Sighting of Indian grey hornbill and Rufous woodpecker at Nandankanan Wildlife Sanctuary, Odisha, India

Abstract

Nandankanan Wildlife Sanctuary (NWS) is located between 20o23’08” to 20o24’10”N and 85o48’09” to 85o48’13” E, spreading over an area of 4.37 sq.km in the state of Odisha, Eastern India. The sanctuary enjoys a moderately hot humid climate around 30oC with annual average rainfall of 1350mm. The vegetation is of moist mixed deciduous type.1 There is scanty literature on birds of NWS. Kamal et al.,2 recorded 53 species of birds from “Kanjia” lake of NWS. A checklist of 120 species of birds of 41 families was reported by Panda et al.,3 Mohapatra et al. added one more species i.e., Stork billed kingfisher (Pelargopsis capensis) to the checklist.4 The present note intends to report addition of two new species to the above checklist. The sighted birds are Indian grey hornbill Ocyceros birostris (Scopoli, 1786) (Figure 1). Rufous woodpecker Micropternus brachyurus (Vieillot, 1818) (Figure 2). Both birds were sighted and photodocumented by the author during ad libitum field survey inside the sanctuary area. Both species were identified on site and confirmed.5,6 Indian Grey Hornbill is grey colored with white under parts, red iris & a tail with white tip and dark sub-terminal band. The bill is darkgrey to black surmounted with a casque extending upto the point of curvature in the bill. Rufous Woodpecker is a medium sized rufous colored bird with short black bill and black barring on the wing and tail. The bird lacks a crest. Male has crimson patch on ear covert which is pale buff in case of female.5,6