Grey-headed lapwings sighted for first time in C’garh
| Date :06-Jun-2019 |
By Roshan Chachane
RAIPUR
A team of four ornithologists from Wildlife Society have gathered perhaps the first photographic evidences of Grey-headed Lapwing’s presence in some parts of Chhattisgarh, where their presence never recorded. Wildlife Society team comprising of Ameet Mandavia, Ravi Naidu and Ankit Badesha led by seasoned Ornithologist AMK Bharos came across the two grey-headed lapwings at the banks of Gangrel reservoir back waters, river Mahanadi. The birds flew away in a harvested paddy field on approach of the vehicle and raised short call while taking off.
The grey-headed lapwings were accompanied by the four Red-Wattled lapwings. The team photographed the grey-headed lapwings at their new location, based on these images and examination with the aid of binoculars and visuals, their identity was ascertained. The previous record of a solitary grey-headed lapwing was made at Kodar Reservoir, Mahasamund. Further way back in 1995, a single bird was sighted at the water edge of Ramgarh rank by AMK Bharos. This was the northern most sighting location of the species in Chhattisgarh and adjacent to Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh. On December 3, 2017, Ameet Mandavia and his team visited Kachradih Dam located on the fringes of Barnawapara Sanctuary of Balodabazaar district, a solitary bird along with some red-wattled lapwings were spotted at some distance from the water.
Possibly there were three more birds but they were too far. The latest spotting was made by Ravi Naidu, who on February 16, 2018, saw a scattered congregation of 17 grey-headed lapwings at Kukur Bhuka Tank near Kansabel Bagbahar road. The ornithologists drew a conclusion that year-wise recorded sightings at different locations in Chhattisgarh, MP, Jharkhand suggests that Grey-headed Lapwing frequents irregularly in small numbers in winter.
At other occasions, it may have been overlooked or have been absent. All the sightings were recorded in the winter months only. The Grey-headed Lapwing (Vanellus Cinereus) is a winter visitor to the Indian sub-continent and reported in small flocks in Assam, Bangladesh, North Bihar, Kashmir, Rajasthan and Gujarat whereas elsewhere it is rare. The habitat of species during winter season is described as marshy places, the edges of lakes, river banks, wet grazing grounds, ploughed and stubbles.
Though, it has been recorded from Bastar region in the Southern parts of Chhattisgarh but not from central and northern regions. It has been categorized as the Least Concern by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red Data List. The study revealed its presence in central region, eastern MP and Jharkhand as well. The species was found singly, in pairs and in flocks. This suggests that it has adopted to its range extension further eastward from Vidharbha region of Maharashtra in Central India.