News Highlight:
- Recently a group of birdwatchers trekked to a peak in Arunachal pradesh’s changlang district in search of the rare and elusive Grey bellied wren Babbler.
- But they recorded a new species of songbird, they called it the Lisu wren Babbler, named after the local community LISU.
Key Takeaway:
The Grey-bellied Wren Babbler is mostly found in Myanmar, with some sightings reported in adjoining China and Thailand. There has been only one reported spotting of the bird in India back in 1998 and at the same mountain.
Wren Babbler:
- About:
- wren-babbler, any of about 20 species of small Asian birds belonging to the babbler family Timaliidae.
- They are 10 to 15 centimetres (4 to 6 inches) long, rather short-tailed, and have a rather short and straight bill.
- Features:
- It was until recently considered a subspecies of the long-tailed wren-babbler.
- The name indicates the ground colour of the belly of the grey-bellied wren babbler.
- The birds sighted had a sweet song that was similar to the songs of the Naga wren babbler and quite unlike the trilling song of the grey-bellied wren babbler.
- Dark edges to its back and crown feathers give it a scaly-looking quality.
- Forages on ground and in undergrowth, almost always under heavy cover and rarely emerging into the open.
- Extremely similar in appearance to Pale-throated, Chin Hills, and Long-tailed wren-babblers, but no range overlap.
- Location:
- It is found in China, India (Arunachal Pradesh), Myanmar, and Thailand.
- Their finding was published by Indian BIRDS, a peer-reviewed journal of south Asian ornithology.
- There has been only one previous report of this bird from India when two specimens were collected from Mugaphi close to the Myanmar border in 1988.
- One of these specimens is kept at the Smithsonian Museum in the United States.
- ICUN Status:
- The IUCN, started recognizing it as distinct species in 2008.
- Least Concern.
State of the World’s Birds Report 2022:
- Key points:
- The report has claimed that climate change is an important emerging driver of change in bird communities and a particular concern for tropical montane, polar, and migratory species.
- Global bird populations have steadily declined for the last three decades.
- Major reason of this reduction could be attributed to the continued growth of human footprint on the natural world, which has led to the degradation and loss of natural habitats, and the direct overexploitation of many species are the key threats to avian biodiversity.
- The use of 37% of the surviving bird species as pets and 14% as food are examples of direct overexploitation.
- Key findings:
- Approximately 48 per cent of extant bird species worldwide (5,245) are known or suspected to be undergoing population declines, compared with 39 per cent (4,295) with stable trends, 6 per cent (676) showing increasing populations trends, and 7 per cent (778) with unknown trends.
- Habitat loss resulting from land-use change typically occurs concurrently with habitat fragmentation and habitat degradation, which interact synergistically to drive changes in avian community composition.
- The findings also states that human infrastructure and artificial light at night (ALAN, a form of pollution), impact the ability of migrating birds to access cues for navigation and orientation and act as a major sublethal impact to birds.
- Globally, there has been a deterioration in the conservation status of the majority of bird populations, including that of many formerly abundant species, especially at temperate latitudes.
- Threatened species are concentrated in the tropics, which host the richest avian diversity.
- The most significant threats to avian biodiversity are habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation coupled with human overexploitation and invasive alien species.
- The study reports that birdwatching is a recommended form of avian conservation but warns of “local negative impacts” of bird feeding valued at $5-6 billion per year and growing by 4% annually.
State of the World’s Birds Report: India
- Apart from tropical forests, the threat of natural grasslands has been particularly worrying for North America, Europe and India.
- If unique ecosystems like grasslands are to retain their diverse birdlife, governments and research groups must prioritise such landscapes and their inhabitants for conservation and ensure that they do not become plantations or woodlands.
pic courtesy: Deccan Herald
content Source: Deccan Herald