A team of researchers found a new avian species in Arunachal Pradesh. The team led by Dr. Girish Jathar, Assistant director of Bombay Natural history Society (BNHS) on 8th February 2021. Dr Jathar, Himadri sekhar Mondol and his team identified a new species of birds named Three-banded Rosefinches in the high altitude coniferous forests of Arunachal Pradesh. This is a rare species and first reported from the forests of Arunachal Pradesh. Rosefinches are originally residents of Southern China and vagrant in Bhutan. Researchers from BNHS first photographed a male and female individual of this species at Sela Pass, Arunachal Pradesh, at an altitude of 3852 meters above sea level. The species belongs to the family of finch, Fringillidae, which are seed-eating passerine birds with a distinctively conical bill.
The team recently published this finding in the journal of Indian Birds. Atharva Singh, the lead author of the publication states that the Three-banded Rosefinch may be using the high altitude temparate coniferous forest of Arunachal Pradesh as a passage while migrating from China to Bhutan. Thus this landscape is a potential corridor for this species. Hence, it opens up interesting ecological research on the species in the future.
So far 1340 species of birds have been reported from India and with the advent of technology several enthusiast ornithologist have been identified several bird species each year. Since 2016, the bird checklist of India has increased by 104 new species, which were not reported earlier. In 2021 Three-banded Rosefinch has been added to the Bird checklist of India.
Bombay Natural history Society highlights the importance of intensive surveys in the least studied landscape like the Eastern Himalayas.
25 years in journalism. Worked in Telegraph also. Always focus on the Environment and looking for new wildlife species!!!