Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 February 2022 | 14(2): 20680–20682

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7722.14.2.20680-20682

#7722 | Received 23 October 2021 | Finally accepted 21 January 2022

First record of Small Minivet Pericrocotus cinnamomeus (Aves: Passeriformes: Campephagidae) from Kashmir, India

Zakir Hussain Najar ¹, Bilal A. Bhat ² & Riyaz Ahmad ³

^1,2 Department of Zoology, University of Kashmir, Hazratbal, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir 190001, India.

³ Wildlife Trust of India, F-13, Sector 8, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 20301, India.

¹ zakirnajar1@gmail.com, ² drbilalbhat@uok.edu.in, ³ riyaz@wti.org.in (corresponding author)

Editor: Carol Inskipp, Bishop Auckland Co., Durham, UK. Date of publication: 26 February 2022 (online & print)

Citation: Najar, Z.H., B.A. Bhat & R. Ahmad (2022). First record of Small Minivet Pericrocotus cinnamomeus (Aves: Passeriformes: Campephagidae) from Kashmir, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 14(2): 20680–20682. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7722.14.2.20680-20682

Copyright: © Najar et al. 2022. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.

Funding: University Grants Commission (UGC).

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Acknowledgements: Thanks are due to the Department of Wildlife Protection, Government of Jammu & Kashmir for providing necessary permission to carry out the field work in the Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary; Dr. Suhail Ahmad Lone from the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Kashmir for preparing the study area map; and Sameer Khazir field officer at the Wildlife Trust of India for accompanying in the field.

Minivets are small- to medium-sized, sexually dimorphic and brightly coloured birds belonging to the order Passeriformes and family Campephagidae. They are distributed over mainland Asia in the west and to the Pacific coast and Japan in the east, through the Indonesian archipelago in the south, with the easternmost distribution along Philippines, Borneo, & Flores Island, near east of Wallace’s line (Johnsson et al. 2010). Minivets inhabit forests and forest edge habitats and exhibit group foraging in the forest canopy (Dickninson 2003; Taylor 2005). Out of 12 minivet species found across the world (Johnsson et al. 2010), India is home to nine species (Grimmet et al. 2011). Recent work has reported only Long-tailed Minivet Pericrocotus ethologus from the temperate region of Kashmir while four species of minivets, including Small Minivet Pericrocotus cinnamomeus are known to inhabit subtropical Jammu (Suhail et al. 2020).

Here we report the first record of Small Minivet Pericrocotus cinnamomeus with photographic evidence in Kashmir (Images 1–2). The bird was sighted on 02 August 2021 in Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary (HWS). The authors had been studying mammals in HWS and also documenting bird diversity of the study site. The bird was sitting on a Pine Tree Pinus wallichiana adjacent to an open meadow perhaps feeding on something when we sighted a group of four individuals. However, we could capture a photograph of only one (male) as the others flew away. The bird was recorded at 33.631N & 74.631E and altitude of 2,997 m. The male small minivet is distinguished from other minivets as its head and upper parts are grey, orange under parts, yellow fading on the belly, orange tail margins, rump, and wing patches. This species is distributed throughout tropical southern Asia from eastern India to Indonesia (BirdLife International 2021).

Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary, spanning an area of 341km², is in the Shopian district of Kashmir, northwestern Himalaya. It is situated between  33.483–33.683 N and 74.500–74.716 E, with an elevation range of 2,100–4,745m (Image 3). The vegetation of HWS is dominated by alpine meadows with conifer forests confined to lower and middle elevations at 2,100–3,200 m. The alpine scrub and alpine meadows vegetation types occur at 3,200–4,000 m. The area is rich in flora and fauna and is home to Markhor Capra falconeri and a variety of mammals and birds (Ranjitsinh et al. 2005; Bhatnagar et al. 2009; Kaul et al. 2014).

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References

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