.2018	07:31am	20º24’24.3”N	85º49’12.9”E
4	Rufous woodpecker	27.05.2018	08:05am	20º24’20.5”N	85º49’10.8”E

Table 1 Spatiotemporal details of sighting of Indian grey hornbill and rufous woodpecker

Conclusion

Indian grey hornbill (Ocyceros birostris) and Rufous woodpecker (Micropternus brachyurus) were observed at Nandankanan Wildlife Sanctuary between March and May, 2018. These species were not report earlier from the sanctuary. There is a need for further study on the bird diversity of Nandankanan in general and biology of the above species in particular to enrich our knowledge and contribute towards their conservation.