Rare migratory bird spotted in Hadoti, third sighting in 30 yrs
black-naped monarch, a migratory bird, rarely seen in Rajasthan, has been spotted for the first time in the Hadoti region, the third such sighting in the last three decades in the state, wildlife experts said.
The bird was spotted by wildlife researcher and a programme coordinator at the Society of Conservation of Historical and Ecological Resources Hari Mohan Meena and Dr Krishnendra Singh Nama, a senior wildlife biologist at the society.
The duo sighted the bird at the Abhera forest on November 5. The bird, also known as the blacknaped flycatcher, usually lives on trees and thick foliage but at the Abhera forest, it has been spotted in a scrubland, said Meena.
“The bird is found in dense forests and other well-wooded habitats but since it has been spotted in the dry and deciduous forests of Kota, it is possible that it is trying to adapt itself to a new habitat,” he said. “Previous records reveal that occasionally a single bird has been sighted in the Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur during winter in1993-94.
“An active nest of the bird was discovered in the Sitamata wildlife sanctuary in Pratapgarh in July 2007 but there have been no records of its sighting in the Hadoti region in the past.”
Former state assistant conservator of forest Satish Sharma said the sighting of the black-naped monarch is rare in Rajasthan so if it has been spotted in Kota then it will be the first sighting of the bird in not only Kota but entire Hadoti region.
The Black-naped monarch is usually found across south-east China, Taiwan, the Phillipines, India and Sri Lanka, he said.
The birds are sexually dimorphic with males having a distinctive black cap on the top of the head and a narrow black half collar while the female is dull coloured and without black markings, said Nama.
Their call is similar to the Asian paradise flycatcher.
According to the BirdLine International, a global conservation of organsation that strive to conserve birds, the population of the black-naped monarch is stable though it exists in the “red list” of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
KOTA:The