New Bird Discovered in India
Posted by: Loren Coleman on September 12th, 2006
New Multicolored Bird Found in India
September 12, 2006
A new bird species has been found in India, the first time such a discovery has been made here in more than 50 years, an astronomer and keen bird watcher said Tuesday.
The multicolored bird (Bugun liocichla) was spotted in May 2006, in the remote Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in India’s northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh near the border with China, said Ramana Athreya, a member of Mumbai’s Natural History Society.
Athreya, who found the bird, named it after the Bugun tribe, which lives in the area. The bird has a black cap, a bright yellow patch around the eyes and yellow, crimson, black and white patches on the wings, he told The Associated Press.
Birdlife International, a global alliance of conservation organizations, described it on its Web site Tuesday as “the most sensational ornithological discovery in India for more than half a century.”
Athreya caught two of the species, but released them after making detailed notes and taking photographs - and keeping feathers that had worked loose in his net.
“We thought the bird was just too rare for one to be killed,” Athreya said.
“With today’s modern technology, we could gather all the information we needed to confirm it as a new species. We took feathers and photographs and recorded the bird’s songs,” he said.
Though the bird was discovered in May, the news was kept under wraps until it was confirmed that it was a new species.
Athreya said he had first briefly spotted the bird in 1995. “But it was only this year I had a sufficiently good look that we could move into the matter.”
Beautiful specimen. My dad introduced me to bird watching at an early age. I tend to appreciate it more as I get older. Birds truly are beautiful creatures. I still hope to catch a glimpse of a possible thunder-bird one day.
The Bugun above, reminds me of a warbler, but hard to make out the size.
Nice find, and congrats to Athreya.
beatiful! What a week for cryptids. First we find a living fossil in a hairy rhino and now this beauty above. So, what is this bird related to? What size it is? We need to know more.
Shum, there is more information at the Birdlife International website.
That really is a beautiful specimen, i live in connecticut and right by my home i have seen some good size hawks flying above, i havent never seen hawks that large, last week i was looking out the window i saw this hawk circling and hovering above probablly going after prey, it was pretty good size alittle more than medium size.
That really is a beautiful specimen, I live in connecticut and right by my home I have seen some good size hawks flying above. I have never seen hawks that large. Last week I was looking out the window I saw this hawk circling and hovering above probably going after prey, it was pretty good size, a little more than medium size.
Beautiful bird, and fantastic news.
Again - harkening back to your recent article about what constitutes a “new species”… in this case the discoverer first saw it over ten years ago before being able to confirm it as a new species this year.
Anyone who’d known about it since 1995 and looked for it in the intervening years could really have laid claim to the ‘cryptozoologist’ title - the study of hidden animals.
It’s a shame the photographer used a flash; I’d have loved to see it’s colours in natural sunlight. Even so - look at those wing tips.
The Birdlife International website that planettom linked to (above) makes an interesting note that the feathers - and not a complete specimen - were used as the species holotype.
Commendation to the discoverers for releasing the bird alive!
How wonderful to read about the discovery of a new species instead of the demise of an existing one!
What a cool looking bird.