Rare redstart sighted near Thol lake

AHMEDABAD: It is now believed to be one of the rarest sightings by

birdwatching enthusiasts

in the country and probably the only sighting. As news spread on online forums about the presence of Ehrenberg’s

redstart

(Phoenicurus phoenicurus samamisicus) on the outskirts of Thol in Ahmedabad, itleftornithologist and avid birders surprised.

Hardik Bhatt, 29, a solar engineer was on an early morning birdwatching expeditions around mid-February near a water hole on the outskirts of Thol sanctuary when he spotted a bright bird among thick thorny shrub near a slaughterhouse on the way to Changodar. “I was struck the moment I heard the bird call, it was unusual. When I peered through my lens, I noticed the Ehrenberg’s redstart. In just a couple of seconds I clicked some pictures and then the bird vanished.”


There are no documented records of the Samamisicus subspeciesof redstartssofar in India. “What should interest every ornithologist is to investigate why this migratory bird found Thol conducive,” says

Bhatt Prasad Ganpule

, a bird watcher said “Bhatt shared the photo and after having a close look at the picture, it is confirmed that the bird is Ehrenberg’s redstart a species of Common redstart. The common redstart has been spotted in northern part of the country, but the Ehrenberg’s Redstart has never been spotted in India and especially in Gujarat.”

Uday Vora, chief conservator of forest land and a key person involved in the

bird census

said, “I had read about a rare sighting of Ehrenberg’s redstart on social media which was being circulated for the past two days. I have never heard of thisspecies in India.”

The common redstart species and its subspecies inhabit open forest and woodland, including old parkland, preferably with semi-open undergrowth or herbage. According to Red List of the International Union For Conservation of Nature the breeding season is from the end of April to mid-July but up to two weeks earlier in southern Europe, late May-late June in northern Finland and May-July in Morocco. The species is migratory in nature and found mostly in Afghanistan; Czech Republic; Germany; Ghana; Israel; Italy; Oman and Pakistan apart from Europe and other parts of the world.