Keoladeo National Park

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Keoladeo National Park*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party Flag of India India
Type Natural
Criteria x
Reference 340
Region** Asia-Pacific
Inscription history
Inscription 1985  (9th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List.
** Region as classified by UNESCO.
Keoladeo National Park
Keoladeo NP (India)
Keoladeo NP
Keoladeo NP
Keoladeo NP (India)
IUCN Category II (National Park)
Location: Rajasthan, India
Area: 28.73 km²
Established: 1982

The Keoladeo National Park or Keoladeo Ghana National Park formerly known as the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary in Rajasthan, India is a famous avifauna sanctuary that sees (or saw) thousands of rare and highly endangered birds such as the Siberian Crane come here during the winter season. Over 230 species of birds are known to have made the National Park their home. It is also a major tourist centre with scores of ornithologists arriving here in the hibernal season. It was declared a protected sanctuary in 1971. It is also a declared World Heritage Site.

The sanctuary was created 250 years ago and is named after a Keoladeo (Shiva) temple within its boundaries. Initially, it was a natural depression; and was flooded after the Ajan Bund was constructed by Maharaja Suraj Mal, the then ruler of the princely state of Bharatpur, between 1726 to 1763. The bund was created at the confluence of two rivers, the Gambhir and Banganga. The park was a happy hunting ground for the maharajas of Bharatpur, a tradition dating back to 1850, and duck shoots were organised yearly in honor of the British viceroys. In one shoot alone in 1938, over 4,273 birds such as mallards and teals were killed by Lord Linlithgow, the then Governor-General of India. After India's independence, the rulers of the princely states were allowed shooting rights until 1972. In 1982, grazing was banned in the park, leading to violent clashed between the local farmer and Gujjar communities and the government.

The sanctuary hosts a small wintering population of the rare Siberian Cranes. Other species include the ruddy shelducks, gulls, northern shovelers, northern pintails, coots, garganey, tufted ducks and common pochard.

In late 2004 however, the Rajasthan government led by Vasundhara Raje succumbed to pressure from farmers to prevent water from being diverted to the sanctuary. The water supply to the park dropped from 540,000,000 to 18,000,000 cubic feet (15,000,000 to 510,000 m³). The result was an ecological disaster with the marshlands turning dry and inhospitable. Most of the birds flew off to alternate avenues as far as Garhmukteshwar, Uttar Pradesh (90 km form New Delhi) on the river Ganga for breeding. This resulted in many of the birds being hunted for their meat.

The act was criticised by leading environmentalists, leading to a Public Interest Litigation being filed in court.

Birds that take Sanctuary in Keoladeo National Park

Siberian Crane

Siberian Crane
File:Grus leucogeranus.svg
Conservation status
Status iucn3.1 CR.svg
Critically endangered
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Gruiformes
Family: Gruidae
Genus: Grus
Species: G. leucogeranus
Binomial name
Grus leucogeranus
Pallas, 1773
in the Tennouji Zoo, Japan

The Siberian Crane, Grus leucogeranus, also known as the Siberian White Crane or the Snow Crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the cranes.

This species breeds in arctic Russia in Yakutia and western Siberia. It is a long distance migrant. The eastern population winters on the Yangtze River and Lake Poyang in China, the central population at Keoladeo National Park, India and the western population in Fereidoonkenar and Esfahan in Iran. It breeds and winters in wetlands, where it feeds on the shoots, roots and tubers of aquatic plants.

This is a large white crane. Large males can exceed 140 cm (55 inches) in length and weigh over 10 kg (22 lbs). Adults are all white, except for a dark red mask extending from the bill to behind the eye. It has a yellow iris and reddish legs. The male is slightly larger than the female. Juveniles have a feathered mask and buff or cinnamon plumage. The voice is flute-like and musical.

The status of this crane is critical, as it is expected to undergo a rapid population decline in the near future. The wintering site in China holding 95% of the population is threatened by hydrological changes caused by the Three Gorges Dam.

Historic records from India suggest that a number of them wintered there in the past. This number has steadily declined and the birds are no longer found there.

Mr. Rutledge of Entally told me that for twenty years he tried unsuccessfully to get live specimens of this crane, but did not succeed till a few years ago, when he and one of the native dealers got so many that the market was quite glutted, and many were sent to Europe. Since then the bird got scarce again, so this was evidently only a temporary invasion.

Frank Finn, Frank Finn in How to know the Indian waders. 1906

The Siberian Crane is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies and is subject of a Memorandum of Understanding concluded under the Bonn Convention.


Spotted Owlet

Spotted Owlet
Pair in Foreplay at Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India.
Pair in Foreplay at Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India.
Conservation status
Status iucn3.1 LC.svg
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Strigiformes
Family: Strigidae
Genus: Athene
Species: A. brama
Binomial name
Athene brama
(Temminck, 1821)

The Spotted Owlet (Athene brama) is an owl which breeds in tropical Asia from India to Southeast Asia. This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, Strigidae, which contains most species of owl. The other grouping is the barn owls, Tytonidae.

Spotted Owlet is a common resident bird in open habitats including farmland and human habitation. It nests in a hole in a tree or building, laying 3-5 eggs.

The Spotted Owlet is small (21cm) and stocky. The upperparts are grey-brown, heavily spotted with white. The underparts are white, streaked with brown. The facial disc is pale and the eyes are yellow. There is a white neckband. Sexes are similar. The flight is deeply undulating.

This species is nocturnal but is sometimes seen in the day. It can often be located by the small birds that mob it while it is perched in a tree. It hunts a variety of insects and small vertebrates. The call is a harsh chirurr-chirurr-chirurr.


Gallery


Spotted Redshank

Spotted Redshank
Juvenile Spotted Redshank
Juvenile Spotted Redshank
Conservation status
Status iucn3.1 LC.svg
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Tringa
Species: T. erythropus
Binomial name
Tringa erythropus
(Pallas, 1764)

The Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus is a wader in the large bird family Scolopacidae, the typical waders. It is an arctic bird, breeding across northern Scandinavia and northern Asia. It is a migratory species, wintering around the Mediterranean, the southern British Isles, France, tropical Africa, and tropical Asia, usually on fresh or brackish water. It is an occasional vagrant in Australia and North America.

In Non-breeding plumage at Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India.

It is 29-33 cm long. It is black in breeding plumage, and very pale in winter. It has a red legs and bill, and shows a white oval on the back in flight. Juveniles are grey-brown finely speckled white above, and have pale, finely barred underparts. It nests on open boggy taiga, laying four eggs in a ground scrape. The call is a creaking whistle teu-it (somewhat similar to the call of a Roseate Tern), the alarm call a kyip-kyip-kyip. Like most waders, it feed on small invertebrates.

The Spotted Redshank is replaced as a breeding bird further south by the Common Redshank, which has a shorter bill and legs, and is brown and white above with some dark patterning below, becoming somewhat lighter-toned in winter.

Taxonomically, it forms a close-knit group with the Greater Yellowlegs and the Greenshank, which among them show all the basic leg and foot colours of the shanks, demonstrating that this character is paraphyletic (Pereira & Baker, 2005). These three species are the largest shanks apart from the Willet, which is altogether more robustly built.

The Spotted Redshank is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

Gallery

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Bluethroat

Bluethroat
File:Luscinia svecica tom (Marek Szczepanek) small.jpg
Conservation status
Status iucn3.1 LC.svg
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae
Genus: Luscinia
Species: L. svecica
Binomial name
Luscinia svecica
(Linnaeus, 1758)

The Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica), is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae. It, and similar small European species, are often called chats.

At Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India.
Red-spotted race

It is a migratory insectivorous species breeding in wet birch wood or bushy swamp in Europe and Asia with a foothold in western Alaska. It nests in tussocks or low in dense bushes. It winters in north Africa and India.

The Bluethroat is similar in size to the European Robin at 13-14 cm. It is plain brown above except for the distinctive black tail with red side patches. It has a strong white supercilium. The male has a blue bib edged below with successive black, white and rust coloured borders. Some races, such as L. svecica svecica (Red-spotted Bluethroat) of northern Eurasia, have a red spot in the centre of the blue bib.

Others, such as L. svecica cyanecula (White-spotted Bluethroat) of southern and central Europe, have a white spot in the centre of the blue bib. L. svecica magna in Turkey has no central spot.

Females of all races usually have just a blackish crescent on an otherwise cream throat and breast. Newly fledged juveniles are freckled and spotted dark brown above.

Despite the distinctive appearance of the males, recent genetic studies show only limited variation between the forms, and confirm that this is a single species.

The male has a loud, varied, and sometimes imitative song reminiscent of its relative, the Nightingale. Its call is a typical chat “chack” noise.

Gallery


Red-wattled Lapwing

Red-wattled Lapwing
Vanellus indicus.jpg
Conservation status
Status iucn3.1 LC.svg
Least Concern
[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Charadriidae
Genus: Vanellus
Species: V. indicus
Binomial name
Vanellus indicus
(Boddaert, 1783)

The Red-wattled Lapwing (Vanellus indicus), (local names: Hindi: titeeri, titai, titori, Sindhi: tAteehAr, Gujarati: titodi Kashmiri: hatatut, Assamese: 'bAlighorA', Telugu: yennappa chitawa, Tamil: alkati) is a lapwing or large plover, a wader in the family Charadriidae. It is sometimes called the did-ye-do-it bird due to its unmistakable call[2].

Distribution

It breeds from West Asia (Iraq, SW Iran) eastwards across South Asia (Baluchistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the entire Indian subcontinent up to Kanyakumari and up to 1800m in Kashmir/Nepal), with the related species Burmese Red-wattled Lapwing further east in Southeast Asia. May migrate altitudinally in spring and autumn (e.g. in N. Baluchistan or NW Pakistan), and spreads out widely in the monsoons[3] on creation of requisite habitats, but by and large the populations are resident.

This species is declining in its western range, but is abundant in much of South Asia, being seen at almost any wetland habitat in its range.

Description

In flight. Note the diagnostic V-shaped white wing bar, and also black and white markings on tail
File:Red-wattled Lapwing I IMG 9198.jpg
at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India.

Red-wattled Lapwings are large waders, about 35cm long (somewhat larger than a Rock Pigeon, with longer legs). The wings and back are light brown, but head and chest and front part of neck are black. Prominently white patch runs between these two colours, from belly and tail, flanking the neck to the sides of crown. Short tail is tipped black. A red fleshy wattle in front of each eye, black-tipped red bill, and the long legs are yellow. In flight, prominent white V-shaped wing bar.

It usually keeps in pairs or trios in well-watered open country, ploughed fields, grazing land, and margins and dry beds of tanks and puddles. It is also found in forest clearings around rain-filled depressions. It runs about in short spurts and dips forward obliquely (with unflexed legs) to pick up food in a typical plover manner [4]. Is uncannily and ceaselessly vigilant, day or night, and is the first to detect intrusions and raise an alarm, and therefore a nuisance to hunters. Flight rather slow, with deliberate flaps, but capable of remarkable agility when defending nest or being hunted by a hawk[3].

Its striking appearance is supplemented by its noisy nature, with a loud and scolding did-he-do-it call, often uttered at night.

Nesting

Season: mainly March to August-September. Has a preference for marshes and similar freshwater wetland habitats. Lays eggs in a ground scrape or depression sometimes ringed around with a few goat droppings or pebbles. About 3-4 black-blotched buff eggs shaped a bit like a peg-top (pyriform), 42x30 mm on average. Nests are difficult to find since eggs and nest usually match the ground to perfection.[3]

Diet

Ants, beetles, caterpillars and other insects, snails and other invertebrates, mostly picked from the ground. Also a quantity of vegetable matter. Feeds in the day as well as night.

Image gallery


See also

  • National parks of India
  • List of World Heritage sites in India
  • Angelo d'Arrigo

Notes

  1. BirdLife International 2004. [1]. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species., World Conservation Union. Retrieved on 11 May 2006.
  2. Grewal, Bikram and Bill Harvey and Otto Pfister (2002). Photographic guide to birds of India. Periplus editions / Princeton University Press.  p.179
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ali, Salim and Sidney Dillon Ripley (1983). Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan, 2nd ed.,10 vols. Oxford University Press. vol. 2, p.212-214.
  4. Ali, Salim (1996). Book of Indian Birds, Salim Ali centenary edition. Bombay Natural History Society/Oxford University Press. p. 139


References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • BirdLife International 2004. [2]. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species., World Conservation Union. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
  • BirdLife International 2004. [3]. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species., World Conservation Union. Retrieved on 05 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
  • BirdLife International 2006. [4]. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species., World Conservation Union. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is critically endangered
  • BirdLife International 2004. [5]. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species., World Conservation Union. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
  • Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ISBN 0-691-04910-6
  • Pereira, S. L., & Baker, A. J. (2005). Multiple Gene Evidence for Parallel Evolution and Retention of Ancestral Morphological States in the Shanks (Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae).
  • Condor 107 (3): 514–526. DOI: 10.1650/0010-5422(2005)107[0514:MGEFPE]2.0.CO;2 HTML abstract

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