Untitled - ENVIS Centre on Avian Ecology

Buceros Vol. 7, No. 1 & 2 (2002)
PINK-HEADED DUCK Rhodonessa caryophyllacea Critical D1
This duck is probably extinct, but until the last known areas of its former range are
surveyed this cannot be confirmed. Any remaining population is likely to be tiny. It
therefore qualifies as Critical.
Distribution: The Pink-headed Duck is a mysterious and,
sadly, almost certainly extinct species. The majority of
records are from India, with a much smaller number from
Myanmar and a handful from Bhutan, Bangladesh and
Nepal. Although stragglers have been recorded in the
Punjab and southern India, most records are from India’s
north-eastern states and northern Myanmar 1 .
Population: Accounts of the abundance of the Pinkheaded
Duck by people who knew it at first hand are
variable. Blyth 2 noting it as present in “India generally”,
called it “not common in L. [Lower] Bengal”, while
Jerdon described it as “most common in parts of
Bengal”. Hume and Jerdon 3 described the Pink-headed
Duck as commonest in parts of “Bengal” but found at
times throughout northern India, rarely in the northwestern
provinces, and still more rarely in the central
n n n
and southern parts. Now probably no bird survives in
the wild.
Threats: This Pink-headed Duck was probably
uncommon long before it was first discovered for science,
and appears to have succumbed to a combination of
habitat loss and hunting pressure 1 .
Conservation measures: The species has been protected
by Indian law against capture, killing or egg collection
since 1956, and it is legally protected under the Wildlife
Act (1994) in Myanmar. It is listed in Appendix I of
CITES.
References: 1. BirdLife International 2001; 2. Blyth
1849–1852; 3. Jerdon 1862–1864.
HIMALAYAN QUAIL Ophrysia superciliosa Critical D1
The threat status of this enigmatic quail is extremely difficult to judge due to the paucity
of information. If not extinct, its population is likely to be tiny, and inference therefore
points to Critical status.
Distribution: The Himalayan Quail—a distinctive small
gamebird occupying a monotypic genus—is known only
from two areas in the lower Western Himalayan ranges
in Uttaranchal. These lie between 1,650 and 2,100 m and
are separated by a distance of c.180 km, although the
range of the species is likely to have been much broader.
Its current distribution is unknown. Between 1945 and
1950 there were apparently reliable reports of the species
being shot in east Kumaon near Lohaghat village and
from the Dailekh district of Nepal 1 , and there is another
putative sighting near Suwakholi in the Mussoorie hills
where coveys of birds 2 were encountered on two
occasions in September 1984. In Uttaranchal it was
reported from Mussoorie in 1836, 5 km to the north-west,
between Badraj and Banog, and at Jerepani, eastern slopes
of Sherkadanda, and in 1876 in Naini Tal at 2,100 m, the
last confirmed record.
Population: Only about a dozen specimens are known 3 ,
all collected between 1836 and 1876. It is appropriate to
continue to assume that one or more very small
populations still survive in some remote area in the lower
or middle Himalayan range.
Threats: The Himalayan Quail is one of four threatened
members of the suite of 11 bird species that are entirely
restricted to the “Western Himalayas Endemic Bird
Area”. Threats and conservation measures are profiled 4 .
Increased human population both around Mussoorie
(c.20,000 people in 1987 5 ) and Naini Tal (c.28,000 people
in 1987 5 ) appears to have severely degraded the habitat
in these areas.
Conservation measures: The Himalayan Quail has been
considered something of a mystery for many years. Despite
13 THREATENED BIRDS OF INDIA
CRITICALLY ENDANGERED