TODAY -
Pink Headed Duck (Rhodonessa caryophyllacea) Manipuri: Nganu kok-nganbi
- Critically Endangered: CR -
The Threatened Birds of Manipur
R.K. Birjit Singh *
Pink Headed Duck (Rhodonessa caryophyllacea) Manipuri: Nganu kok-nganbi
Classification:
Kindgdom Animalia
Phylum Chordatata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Genus: Rhodonessa
Species: caryophyllacea
Binomial Name:
Rhodonessa caryophyllacea
(Latham, 1790)
Red List Category & Criteria: IUCN: Crtically Endangered (CR) D ver 3.1
Record of shooting and killing of the species in Manipur( Game Birds of Manipur)
Year | Number |
---|---|
1912-13 | 01 |
1914-15 | 01 |
1915-16 | 03 |
1932 | 01 |
Total | 06 |
History of the Species:
The Pink-headed Duck was described by John Latham in 1790. The genus Rhodonessa was originally created for this species alone. A.O. Hume collected a specimen in Manipur which he noted was very rare, hiding among dense reeds in Loktak Lake (1888). Mr. W.A. Cosgrave, I.C.S.,(1918-1920), the then British Political Agent in Manipur shot down one individual species in November, 1908 in Loktak Lake.
Hume shot down one male out of a pair on 23rd October, 1910 and another individual of the same species on 15th October, 1932 near Loktak Lake. It was always rare, and the last confirmed sighting, by C.M. Inglish was from Darbhanga, Bihar in June 1935 who did not even know what he had killed, until his dog, a retriever, brought the bird to him. The only known photographs of the species were one of a pair taken around 1925 by David Seth–Smith.
Description of the species:
Size: Length: ± 41-42 cm. Male has pink head and bill with brown body while female has grayish-pink head and duller brown body. In flight, light pinkish buff speculum and pale shell-pink under wing prominent.
Distribution: The species was presumably resident in Assam, Manipur, Bengal, Bihar and Orissa but stragglers recorded in winter sporadically at Luckhnow,UP, Punjab, Maharastra , Andhra Pradesh and Pulicat Lake at Tamil Nadu. It was also sighted at Nepal, Bangladesh and in the riverine swamps of Burma but no record at Shri Lanka.
The species may be possibly extinct as there is no new record of confirm sighting in its habitat range.
Food: Water weeds and shells (Omnivorous).
Status in Manipur: Not seen since 1932
* R.K. Birjit Singh wrote this article for e-pao.net
The writer is Environmentalist/Ornithologist and a State Coordinator, IBCN, Manipur and can be contacted at bsningthemcha(at)gmail(dot)com
This article was posted on October 07, 2014.
* Comments posted by users in this discussion thread and other parts of this site are opinions of the individuals posting them (whose user ID is displayed alongside) and not the views of e-pao.net. We strongly recommend that users exercise responsibility, sensitivity and caution over language while writing your opinions which will be seen and read by other users. Please read a complete Guideline on using comments on this website.
LATEST IN E-PAO.NET
Jump Start
DBS Imphal SubSite |
Readers Mail |
Editorials |
Education Announcements |
Essay |
Exclusive Event |
Flash - Audio Visual |
Incidents |
LFS Imphal SubSite |
News Timeline |
Poetry |
Opinion |
Sports |
Rock Concert |
RSS |
Top Stories |
Wathi Jugai