From the Arabian Peninsula to Indian shores: Crab Plover Dromas ardeola Paykull, 1805 (Aves: Charadriiformes: Dromadidae) breeding at Point Calimere, India
Main Article Content
Abstract
Crab Plover Dromas ardeola is endemic to the subtropical and tropical coastlines of the Indian Ocean. It breeds along the eastern
coasts of Africa, the Persian Gulf, and southern coasts of the Arabian Peninsula; occurs also in the western Madagascar and most islands northwards to Seychelles. It is a winter visitor to Pakistan, Gujarat, and peninsular India, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, northern Sri Lanka, Maldives, and a vagrant to Bangladesh. The objective of this study was to assess the breeding records of the Crab Plover in Point Calimere. After some preliminary surveys and interactions with local birders, between June and August 2023, boat surveys and foot surveys were carried out in the Great Vedaryanam Swamp (GVS) and nearby islets to document the presence of Crab Plover and locate its nests. The presence of five nests of D. ardeola was recorded in Manaaran Theevu islet near Siruthalaikkadu of GVS. This observation marks the first documentation of breeding of Crab Plover in the Indian subcontinent. In the context of species conservation within the peninsular Indian region, there is a need for comprehensive and continuous monitoring of breeding sites.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors own the copyright to the articles published in JoTT. This is indicated explicitly in each publication. The authors grant permission to the publisher Wildlife Information Liaison Development (WILD) Society to publish the article in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The authors recognize WILD as the original publisher, and to sell hard copies of the Journal and article to any buyer. JoTT is registered under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), which allows authors to retain copyright ownership. Under this license the authors allow anyone to download, cite, use the data, modify, reprint, copy and distribute provided the authors and source of publication are credited through appropriate citations (e.g., Son et al. (2016). Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of the southeastern Truong Son Mountains, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(7): 8953–8969. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2785.8.7.8953-8969). Users of the data do not require specific permission from the authors or the publisher.
References
Abdelhafez, M.S., K.F. Abd El-Wakeil & S.A. Saber (2020). First record of Crab Plover (Dromas ardeola) nesting in Egypt. Egyptian
Academic Journal of Biological Sciences 12(2): 149–154. https://doi.org/10.21608/eajbsz.2020.125274
Balachandran, S. (1995). Shorebirds of the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park, Tamil Nadu. Journal of the Bombay Natural History
Society 92(3): 303–313.
Balachandran, S. & V. Thirunavakarasu (2009). Field guide to the birds of Point Calimere. Bombay Natural History Society. Published by Tamil Nadu Forest Department, 92 pp.
BirdLife International (2023). Species factsheet: Dromas ardeola. Downloaded from http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/
crab-plover-dromas-ardeola on 20 August 2023
Bom, R.A. & K. Al-Nasrallah (2015). Counts and breeding biology of Crab Plovers Dromas ardeola on Bubiyan Islands, Kuwait, in 2012–
Wader Study 122(3): 212–220. https://doi.org/10.18194/ws.00022
Bourgeois, K., E. Vidal, V. Comor, J. Legrand & S. Dromzee (2008). Colony-site selection drives management priorities for Yelkouan
shearwater populations. Journal of Wildlife Management 72(5): 1188–1193. https://doi.org/10.2193/2007-052
Brown, J.N.B., M. Verhage & R.P. Morris (1991). Crab Plovers on Jazirat Abu al Abyad. Tribulus 1: 13–15.
Byju, H. (2020). Interesting foraging behaviour of Crab Plover in Manali Island, Gulf of Mannar, India. Zoo’s Print 35(12): 25–28.
Cramp, S., K.L.E. Simmons, D.C. Brooks, N.J. Collar, E. Dunn, R. Gillmor & P.J.S. Olney (1983). Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle
East and North Africa. Vol. 3. The Birds of the Western Palearctic: Waders to Gulls. Oxford University Press, UK, 1000 pp.
Chiozzi, G., G.D. Marchi & D. Semere (2011). Coloniality in the Crab Plover Dromas ardeola does not depend on nest site limitation.
Waterbirds 34(1): 77–81. https://doi.org/10.1675/063.034.0109
Delany, S., D. Scott, A.T.F. Helmink, T. Dodman, S. Flink, D. Stroud & L. Haanstra (2009). An atlas of wader populations in Africa and
Western Eurasia. Wetlands International, Wageningen, 524 pp.
De Marchi, G., G. Chiozzi, D. Semere, P. Galeotti, E. Boncompagni & M. Fasola (2006). Nesting, overwintering, and conservation of the
Crab Plover Dromas ardeola in central Eritrea. Ibis 148(4): 753–764. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919X.2006.00572.x
De Marchi, G., G. Chiozzi & M. Fasola (2008). Solar incubation cuts down parental care in a burrow-nesting tropical shorebird, the Crab
plover Dromas ardeola. Journal of Avian Biology 39(5): 484–486. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0908-8857.2008.04523.x
De Marchi, G., G. Chiozzi, G. Dell’Omo & M. Fasola (2015a). Low incubation investment in the burrow-nesting Crab Plover Dromas
ardeola permits extended foraging on a tidal food resource. Ibis 157(1): 31–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12208
De Marchi, G., G. Chiozzi, D. Semere, Y. Mebrahtu, F.H. Tayefeh, M. Almalki & M. Fasola (2015b). Food abundance explains the breeding
season of a tropical shorebird, the Crab Plover Dromas ardeola. Ostrich 86(1–2): 53–64. https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2015.1
De Sanctis, A., L. Biddau & M. Fasola (2005). Post migratory care of young by Crab Plovers Dromas ardeola. Ibis 147(3): 490–497. https://
doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919x.2005.00419.x
Hockey, P.A.R. (1995). Waders of Southern Africa. Struik Publishing House, Cape Town, 288 pp.
Hockey, P.A.R. & S.J. Aspinall (1997). Why do Crab Plovers Dromas ardeola breed in colonies? Shorebird Study Group Bulletin 82: 38–42.
Javed, S., S.B. Khan, S.C. Tourenq, F. Launay & J. Merritt (2012). Nesting, distribution and conservation of the Crab Plover, Dromas
ardeola, in the United Arab Emirates. Zoology in the Middle East 56(1): 9–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/09397140.2012.10648935
Jennings, M.C. (2010). Atlas of the breeding birds of Arabia. Fauna of Arabia, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Vol 25. 751
pp.
Manikannan, R., S. Asokan & A.H.M.S. Ali (2011a). Seasonal variations of physico-chemical properties of the Great Vedaranyam Swamp,
Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary, South-east coast of India. African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology 5(9): 673–681.
Morris, R.P. (1992). Observations on a colony of Crab Plovers D. ardeola in Abu Dhabi. Sandgrouse 14: 34–47.
Rashiba, A.P., K. Jishnu, H. Byju, C.T. Shifa, J. Anand, K. Vichithra, Y. Xu, A. Nefla, A., S.B. Muzaffar, K.M. Aarif & K.A. Rubeena (2022). The
paradox of shorebird diversity and abundance in the West Coast and East Coast of India: A comparative analysis. Diversity 14: 885. https://doi.org/10.3390/d14100885
Rands, M.R.W. (1996). Family Dromadidae (Crab Plover), pp. 302–306. In: del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott and J. Sargatal (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 3. Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.
Sale, P.F., D.A. Feary, J.A. Burt, A.G. Bauman, G.H. Cavalcante, K.G. Drouillard, B. Kjerfve, E. Marquis, C.G. Trick & P. Usseglio (2011).
The growing need for sustainable ecological management of marine communities of the Persian Gulf. Ambio 40: 4–17. https://doi.
org/10.1007/s13280-010-0092-6
Sathishkumar, S., S. Arandhara & N. Baskaran (2023). Effect of ecological factors on the grass dynamics at Point Calimere Wildlife
Sanctuary, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 15(5): 23190–23199. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8277.15.5.23190-23199
Sheppard, C., M. Al-Husiani, F. Al-Jamali, F. Al-Yamani, R. Baldwin, J. Bishop, F. Benzoni, E. Dutrieux, N.K. Dulvy, S.R. Durvasula, D.A.
Jones, R. Loughland, D. Medio, M. Nithyanandan, G.M. Pilling, I. Polikarpov, A.R. Price, S. Purkis, B. Riegl, M. Saburova, K.S.
Namin, O. Taylor, S. Wilson & K. Zainal (2010). The Gulf: A young sea in decline. Marine Pollution Bulletin 60(1): 13–38. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2009.10.017
Scott, D.A. (2007). A review of the status of the breeding waterbirds in Iran in the 1970s. Podoces 2(1): 1–21.
Tayefeh, F.H., M. Zakaria, H. Amini, S. Ghasemi & M. Ghasem (2011). Breeding waterbird populations of the islands of the northern
Persian Gulf, Iran. Podoces 6: 49–58.
Tayefeh, F.H., M. Zakaria, G. De Marchi, H. Amini, A. Moradi, P. Ahmadpour & S. Ghasemi (2013). Breeding biology of the Crab Plover
(Dromas ardeola) on the Mond Islands, Northern Persian Gulf, Iran. Waterbirds 36(4): 448–462. https://doi.org/10.1675/063.036.0402