Birdwatchers in Gujarat are excited after an orange-headed thrush (Geokichla citrina citrina), usually spotted in the Himalayas, Eastern Ghats, and Sri Lanka, was seen in Ahmedabad early this year. With this, the number of species of birds recorded in the state has gone up to 117. The petite forest-dwelling bird was sighted by Ishaan Lalbhai, son of businessman Punit Lalbhai, in the family’s garden in Koteshwar on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on March 9. Later, Punit Lalbhai, fellow birdwatcher Sunil Kini, Ruchita Soni, and Ishaan spotted it again in the same garden on April 9. The sighting has been detailed in the latest issue of Flamingo Gujarat, the quarterly journal published by Bird Conservation Society, Gujarat (BCSG), an Ahmedabad-headquartered NGO working for the conservation of birds in the state. “On March 24, 2023, at around 17:30 hours, while on a regular birding trip at our garden area in Ahmedabad, I encountered a male orange-headed thrush. The bird was seen well, and it was noted that it moved on the dry leaf bed and looked for insects. It was identified as an orange-headed thrush, and photos were taken from a safe distance. Later, the photos were shared with Devvratsinh Mori, Prasad Ganpule, and Sunil Kini, and it was confirmed to be of the nominate G. c. citrina subspecies,” 11-year-old Ishaan has written in his article published in Flamingo Gujarat, stressing that this is the first-ever record of Geokichla citrina citrina in Gujarat. Punit Lalbhai is vice-chairman and executive director of Arvind Limited, one of the biggest textile manufacturers in India. Geokichla citrina cyanotus, a sub-species of orange-headed thrush, is a resident bird in forests of north and south Gujarat regions and there are scattered records of this sub-species in the Saurashtra region also, the Flamingo Gujarat article says. Geokichla c cyanotus can be distinguished from Geokichla c. cintrina by its black vertical stripes across the eye and the ear coverts. As per the Flamingo Gujarat article, Geokichla c. citrina lacks such stripes and, instead, has an unmarked orange-rufous head and a broad white bar on the slaty-blue wings. They forage on the foliage on the forest floor and their range extends into south-east Asia. “Ishaan had been seeing this bird since February and he managed to click good photos in March. This bird is 0common in North and North East India as well as in the Eastern Ghats, southern India, and Sri Lanka,” Kini told The Indian Express. “While this bird is a species preferring forests and woodland, the Lalbhai family’s garden is spread over around 10 acres and is a wooded area which can attract such birds,” he added. Kini said that he too spotted the bird during a bird walk the Lalbhais had organised on April 9. “Sometimes, woodland birds are seen in gardens in cities also. Some time ago, an Indian Pitta had made a garden on CG Road in the heart of Ahmedabad its home for a month,” said Kini, a birdwatcher from Ahmedabad. Devvaratsinh Mori, assistant managing editor of Flamingo Gujarat, ruled out the possibility of the individual seen in the Lalbhai estate being an escapee. “While birds of this species do have vibrant colours, there are no known records or literature, portraying birds of this species as pets. Hence, I don’t think the one sighted in Ahmedabad was an escapee,” he said. The bird was not seen in the garden after April 9, the article says. Prasad Ganpule, a prominent birdwatcher of Gujarat and former editor of Flamingo Gujarat, said that the orange-headed thrush seen in Ahmedabad could be a vagrant. “Birds of this species are known to migrate from their breeding grounds in the Himalayas to their wintering grounds in the Eastern Ghats and Sri Lanka. The time of its sighting in Ahmedabad suggests that this individual bird could be migrating back to its breeding ground. But Gujarat is not known to be the migration path of this species. So, this particular bird could be a vagrant,” said Ganpule. With this, the number of species of birds recorded in Gujarat has gone up to 117. In fact, the same article records a rescue of a red-tailed tropicbird, a bird that lives at sea most of the time, by Nagajan Modhwadiya in Javar village on the outskirts of Porbandar city on April 16 this year. +This is also the first record of this species in Gujarat, taking the species count to 618.
