In a first for Gujarat, ‘Chinese white-cheeked ashy drongo’ spotted in Gir

“The bird looked similar to a drongo in shape and size but its plumage differed from black drongo which is a resident species in Gujarat. So, I took its photographs for records. Ten days later, I went to the same area near Shingoda River with Divyarajsinh Parmar, a school teacher from Surendranagar… but couldn’t spot the bird. Nonetheless, we could later identify that the bird I had sighted on January 17, 2023, was Dicrurus leucophaeus leucogenis, commonly known as Chinese white-cheeked ashy drongo, a sub-species of ashy drongo species,” Trivedi, who is also the honourary wildlife warden of Gujarat, told The Indian Express.

Trivedi’s sighting record has been published in the latest edition of Flamingo Gujarat. It is a quarterly journal published by the Bird Conservation Society, Gujarat (BCSG). However, Raju Vyas, editor of Flamingo Gujarat, has attached a note to Trivedi’s and Parmar’s article, suggesting the bird spotted in Gir forest could be a white-cheeked ashy drongo (Dicrurus leucophaeus salangensis) subspecies and that more evidence was needed to establish it conclusively that the bird sighted on January 17 was indeed a Chinese white-cheeked ashy drongo.

“We have accepted this note as per the author’s request. Although the authors likely identified the bird correctly as D. leucogensis, conclusive identification is not possible without a photo of underwing-coverts. Given the similarity between D. leucogensis and D. salangensis, consider using a slash (leucogensis/salangensis) for a more appropriate representation,” the note reads.

Trivedi says that he saw the bird in flight, exposing its underwing-coverts. But, he said, he couldn’t take photos of the flight. “But either way… this is the first record of white-cheeked ashy drongo or Chinese white-cheeked ashy drongo in Gujarat,” says Prasad Ganpule, former editor of Flamingo Gujarat and one of the three authors of the book ‘A Field Guide to the Birds of Gujarat’. “It is likely that Trivedi could have identified the bird correctly but we need evidence for it to be verified independently. But photos taken by him suggest it certainly was either a Chinese white-cheeked drongo or a white-cheeked drongo. Neither of the species has been recorded previously in Gujarat,” Ganpule further says.

According to Trivedi and Parmar’s article in Flamingo Gujarat, ashy drongo has 15 subspecies and its range stretches from Afghanistan to southwestern Philippines through the Indian sub-continent and from China to Indonesia. The Chinese white-cheeked ashy drongo subspecies breeds in central, north, and east China and winters in Cambodia and Malaysia, the article says. Some subspecies of ashy drongo are found throughout India save the western Rajasthan, Trivedi says, adding they occur in most of Gujarat.

Ganpule, however, said that white-cheeked drongos have previously been recorded till Madhya Pradesh while Chinese white-cheeked drongos have been recorded in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. “White-cheeked drongos are winter visitors to India and their range is not known to extend beyond MP. Therefore, it is exciting news that an ashy drongo subspecies has been recorded so far west in India,” said the seasoned birdwatcher, adding, “Gir Forest gets highlighted generally for Asiatic lions and leopards but as this sighting shows, it is equally rich in bird diversity also.”