Yellow-footed green pigeon

Yellow-footed green pigeon (Hariyal) to remain Maharashtra state bird

As the State Wildlife Board on Monday turned down Bombay Natural History Society’s (BNHS) proposal to declare forest owlet as the new state bird of Maharashtra, the yellow-footed green pigeon (Hariyal in Marathi) will continue to remain the state bird.

State officials said that, Forest owlet is found in few places in Satpura range in Maharashtra including Nandurbar, Jalgaon and Amravati, while the state bird yellow-footed green pigeon is found in all the states of India and everywhere Maharashtra, and also in Pakistan and Afghanisatan.

The BNHS had urged the state Forest Department to declare the critically-endangered and rare forest owlet, which is unique and endemic only to Maharashtra should be declared as the state bird.

“But the State Wildlife Board, in its meeting decided that the green pigeon will remain the state bird. Since the forest owlet is very rarely found, it was decided that it can not be a state bird,” Dr S K Khetarpal, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) told PTI.

While BNHS scientists had argued that 19 Indian states have their state birds, which are rare, unique and a threatened specie, like the white-winged wood duck is the state bird of Assam, blood pheasant of Sikkim, black-necked crane of Jammu and Kashmir.

However, BNHS claimed that there was no discussion on the issue in the meeting today, “as the decision on the issue was taken already as it was clear from the details of agenda of the meeting.” BNHS scientists said that they would continue with their demand for the forest owlet to be made the state bird.

White Rumped Shama

White Rumped Shama

Classification
Kingdom  :     Animalia
Phylum     :     Chordata
Class       :     Aves
Order       :     Passeriformes
Family     :     Muscicapidae
Species     :     C. malabaricus
Zoological name :     Copsychus malabaricus
Found In     Corbett National Park, Royal Chitwan National Park, Sundarbans National Park and Bandhavgarh National Park in India.

Physical appearance

White Rumped Shama is a famous song bird. It is medium in size. It is approximately 27 cm long and weighs around 32 grams. It has a round head, long legs and slender bills. The male is shiny dark in colour. Its head, neck and back are black bullish in colour, wings are dull black in colour, legs are pink in colour and the belly is pale orange in colour. It has along tail and broad wings. They have white feathers on the rump. Females are smaller than the males. Females are brown grayish in colour, with the white coloured belly. They have black bills.

Presence in India : White Rumped Shama is found in almost all the parts of India but are they are mostly found in Northern India. It is also spotted in the Corbett National Park, Royal Chitwan National Park, Sunderbans National Park and Bandhavgarh National Park in India.

Habitat : White Rumped Shama prefers dense jungles and lowlands up to 1500 m.

Diet : White Rumped Shama is a insectivore. It mainly feeds on insects like grasshoppers, termites and caterpillars. They also favour small intvertebrates, maggots, berries and fruits.

Reproduction : Incubation lasts for 12 –15 days. Males are generally aggressive during the breeding season. One egg is laid per day. The egg is white in colour with the reddish brown spots. Both males and females take care of the young ones. Young ones are born blind and featherless. They open their eyes in six days. Their feathers are completely developed in eleven days. They start flying in 14 days. They are sexually mature in 3- 4 months. Their nests are cup shaped, made of mud and leaves. Young ones feed on insects and earthworms.

Conservation status : Least concern. White Rumped Shama is present in large numbers.

Lifespan : White Rumped Shama generally lives for 10- 15 years.