Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 November 2017 | 9(11): 10961–10963

 

 

 

 

 

The Vulnerable Indian Skimmer Rynchops albicollis Swainson, 1838 (Aves: Charadriiformes: Laridae) breeding in Odisha, eastern India

Subrat Debata 1, Tuhinansu Kar 2, Kedar Kumar Swain 3 & Himanshu Shekhar Palei 4

1,4 Aranya Foundation, Plot No-625/12, Mars Villa, Panchasakha Nagar, Dumduma, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751019, India

2 Department of Geography, Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751004, India

3 Office of the Divisional Forest Officer, Chandaka Wildlife Division, Gaja Vihar, Baramunda, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751003, India

¹ subrat.debata007@gmail.com, 2 kartuhinansu@gmail.com, 3 kedarswain28@gmail.com, 4 himanshu.palei@gmail.com (corresponding author)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

doi: http://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3445.9.11.10961-10963 | ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:ED1D6C14-903E-4AC3-95BE-AF4EC96D1D1C

 

Editor: C. Srinivasulu, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. Date of publication: 26 November 2017 (online & print)

 

Manuscript details: Ms # 3445 | Received 11 April 2017 | Final received 30 October 2017 | Finally accepted 04 November 2017

 

Citation: Debata, S., T. Kar, K.K. Swain & H.S. Palei (2017). The Vulnerable Indian Skimmer Rynchops albicollis Swainson, 1838 (Aves: Charadriiformes: Laridae) breeding in Odisha, eastern India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 9(11): 10961–10963; http://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3445.9.11.10961-10963

 

Copyright: © Debata et al. 2017. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.

 

Funding: Odisha Forest Department.

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgements: We are grateful to the PCCF (Wildlife), Odisha ad RCCF, Bhubaneswar for financial support for the study. Sanjay and Hemanta of Mundali Village are highly acknowledged for their support during the monitoring activities. Authors are thankful to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments in improvising the manuscript.

 

 

 

 

 

The Indian Skimmer Rynchops albicollis Swainson, 1838 (Image 1) is one among the three species of skimmers found worldwide, and native to Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Vietnam (BirdLife International 2016). Like its other congeners, it prefers estuaries and coasts during the non-breeding season, and frequents larger, sandy, slow-flowing lowland rivers, lakes and marshes during the breeding season. It is a colonial breeder and lays eggs on exposed sandbars and Islands (Rahmani 2012). In contrast to its historic range, the Indian Skimmer is believed to occur along some large rivers from Pakistan, through Nepal and India to Bangladesh and Myanmar with an estimated global population of 6,000–10,000 individuals (BirdLife International 2016). Referring to the recently published Asian Waterbird Census Report (Mundkur et al. 2017), it is now confined to Bangladesh and India only with a total estimated population of just 1,667 individuals. The major cause of Indian Skimmer population depletion is related to reduction in their reproductive and foraging success from exploitation and degradation of habitats, human disturbance, irrigation projects and pollution from agricultural and industrial chemicals (BirdLife International 2016). Besides that, rise or drop in the water level of rivers is directly linked with nesting success of the Indian Skimmer. The increase in water level has been reported to wash away the nests (Sundar 2004) and dropping down of water level allows predators and livestock to access breeding islands (Sundar 2004; Siddiqui et al. 2007). Therefore, owing to rapid population depletion and perceived threats, the Indian Skimmer has been categorized as ‘Vulnerable’ in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (BirdLife International 2016).

Although the species has been reported from the major rivers and lakes of India, it is more confined to the north from Punjab through Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh to West Bengal, extending up to Odisha (Rahmani 2012). In Odisha, the Indian Skimmer has been reported from Bhitarakanika Wildlife Sanctuary (Gopi & Pandav 2007), Dhamra (Dutta 2007), Nalaban Bird Sanctuary and Chilika Lake (Balachandran et al. 2009; Dev 2013), Mundali (Li et al. 2009) and Satkosia Gorge Wildlife Sanctuary (Rahmani & Nair 2012), and was presumed to be a winter visitor. Rahmani & Nair (2012), however, forecast possible breeding activities in Odisha referring to their year round occurrence and mating behavior.

On 03 March 2017, we sighted around 110 Indian Skimmers at Mundali area (20.43475 N & 85.73459 E; elevation 23m), Cuttack (Image 2) and then on 07 March 2017, around 43 birds at Kakhadi (20.49031 N & 85.77169 E; elevation 28m), another place situated around 8km north of Mundali (Fig. 1). Subsequently, we witnessed pre-nesting activities; courtship and mating behavior of some birds at both the places (Image 3A,B). On 05 April 2017, we found 32 simple scrape nests, spaced irregularly on two small islands near Mundali (25 nests) and Kakhadi (seven) with one to three conically-oval shaped, buff colored eggs with brown blotches and streaks (Image 4), those were identified to be laid by the Indian skimmers referring to the descriptions given by Oates (1901). We monitored the site on boat from a safe distance for further confirmation and observed that Indian Skimmers came back to the nests and started incubating the eggs (Image 5).

Earlier, the bird was known to breed only in National Chambal Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh (Sundar 2004) until new nesting sites were reported in Norara, Uttar Pradesh (Siddiqui et al. 2007), Pong Dam Wildlife Sanctuary, Himachal Pradesh (Fernandes & Besten 2013), and Son Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh (Dilawar & Sharma 2016). The present observation along with an earlier report by Rajguru (2016) confirms that Indian Skimmers are breeding along the River Mahanadi in Odisha, eastern India. The observed nesting season and behavior resembles earlier observations made by Sundar (2004) at Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary and Siddiqui et al. (2007) at Narora. In the present observation, we observed a single egg in most of the nests (n=9), which indicated probable preliminary state of egg laying activities and the clutch size may increase in subsequent days. Our informal discussion with the local fisher communities also revealed that the Indian Skimmer, locally known as ‘Paani-Chiri’, used to congregate and breed at Mundali since a long time, which might have not been noticed in earlier surveys. Lack of adequate studies on this species has resulted in gaps in understanding distribution and status of the Indian Skimmer in India and other range countries. Referring to the trend in the rapid decline of the Indian Skimmer population worldwide (Mundkur et al. 2017), regular monitoring and protection of the identified nesting sites is of high priority. Furthermore, in agreement with the recommendation given by Rahmani & Nair (2012), targeted surveys particularly during the breeding season along the entire length of the River Mahanadi and other large rivers is essential to understand the status of the Indian Skimmer in Odisha. The results of these will be helpful in reassessing the global status of the species and formulating conservation plans for the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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