Bristled Grassbird sighted in Telangana after a gap of 32 years

Sangareddy: In a rare sighting, a bird was sighted by the bird watchers at Manjeera Wildlife Sanctuary near Sangareddy 32 years after it was first captured by a couple of USA-based Wildlife photographers near Nagarjuna Sagar Dam in the year 1990. Seasoned birders Gowthama Poludasu, and Anita Negi, members of Hyderabad Birding Pals (HBP), have […]

Sangareddy: In a rare sighting, a bird was sighted by the bird watchers at Manjeera Wildlife Sanctuary near Sangareddy 32 years after it was first captured by a couple of USA-based Wildlife photographers near Nagarjuna Sagar Dam in the year 1990.

Seasoned birders Gowthama Poludasu, and Anita Negi, members of Hyderabad Birding Pals (HBP), have captured Bristled Grassbird (Schoenicola striatus) during a regular birding trip in a grassland close to Manjeera dam. The bird was rated as a Vulnerable Category species by IUCN (International union for Conservation of Society. Gowthama and Anita have captured two birds during their visit on January 10. Since then the members of HBP and other wildlife photographers were making a beeline to Manjeera dam to capture the rare bird in the lens. Bristled Grassbird, a native to Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and lowland areas of India, was sighted in parts of South India only during the winter season. The HBP members have observed that a couple of birds have migrated to spend the winter here.
Louis and Christine from the United States of America had captured the bird in 1990 close to Nagarjuna Sagar dam, which was only the previous record in Telangana.

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Speaking to Telangana Today, Seasoned wildlife photographer Sriram Reddy said that the birds were not being spotted because of the loss of their habitat. Since these small passerine birds will prefer to stay in grasslands, Reddy observed that they were not migrating to Telangana as the grasslands were disappearing slowly. With the fresh sighting of Bristled Grassbird, the total number of birds sighted at Manjeera Wildlife Sanctuary has increased to 294. The Sanctuary is one of the most sought-after destinations for wildlife photographers, and ornithologists throughout the year. Particularly, the Manjeera attracts a huge number of winter migrants from across the globe.

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