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Table 4. Records in Vertnet*
S. No Location Number of specimens
1 Mawphlang 38
2 Cherrapunjee 3
3 Shillong 5
4 Pynursia 8
5 Laitlyngot 11
6 Nangkram 2
7 Unknown locality in W. Khasi Hills. 4
8 Probably in W. Khasi Hills* 12
* Specimens from NHM, London in Vertnet have no district level locality details.
From the above data, it is clear that this species has been
observed all year round, and therefore is a resident, only in the
Khasi Hills. Hence, the present observation is the first evidence
of its presence in the Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya. Although the
nest and chicks were not observed, the behaviour of the birds
strongly suggested that they were feeding chicks. The location
described in this article is about 40–50 km from the nearest
previously described location, which significantly increases the
Extent of Occurrence (EoO) of this species. It is possible that this
new information may lead to a modification in the IUCN status of
this species. More observations from the Jaintia Hills are required
to understand the true extent of its distribution.
Acknowledgments
We wish to acknowledge with thanks permission given to RG for visiting the forest by
Mrs Lato, DFO, Jaintia Hills. We also thank Pelevizo Meyase for accompanying him and
the residents of Chyrmang village for local guidance. We also wish to acknowledge
the provision of equipment (camera, GPS) by the Makunda Nature Club run by the
Makunda Christian Leprosy and General Hospital.
References
Ali, S., & Ripley, S. D., 1987. Compact handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan
together with those of Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. 2nd ed. Delhi:
Oxford University Press. Pp. i–xlii, 1 l., 1–737, 52 ll.
BirdLife International. 2017. Spelaeornis longicaudatus (amended version
of 2016 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017:
e.T22716137A110519478. Website URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-1.
RLTS.T22716137A110519478.en. [Accessed on 18 December 2018.]
eBird. 2019. Website URL: https://ebird.org/map/tbwbab1?neg=true&env.
minX=&env.minY=&env.maxX=&env.maxY=&zh=false&gp=false&ev=Z&mr=1-
12&bmo=1&emo=12&yr=all&byr=1900&eyr=2018. [Accessed on 18 December 2018.]
Collar, N., & Robson, C., 2019. Tawny-breasted Wren-babbler (Spelaeornis
longicaudatus). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D. A., & de Juana,
E., (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
Website URL: https://www.hbw.com/node/59469. [Accessed on 31 March 2019).
Oriental Bird Images. 2019. Website URL: http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.
php?Bird_Image_ID=153226&Bird_ID=1545&Bird_Family_ID=&Location=
[Accessed on 18 December 2018.]
Rasmussen, P. C., & Anderton, J. C., 2012. Birds of South Asia: the Ripley guide. 2nd
ed. Washington, D.C. and Barcelona: Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions. 2
vols. Pp. 1–378; 1–683.
VertNet. 2019. Website URL: http://portal.vertnet.org/search?q=Spelaeornis++longicau
datus. [Accessed on 18 December 2018.]
Xeno-canto Foundation. 2019. Website URL: https://www.xeno-canto.org/species/
Spelaeornis-longicaudatus. [Accessed on 18 December 2018.]
– Rejoice Gassah & Vijay Anand Ismavel
Rejoice Gassah, Makunda Christian Hospital, Karimganj District 788727, Assam, India. [RG]
E-mail: joicesatisf y@gmail.com
Vijay Anand Ismavel, Makunda Christian Hospital, Karimganj Distric t 788727, Assam, India. [VAI]
E-mail: ivijayanand@yahoo.in (Corresponding author)
Asian Stubtail Urosphena squameiceps in the
Karimganj District of Assam, and its status in the
Indian Subcontinent
On 09 November 2018, RG visited the Badsaitilla Reserve Forest,
a low-altitude dipterocarp forest, near Dosdewa village (24.35°N,
92.35°E) in the Lowairpoa Block of Karimganj District in Assam,
as a participant of the biodiversity documentation work being
done by the Makunda Nature Club. At 0710 h he noted a small
bird, similar in appearance to a warbler, inside a bush.
Its tail was very short and it had a prominent white supercilium.
The bird was perched on a twig and was preening itself. He took
several photographs [38]. The bird also uttered several clear
calls, which were recorded using a Sony Sound Recorder ICD
UX560F (Fig. 1; https://www.xeno-canto.org/443886). Once
the images were processed it was clear that the bird was an
Asian Stubtail Urosphena squameiceps. On 13 November RG re-
visited a neighboring location of the same forest and once again
observed the stubtail, which was foraging low inside a bush. He
photographed it at 0839 h. Subsequently, RG and VA visited
both locations, as well as the surrounding forest areas on the 02
December 2018, but could not locate the species.
38. Asian Stubtail photographed in Assam.
Fig. 1. Sonogram of the Asian Stubtail’s vocalisations.
The Asian Stubtail is presumed to be a winter vagrant to
the Indian Subcontinent with not more than ten photographic
records till date (Table 1). However, repeated observations from
the lowland woodlands of the eastern regions of the Indian
Subcontinent indicate that this might be a rare but regular winter
visitor.
We thank the Makunda Christian Hospital, which runs the
Makunda Nature Club, for the provision of equipment (camera,
sound recorder, and GPS) used during this documentation. We
also acknowledge the assistance of Shameem Rizwan and Syed
Shahnoor Imam, from Bangladesh, who sent us exact details of
their observations.
References
Baruah, P., 2015. Birding in the North Cachar Hills of Assam. Indian BIRDS 10 (2):
46–50.
Rejoice Gassah
29
Correspondence
Chowdhury, S. U., 2014. First photographic record of Asian Stubtail Urosphena
squameiceps from the Indian Subcontinent. Indian BIRDS 9 (1): 25.
Das, S., 2014. Asian Stubtail Urosphena squameiceps in Rabindrasarobar, Kolkata: A
first record for India. Indian BIRDS 9 (1): 26–27.
Imam, S. S., 2015. Website URL: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=87507963
5923326&set=p.875079635923326&type=1&theater. [Accessed on 22 December
2018.]
Khan, M. A., 2014. Website URL: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1020
4351382441374&set=p.10204351382441374&type=1&theater. [Accessed on 22
December 2018.]
Khan, T., 2013. Website URL: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1020276277
0453118&set=p.10202762770453118&type=1&theater. [Accessed on 22 December
2018.]
Kuriakose, J., 2016. Snapshot sightings: Asian Stubtail at Jeypore forest, Assam. Indian
BIRDS 11 (2): 56A.
Lewis, A., 1994. Asian Stubtail Urosphena squameiceps: a new species for Nepal and
the Indian subcontinent. Forktail 9: 155.
Rizwan, S., 2018. Website URL: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=172466486
7555212&set=p.1724664867555212&type=1&theater. [Accessed on 22 December
2018.]
Thompson, P. M., & Johnson, D. L., 2003. Further notable bird records from
Bangladesh. Forktail 19: 85–102.
– Rejoice Gassah & Vijay Anand Ismavel
Rejoice Gassah, Makunda Christian Hospital, Karimganj District 788727, Assam, India. [RG]
E-mail: joicesatisf y@gmail.com
Vijay Anand Ismavel, Makunda Christian Hospital, Karimganj Distric t 788727, Assam, India. [VA]
E-mail: ivijayanand@yahoo.in
Does the Black-necked Stork Ephippiorhynchus
asiaticus keep a larder?
At 0730 h on 28 October 2010, Chirag Solanki and I were
birding at Vibhapar wetlands (22.5°N, 70.07°E) which is situated
soutwards of the saltpans of the Century Salt Works and on the
western side of Khijadia Bird Sanctuary (Gujarat, India). Vibhapar
is a monsoon-dependent wetland. A 2.5 m high, ‘salt-ingression-
prevention’, bund separated this waterbody and the saltpans. The
three kilometers long bund mostly had Prosopis juliflora trees
on both sides of its single lane metal road, with a few peelu
Salvadora persica, and a couple of toddy palms Borassus
flabellife, with reeds in some patches. It was a single lane metal
road.
CS had earlier located a large nest of a Black-necked Stork
Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus, upon a tall tree standing in the
water; the nest was 4.6 m above the water. From the road, the
nest was at eye-level and, using YB's as a hide, we could observe
it without disturbing the birds. The sun had not yet risen, and the
female stork was sitting in the nest; only her head was visible
to us. She stood up after a few minutes and started preening.
Even at 0800 h the light was low, due to mist. All of a sudden
CS urgently whispered 'look at the bird'. She was swallowing
a snake. As we watched, she swallowed two more snakes (all
were, probably, checkered keelbacks), all within four minutes. We
could not comprehend how all the three reptiles were in her
nest! The bird had not left the nest since we began watching it
that morning.
For the next fifteen minutes, or so, she did not do anything
else but preen herself. In a seven minute video that YB shot
from 0820 h onwards, we observed that she ate two morsels of
unidentified items, fiddled with twigs to realign the nest to her
satisfaction, and then settled on it. She again stood up at 0840
h and consumed one more snake at 0844 h. A fifth snake was
swallowed at 0852 h [39]. She took her time to swallow this last
individual. It was larger than the ones she had consumed earlier.
As she started swallowing it, the snake wrapped itself around the
stork’s bill, and she took a few seconds to untangle it. All the five
reptiles were picked up from the floor of the nest.
For the next 22 min she preened and rested. At 0914 h she
took-off from the nest and landed a few meters away, on the left
side of the tree. She was vigilant and constantly watching the
nest. Thrice she drank water by tilting up her head. A couple of
House Crows Corvus splendens flew slowly past the nest, while
she was still on the ground. Noticing them she abruptly flew back
to the nest.
On her nest, at 0917 h, she ate a sixth snake, and at
0926 h the stork swallowed a seventh snake. This seemed like a
stupendous breakfast! We stayed there for another 30 min, but
nothing further happened, except she settled on the nest.
Table 1. Records of the Asian Stubtail from the Indian Subcontinent
S. No Observer Month Year Location Country Reference
1 Tom Tarrant January 1993 Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve Nepal Lewis (1994)
2 Nick Dymond January 1997 Lowacherra National Park Bangladesh Thompson & Johnson (2003)
3 Paul Thompson December 1999 Lowacherra National Park Bangladesh Thompson & Johnson (2003)
4 Sayam Choudhury January 2011 Moulvi Bazar Bangladesh Chowdhury (2014)*
5 Sandip Das November 2013 Rabindra Sarovar, Kolkata, West Bengal India Das (2014)*
6 Tania Khan December 2013 Satchori National Park Bangladesh Khan (2013) *
7 Munir Ahmed Khan August 2014 Satchori National Park Bangladesh Khan (2014) *
8 Pritam Baruah March 2015 Jatinga, Assam India Baruah P (2015)
9 Syed Shahnoor Imam December 2 015 Lowacherra National Park Bangladesh Imam (2015)*
10 Jainy Kuriakose December 2 015 Jeypore Reserve Forest, Assam India Kuriakose (2016)*
11 Shameem Rizwan February 2018 Satchori National Park Bangladesh Rizwan (2018) *
12 Rejoice Gassah November 2 018 Near Dosdewa village, Karimganj District,
Assam
India This work*
* Photographs supporting the observations were verified by the authors.
30 Indian BIRDS Vol. 15 No. 1 (Publ. 10 May 2019)
