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Forest Owlet Conservation
From CopperWiki
The Forest Owlet, Athene blewitti, had not been seen in India since the German Collector Meinertzhagen shot one in the now vanished Mandavi forest, 320km north of Bombay. Believed to have been extinct for over a century, 113 years to be precise, it was rediscovered by Pamela C. Rasmussen, Ben King and David Abbott at Shahada near Taloda in the Nandurbar district of Maharastra (Toranmal Reserve Forest) in India in November 1997.
Most owl populations are in decline on account of habitat loss and the heavy use of insecticides and pesticides
Though there had been numerous attempts to find the owlet before 1997, by legendary ornithologists Salim Ali and Dr. Dilon Ripley in the forests of the Vidarbha in Central India and Orissa, the owl appeared to have been relegated to being a stuffed specimen on the walls of natural history museums.
Until its rediscovery, this owlet was known only by the seven specimens collected in the 19th century in northern Maharashtra, south-west Madhya Pradesh and western Orissa. In 2000, a survey located 25 birds in four sites in northern Maharashtra and south-western Madhya Pradesh, including the Melghat Tiger Reserve.
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[edit] Description
The Forest Spotted Owlet is small and stocky, with a plain crown and heavily banded wings and tail. Unlike its more common cousin, the Spotted Owlet (Athene brama), its upper parts are darker with faint white spots. The facial disc is pale and the eyes are yellow. Strongly diurnal, and fairly easy to detect, it is frequently seen perching on predominantly bare branches. Lizards are an important prey species for the bird.
[edit] Threats
India is home to a vast diversity of owl species and subspecies — 60 in all. Most owl populations are in decline on account of habitat loss and the heavy use of insecticides and pesticides. One of the gravest threat the Forest Owlet faces is destruction of habitat. Intense cultivation, illegal logging, use of pesticides and over-grazing have put intense pressure on the owlet’s habitat. It has vanished from the forests of Orissa and, in Melghat Tiger Reserve, illicit woodcutting, shifting cultivation, forest fires, grazing pressure, anthropogenic pressure and the Upper Tapti Project (a dam project) are the major threats. In the Toranmal Reserve Forest and the Narnala Sanctuary, anthropogenic pressure, illicit woodcutting, encroachments, intentional forest fires and grazing pressure are the major threats. Increasing use of pesticide and rodenticides, and superstitions among tribals, are also a threat to the survival of the bird.
Huge chunks of the Taloda forest — about 2,700 hectares — from where maximum the number of specimens were collected in the past, have been cleared to make way for the oustees for the Sardar Sarovar project. A further 1,500 hectares near Akkalkuwa have already been felled for the same purpose and there have been additional demands from the Maharashtra government for an additional 1,500 hectares of forestland for rehabilitating oustees.
Shahada, in north-west Maharashtra, was known to have five nesting trees of the Forest Owlet. Of these, two of these have been cut, effectively wiping out two families. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources lists the owlet as critically endangered, citing that Athene blewitti has tiny, severely fragmented populations that are inferred to be declining. The Forest Owlet is also protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
With a current population estimated at lower than 100, there is little doubt that unless the habitat of the Forest Owlet is protected, it could well become extinct — with no hope for a second lease of life.
[edit] References and Useful Websites
- Farah Ishtiaq, Sanctuary Asia
- Prerna Singh Bindra, The Pioneer
