Black Baza spotted for the first time in Amrabad Tiger Reserve

Nagarkurnool: Amrabad Tiger Reserve (ATR) officials said for the first time a Black Baza was sighted in the reserve on April 9 this month. This was also first time Black Baza was spotted in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, they said. ATR Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Rohit Gopidi confirmed that a Black Baza was spotted in the tiger reserve as per the e-bird, an online database of bird observations.

Madan Reddy Ryapaku, a wildlife photographer from Hyderabad sighted and photographed the beautiful bird, when it was perched on a tree branch. There was no prior record of the bird sighting in this part of the country, he said. Rohit Gopidi said the Black Baza was a bird of prey usually found in the forests of Northeast India, the eastern Himalayas, China, and Southeast Asia. The races in the Indian region were migratory, wintering in Kerala and Sri Lanka.

A prominent crest was a feature of these beautiful birds. Black Bazas were generally found in dense forests often in small groups. They are also known to spend a lot of time perching on bare branches of tall trees rising above the forest canopy, he explained. As the ATR was taking up extensive measures to develop the conducive ecosystem for growth of wildlife, a few rare birds were making a halt during their migration to different areas, he said.

This apart, vultures were spotted by ATR personnel at Esagandi village in the Maddimadugu range during their inspection on Monday. Last time, vultures were spotted in Kolhapur, said Rohit Gopidi, adding these were good signs for the ATR. “This apart, top priority was being accorded to protection and avoiding disturbance to the wildlife in the ATR limits. All these measures are yielding good results,” said Rohit Gopidi.