Hanuman Plover breeding sites in T.N. bring ray of hope as species status reinstated after 86 years

hanuman plover breeding sites in T.N. discovered

A week after shorebird Hanuman Plover ( Charadrius seebohmi) was reinstated as a species after a gap of 86 years, researchers from Tamil Nadu have come up with a promising finding on the ground-breeding bird, status, and distribution of which is yet to be assessed.

According to the researchers, three breeding sites of the shorebird have been recorded in the Gulf of Mannar region and one from Point Calimere. The finding also stresses the need for the conservation of this shorebird, the population which is restricted to the southern tip of India and Sri Lanka, as all the four breeding sites were recorded outside protected areas.

The Journal of Threatened Taxa has published the finding, ‘Additional Breeding records of Hanuman Plover  Charadrius seebohmi from the south east coast of India’, authored by H. Byju and S. Ravichandran from the Centre of Advanced Study, Marine Biology, Annamalai University, along with N. Raveendran of the Madurai-based Iragukal Amritha Nature Trust and independent researcher R. Kishore.

According to them, the finding was important in the light of the fact that the Hanuman Plover was earlier considered as a subspecies of Kentish Plover ( Charadrius alexandrinus). “Hanuman Plover generally breeds on the ground and feeds on small insects. The main threat to the breeding of the birds found in our study was from stray dogs. They lay two-three eggs and guard the eggs until the chicks come out. The chicks’ parental care lasts for three – four weeks before they fly. The vulnerability of these birds extends up to one-and-a-half months,” said Mr. Byju.

The study team also found habitat destruction as a major threat to the survival of the shorebird.

“Hanuman Plovers live in wetland areas which are often encroached upon, used for dumping and other purposes. This leads to cats and dogs entering the area, becoming a cyclic threat to the bird. Being a regional endemic bird, the survival of the species and the status of its very small distributed population should be assessed properly for further conservation,” added Mr. Byju.

According to Mr. Raveendran, creating awareness among people living on the seashores will help for the conservation of the species. “We have observed children playing with eggs of ground-nesting birds in these areas, following which we had awareness talks with them”, he said.