New bird species from Arunachal Pradesh added to list of avians in India

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: A team of scientists from Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Mumbai while exploring the high-altitude coniferous forests of Arunachal Pradesh recently photographed a rare species of bird, which was identified as the 'Three-banded Rosefinch' after detailed observations.

A press release issued by the BNHS has stated that this species is resident of Southern China and vagrant in Bhutan. Thus, this is the first confirmed report of the 'Three-banded Rosefinch' from, Arunachal Pradesh, a new addition to the list of birds from India. The team recently published this finding in the journal 'Indian Birds'.

The research team led by Dr Girish Jathar, Assistant Director, BNHS, is conducting intensive surveys of finches across the Eastern Himalayas as a part of the ongoing study funded by Oracle.

During one of these surveys, BNHS researchers Atharva Singh and Himadri Shekar Mondal first photographed a pair of male and female individuals of this species at the Sela Pass in Arunachal Pradesh, at an altitude of 3852 meters above sea level. This pair was seen with a flock of 'White-browed Rosefinch' — a species commonly seen in this landscape. The species belongs to the family of finch, Fringillidae, which are seed-eating passerine birds with a distinctively conical bill.

Lead author of the paper, Atharva Singh states that the 'Three-banded Rosefinch' may be using the high-altitude temperate coniferous forest of Arunachal Pradesh as a passage while migrating from China to Bhutan. Thus, this landscape is a potential corridor for this species. The second author of this paper, Himadri Sekar Mondal added that little information is available on the ecology of this species.

Dr Girish Jathar, who is leading the 'Climate Change and Himalaya Program' at BNHS, has mentioned that the altitudinal record of this species sighting from India is higher than its previous known altitudinal records from China. Hence, it opens up interesting ecological research on the species in future, he added.

According to the press release, so far 1,340 species have been reported from India; and, with the advent of technology and enthusiast birders reaching remote areas of the country, several bird species have been reported from India each year.

Since 2016, the bird checklist of India has increased by 104 new species to India which were not reported previously. In 2021 five new species including the 'Three-banded Rosefinch' have been added to the checklist of India. In 2020 there were three new additions to the checklist of India.

This new addition of bird for India by scientists from the Bombay Natural History Society highlights the importance of intensive surveys in the least studied landscapes like Eastern Himalayas, added the release.

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