Gujarat: Thol sanctuary’s 1st Black-Winged Cuckooshrike spotted

Even as bird lovers and tourists complained about the Nalsarovar drying up and birds giving it a miss, an enthusiastic birder from the city made what is believed to be a rare sighting at the Thol sanctuary.

Sejal Shah Daniel, a homemaker from Satellite, who goes birding almost every week found the presence of Black-winged Cuckooshrike, a bird hitherto not recorded in Thol sanctuary.

Daniel, who found the bird during a trip on January 6, initially thought it to be one from a Myna or Starling. “It was in a dense bush and I followed it to get as much of a clear shot as possible. But I was not sure of what it was and hence send a photograph of it to Ashok Mashru one of the foremost birders of Gujarat. He also got it confirmed with Prasad Ganpule, another respected birder. Both confirmed that it was as the Black-winged Cuckooshrike,” said Daniel.

She said that while the photographic evidence of the bird’s presence has been recorded in Vansda and one other place in Gujarat, it has not been reported in Thol. Uday Vora, a member of the National Wetland Committee, also said that it is indeed a rare sighting. “It has been recorded once or twice in Gujarat but this is the first time that it has been seen in Thol,” said Vora.

Black-winged Cuckooshrike males are dark grey and have wings and tail in contrasting shades with white weather tips on underside of tail. The females can be differentiate due to their relatively pale coluring.

The birds migrate south in winter and breed in the mountains during summer. It can be found in Northeast Pakistan and Uttarakhand, Nepal, Arunachal Pradesh extending upto to southeast Asia.

Those in the know said the birds usually spend winters on the foothills of mountains and are known to travel long distance to south of India, Orissa, Bengal. They have also been sighted in Kerala.