‘Sri Lanka Birds’ in the bird counting month

FOGSL conducted its annual ‘Bird Counting Month’ programme last December to assess the status of the birds of Sri Lanka. Members of the ‘Sri Lanka Birds’ web based data entry system also participated in the programme. December 2008 marked the most successful month of the system, as our members recorded the highest number of observations during the month after the launch of the system. Summary results of the analysis for December are given in this report. This analysis is based on the data downloaded on 16th February 2009. Final analysis of the ‘Bird Counting Month’ data, including the data received through other media will be published later.

Membership
A total of 15 new members have registered during the month. We warmly welcome new members to the ‘Sri Lanka Birds’ community.

Observations
Total Number of Observations 3181
Number of Species 239
Number of Endemic Species 24
Number of Proposed endemic Species 7
Number of migrant species 51

Nesting records
Number of observations 10
Number of species 7
Species (Baya Weaver, Cattle Egret, Purple-rumped Sunbird, Red-vented Bulbul, Scaly-breasted Munia, Silverbilll, White-rumped Munia)

Mostly recorded species (No: of observations)
Red-vented Bulbul (112)
Yellow-billed Babbler (99)
Common Myna (99)
House Crow (93)
White-throated Kingfisher (84)

Top five users (No: of observations)
Chandanie Wanigatunge (576)
Newton Jayawardane (558)
Salindra Kasun Dayananda (399)
Dilshan De Silva (350)
Darshana Ranatunga (247)

A total of 85 locations were visited during December by ‘Sri Lanka Birds’ members. This is the highest number of locations visited during a month after the launch of the database. As in the previous month, highest number of observations was made at Ragama (350).

Current statistics describing the number of field visits, number of observations and bird species, as well as the number of users registered in the system, are displayed on the login page of ‘Sri Lanka Birds’ - www.worldbirds.org/srilanka .

We would like to thank all the members for entering their valuable observations into Sri Lanka Birds. We highly appreciate the contributions of members towards conservation of birds through this initiative.

We wish you happy birding.

Administrator of “Sri Lanka Birds”

Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka

Grey-necked Bunting – The first record from Sri Lanka

During a bird survey session at Kalpitiya Peninsula, FOGSL research team recorded a Grey necked Bunting (Emberiza buchanani). This is the first record of the species in the island.

We were surveying coastal grassland at Nirmalapura, Daluwa area of Puttlum District on 16th December 2008. One of us (CDK) noticed an unknown species at around 0700 in the morning. Reddish beak and legs caught our attention. The bird was not shy and therefore we could observe it very closely for around 2 hours.

Based on the shape of its bill and other features, we decided that the bird could be a bunting (DS has previous experience on buntings). We photographed the bird by digiscoping. All the features were noted and later examined with the help of a field guide available to us (Grimmet et.al. 1998- Field guide to the birds of Indian Subcontinent).

The bird was observed again at mid day and evening. We could photograph it extensively at mid day. It was feeding busily on grass seeds all the time. During our observation period, bird didn’t accompany any other bird species in the area and remained solitary. Common Mynas, Spotted Doves, Richard’s Pipits, House sparrows, Rock Pigeons and Blue tailed Bee-eaters were frequently feeding on the grassland.

Later we sent few photographs to Dr. Girish Jathar, well-known ornithologist in India. He confirmed the identity of the bird by examining the photographs.

Buntings were recorded only once in Sri Lanka. Two bunting species namely Black headed bunting (Emberiza melanocephala) and Red headed Bunting (Emberiza bruniceps)were recorded at Udawalawe National Park in year 2005. Hence, this is the third record of a bunting species in Sri Lanka.

Reported by

C. D. Kaluthota, Dammithra Samarasinghe, Hasith de Silva and Dilshan de Silva

A Sand Martin and a White–cheeked Tern: Two vagrant species captured at Bundala National Park

During a bird ringing session carried out at the Bundala National park, a Sand Martin (Riparia riparia) and a White-cheeked Tern (Sterna repressa) were captured. Bird ringing session which was planned to capture birds at the middle of the migratory period was held at the Bundala National Park from 9th to 14th December 2008. This ringing session was conducted as a part of the National Bird Ringing Programme (NBRP) which is a collaboration programme of Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka (FOGSL) and the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC).

Ringing session was conducted at the Bundala Salterns adjacent to the Bundala Lagoon that located within the National Park. During the netting operations in the morning of 12th December, a Sand Martin was captured on a net established to capture waders and terns. Large flock of Barn swallows was flying in the area from early morning but none was captured. It was not difficult to identify the species as a Sand Martin by its morphological characteristics. It’s prominent brown breast band, partial white collar that not going across the nape and sandy brown upperparts were helpful to distinguish it from the other similar species Pale Martin. Sand Martin is considered as a vagrant to Sri Lanka.

Large flock of around 5000 terns was roosting at the salterns during the period of ringing operations. This flock contained few species while the majority was Common Terns, crested terns and little terns. On the night of 13th December, we found a bird which was different from the other terns we captured so far, on a one of our mist nets. It was kept in a cardboard box until next day morning for the processing. Based on the morphological characters and the measurements, we decided it as a White-cheeked Tern. However, since it is considered as a vagrant and there was only one previous record from Sri Lanka we needed further confirmation on the identity. Fortunately, well-known ornithologist and Principle investigator of the NBRP, Prof. Sarath Kotagama and Mr. Rex De Silva who recorded the species from Sri Lanka (the first record), were at Bundala with the team of FOGSL members having a workshop on Waders. We arranged to examine the specimen by themselves to get further confirmation. After studying the bird and referring some books we had at the field, we all concluded that the species is the White-cheeked Tern. This is the second record of the species from Sri Lanka. FOGSL members who participated in the workshop on waders at Bundala also got the opportunity to observe the bird and photograph it.

Birds were ringed, photographed and released later. Both of these records are first specimen records of the species in Sri Lanka.

C.D. Kaluthota, Rahula Perera, Kasun Dayananda, Sameera Ariyarathna, Hasith De Silva and Dilshan De Silva of FOGSL and five officers from the DWC participated in the ringing session.

Reported by C.D. Kaluthota.