Hyderabad Birding Pal’s 153rd birdwalk to Manjeera Wildlife Sanctuary, 21st May 2017
Manjeera Wildlife Sanctuary is an riverine wetland 50 km northwest of Hyderabad in Medak district. It is a place with a number of resident and migratory birds in addition to being home for the Marsh Crocodile Crocodylus palustris. It is recognized internationally as an Important Bird Area (IBA), due to its rich bird diversity and its high preference by migratory birds. Mainly it has four habitats: marshland, tropical scrub forest, grassland and agriculture land. On the bird listing website- ebird.org, 233 species of birds have been reported till now.
Hyderabad Birding Pals organised its 153rd birdwalk here. Thirteen members participated. Weather was sunny and dry. Major sightings include Bengal Weaver, breeding colony of Painted Storks and Brahminy Kite. The meeting point was at Allwyn crossroad at 05:30 am and we started birding at about 07:00 am. We looked for birds as soon as we took a turn towards the sanctuary after crossing Sangareddy town.
We expected to see breeding activity of resident birds, some previously sighted rare birds, and to explore new location. As we drove towards the reservior, we spotted Scaly breasted Munias, House Sparrows, Baya Weavers, Pied Bushchat, Asian Pied Starling, Common Myna, Indian Robin, Cattle Egret in the fields and grasslands along the road. Checked for Red necked Falcon but there were none seen on their usual spot. The green patch near the habitat orientation center was checked, it had large number of fruit bats making lot of noise, got Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher there. Meanwhile other group members went to the patch in front of the center, Black-headed Cuckooshrike, Indian Golden Oriole, White-browed Bulbul and Indian Gray Hornbill among others were seen there.
There was fairly good activity on the track towards the abandoned houses. In this area five Braminy Kites were seen, some were juveniles among them and five Spotted Owlets were in shady trees. Further ahead the reservoir area starts with the receded water developing into a grassland. In this many Zitting Cisticolas were seen, alarm calling as we approached and disappearing into the grass. Walking further towards water gave sightings of Lesser Whistling Duck, Indian Spot-billed Duck, Asian Openbill, Little Cormorant, Oriental Darter, Gray Heron, Purple Heron. Big flocks of Glossy Ibis and Lesser whistling ducks were flying over water.
On a green island in the reservoir, hundreds of Painted Storks had made a breeding colony. Lots of them were flying over it and a group of juveniles were stationed close to water, now and then being attended by adults. The island also had few other bird species. Other members also went to the side bund, dam wall and water body on the sanctuary road. It gave sightings of Yellow Bittern, Bay-backed Shrike, Rufous-tailed Lark, Eurasian Hoopoe and Chestnut-shouldered Petronia among others.
With the temperature rising, we decide to end for the day. A total of 88 species were seen.
Just in: with the review of images taken, a special bird popped out- Oriental Turtle Dove. This is for the first time reported on ebird at this location. It is rare resident in this area. Spotted by Sundareswaran R Vetaikorumagan sir. The species count is now upgraded to 89.
Another addition from the image review, Black naped Oriole spotted by Dr. Balakrishna Marar. A great find.
Checklist of birds
Species and Count
Lesser Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna javanica) 7
Cotton Pygmy-Goose (Nettapus coromandelianus) 3
Indian Spot-billed Duck (Anas poecilorhyncha) 10
Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) 3
old world quail sp. (Synoicus/Coturnix sp.) 1
Gray Francolin (Francolinus pondicerianus) 5
Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) 3
Asian Openbill (Anastomus oscitans) 2
Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala)1000
Little Cormorant (Microcarbo niger) 2
Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) 5
Oriental Darter (Anhinga melanogaster) 2
Yellow Bittern (Ixobrychus sinensis) 1
Gray Heron (Ardea cinerea) 3
Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) 1
Great Egret (Ardea alba) 1
Intermediate Egret (Mesophoyx intermedia) 1
Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) 2
Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) 5
Indian Pond-Heron (Ardeola grayii) 3
Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) 8
Black-headed Ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus) 2
Red-naped Ibis (Pseudibis papillosa) 2
Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus caeruleus) 1
Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus) 6
White-breasted Waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus) 1
Gray-headed Swamphen (Porphyrio poliocephalus) 2
Eurasian Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) 1
Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra) 3
Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) 3
Yellow-wattled Lapwing (Vanellus malabaricus) 4
Red-wattled Lapwing (Vanellus indicus) 4
Bronze-winged Jacana (Metopidius indicus) 2
River Tern (Sterna aurantia) 2
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) (Columba livia (Feral Pigeon)) 5
Oriental Turtle-Dove (Streptopelia orientalis) 1
Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) 3
Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis) 2
Laughing Dove (Streptopelia senegalensis) 5
Greater Coucal (Centropus sinensis) 2
Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus) 3
Common Hawk-Cuckoo (Hierococcyx varius) 1
Spotted Owlet (Athene brama) 6
Little Swift (Apus affinis) 4
Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) 2
Indian Gray Hornbill (Ocyceros birostris) 4
White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) 3
Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) 1
Green Bee-eater (Merops orientalis) 1
Coppersmith Barbet (Psilopogon haemacephalus) 4
Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri) 2
Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia) 1
Black-headed Cuckooshrike (Lalage melanoptera) 1
Bay-backed Shrike (Lanius vittatus) 1
Indian Golden Oriole (Oriolus kundoo) 1
Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus) 2
House Crow (Corvus splendens) 4
Large-billed Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos) 1
Rufous-tailed Lark (Ammomanes phoenicura) 4
Ashy-crowned Sparrow-Lark (Eremopterix griseus) 7
Indian Bushlark (Mirafra erythroptera) 2
Oriental Skylark (Alauda gulgula) 2
Dusky Crag-Martin (Ptyonoprogne concolor) 1
Red-rumped Swallow (Cecropis daurica) 6
Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer) 7
White-browed Bulbul (Pycnonotus luteolus) 3
Zitting Cisticola (Cisticola juncidis) 5
Common Tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius) 2
Gray-breasted Prinia (Prinia hodgsonii) 1
Ashy Prinia (Prinia socialis) 3
Plain Prinia (Prinia inornata) 1
Large Gray Babbler (Turdoides malcolmi) 5
Yellow-billed Babbler (Turdoides affinis) 7
Indian Robin (Copsychus fulicatus) 3
Oriental Magpie-Robin (Copsychus saularis) 1
Tickell’s Blue-Flycatcher (Cyornis tickelliae) 1
Pied Bushchat (Saxicola caprata) 2
Asian Pied Starling (Gracupica contra) 4
Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) 2
Pale-billed Flowerpecker (Dicaeum erythrorhynchos) 1
Purple-rumped Sunbird (Leptocoma zeylonica) 2
Purple Sunbird (Cinnyris asiaticus) 4
White-browed Wagtail (Motacilla maderaspatensis) 1
Paddyfield Pipit (Anthus rufulus) 2
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 4
Chestnut-shouldered Petronia (Petronia xanthocollis) 2
Baya Weaver (Ploceus philippinus) 5
Bengal Weaver (Ploceus benghalensis) 4
Indian Silverbill (Euodice malabarica) 4
Scaly-breasted Munia (Lonchura punctulata) 2
Here is the link to complete checklist, http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S37028590
