Bull 497 Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus. 18 (2): 499-509. Vagrancy records of the great Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus. (2024) 18 (2): 497-505. https://doi.org/10.26842/binhm.7.2024.18.2.0497 SHORT COMMUNICATION VAGRANCY RECORDS OF THE GREAT WHITE PELICAN PELECANUS ONOCROTALUS LINNAEUS, 1758 (AVES, PELECANIFORMES, PELECANIDAE) IN SOUTHERN INDIA Kamalanathan Sharma*,, Samidurai Jayakumar** and Subramanian Muralidharan* *Division of Avian Ecotoxicology, Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, South India Centre of Wildlife Institute India (WII), Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. **Department of Zoology and Wildlife Biology, A.V.C. College (Autonomous), Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu, India. *Corresponding author E-mail: sharmawlb@gmail.com Received: 23 Jan. 2024, Revised: 29 May 2024, Accepted: 1 June 2024, Published:20 December 2024 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ABSTRACT Vagrancy is a less contrived part in the context of bird migration; thus, observing the vagrancy pattern of immigrants helps to discover changes in distribution, range shifting, and range expansion of the bird species. It is critical to look after the determinants and patterns of vagrancy for effective conservation measures for all migratory bird species, including threatened pelican species, since their inland migration routes are understudied in India. Great White Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus Linnaeus, 1758 (Pelecaniformes, Pelecanidae) is one of the winter visitors to India, but its wintering range in India is not addressed adequately. This communication provides documentation of the sighting of a Great White Pelican at Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary, one of the Important Bird Areas in Andhra Pradesh, India, and briefly highlights the less-noticed vagrancy phenomenon of this species in the states of southern India. Keywords: Great White Pelican, Inland migration, Range expansion, Vagrancy, Wintering. INTRODUCTION Vagrant birds are individuals of migratory bird species that are observed outside their wintering grounds and distribution range in unusual areas (Elisa et al., 2015). Surprisingly, it is a common phenomenon in many bird species, often occurring in spatiotemporally predictable patterns. Vagrancy can occur through inter and intra-competition among species and the expansion of their home range, generally as a consequence of changes in resources due to environmental changes (Woehler, 1992; Milius, 2000; Rey et al., 2007). The Great White Pelican is one of the eight species of pelicans found globally. A long- distance migrant, categorized under the Least Concern (LC) in the global red list by the BULLETIN OF THE IRAQ NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Iraq Natural History Research Center & Museum, University of Baghdad https://jnhm.uobaghdad.edu.iq/index.php/BINHM/Home Copyright © Bulletin of the Iraq Natural History Museum Online ISSN: 2311-9799, Print ISSN: 1017-8678 https://doi.org/10.26842/binhm.7.2024.18.2.0497 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4165-883X https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9509-5625 mailto:sharmawlb@gmail.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://jnhm.uobaghdad.edu.iq/index.php/BINHM/Home 498 Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus. 18 (2): 497-505. Vagrancy records of the great IUCN, was safeguarded under Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act in India and recorded a declining trend in the population (SoIB, 2023). According to published records, two distinct populations of P. onocrotalus usually perform their wintering in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia. The European-Asian population of P. onocrotalus is truly migratory which has not been adequately studied (Crivelli et al., 1991). In India, it was recorded in large numbers from the Central West to the North Eastern region (Punjab to Assam) and was recorded breeding in Gujarat (Ali and Ripley, 1987). A few individuals of P. onocrotalus have been sighted in some parts of Andhra Pradesh (Taher and Mani, 2008; Sheeba and Vijayan, 2009), Karnataka (Gopalakrishna and Pushpalatha, 2003), Kerala (Jacob et al., 1995), and Tamil Nadu (Thirunaranan et al., 2017). The forefront reasons for vagrancy in migratory birds are assumed to be wind drift and imperfection in internal compass mechanisms that can cause them to deviate from their usual wintering routes (Thorup et al., 2012; Lees and Gilroy, 2021). However, the drivers of vagrancy and the significance of this phenomenon have not been soundly documented. Thus, this work attempts to fill the gap by focusing on the Great White Pelican. Sighting of Great White Pelican P. Onocrotalus at Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary, India We observed an individual of Great White Pelican perched on a dead log in the middle of a large congregation of Spot-billed Pelican Pelecanus philippensis and Asian Openbills Anastomus oscitans. The sighting occurred on 27th of December 2022, around 12:50 pm, at Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh, India. It has been observed with a breeding crest plumage and a knob or swell on its forehead, which indicates the onset of breeding (Pl.1). The observation was performed using a binocular Nikon Monarch M7 (8x42) and photographed using a mobile phone camera through a binocular eyepiece. We observed and photographed the perching and preening activity of the Great White Pelican (Pl.1). The sighted bird is whitish and larger in size in contrast to the Spot-billed Pelican, with the yellowish-orange gular pouch and pinkish orbital skin extending towards the bill. During flight, black primaries and secondary underwing coverts were also observed. All these distinct features of the Great White Pelican made it easy to identify while sighting and were also confirmed with the help of a standard field guide (Grimmett et al., 1998). During the verbal interaction, sanctuary representatives enunciated that the Great White Pelican is one of the winged visitors to Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary but were not certain about the individual counts and duration of stay in the sanctuary. In addition, there are a handful of sighting records of P. onocrotalus reported from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Therefore, we extracted the sighting records of P. onocrotalus between January 2000 and January 2023, with a special focus on states of southern India, from one of the common semi-structured citizen science data platforms for birds named ebird, holding metadata of the public recording species observation, information of location, observer effort, and species lists. We preferred to use ebird records since citizen science data platforms such as iNaturalist and ebird are progressively contributing to basic and applied ecological research (Johnston et al., 2019). In total, 21 records were found, including the present record from three states of Southern India, namely Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu (Tab. 1, 499 BULLETIN OF THE IRAQ NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Sharma et al. Map 1). There is no recent report of P. onocrotalus from Kerala in ebird domain. Nevertheless, scientific reports have been published on the sighting of P. onocrotalus in Kerala (Nair, 1993; Jacob et al., 1995). The reason for no recent sighting records in Kerala could be that less attention is paid to this species, the number of individuals involved in this phenomenon is quite small, and sightings are also very opportunistic. There is a possibility that this species restricts movement within Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu since most of the vagrancy records were found to be in the lowland regions of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Plate (1): Photographic record of P. onocrotalus sighted in Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh taken on 27th December 2022; (A) Preening activity, (B) Visible breeding crest plumage and swelling on the forehead, (C) Perching of the Great White Pelican at the center of the mass bird’s congregation. Sighting records of P. Onocrotalus in the Southern states of India Obtained sighting records of the Great White Pelican in Southern India were not huge in terms of the number of records and individual counts. 13 sighting records of P. onocrotalus were found in Andhra Pradesh, followed by six in Tamil Nadu and two in Karnataka. 500 Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus. 18 (2): 497-505. Vagrancy records of the great Maximum number of sightings recorded in Andhra Pradesh (n = 11) during December and January, followed by February and November (n = 2). In Tamil Nadu, five sightings were recorded during December and January, one in July, and two sighting records in Karnataka during January and July between 2000 and 2023 (Tab. 1). Since most of the sighting records of this species fall between December and February months in a year, there could be a pattern in the movement that needs to be explored further. A total of three individuals were recorded in one event of sighting in Andhra Pradesh, which was the highest count compared to the rest. Similar to this study, records of a single individual per sighting were published by Taher and Mani (2008), Sheeba and Vijayan (2009) and Thirunaranan et al. (2017). In southern India, this was a less noticeable phenomenon since the wintering distribution is usually restricted from the Central West to North-Eastern India. However, few wintering records and unclear nesting records of P. onocrotalus with juveniles in the Kutch region were reported by Ali (1960) and Tiwari et al. (2003). In the present Anthropocene era, threats to the avian community are high. Hence, conserving any bird species requires well-organized baseline data regarding migration patterns, breeding, habitat health, and many other factors in their ecology. In addition, Pelicans are one of the most threatened species of world waterbirds due to a broad spectrum of threats such as loss of quality foraging and breeding habitats, several harmful pollutants, and infestation of endoparasites (Kannan and Manakadan, 2005; Kumar et al., 2019; Jayakumar et al., 2020). A little has been documented about the vagrancy pattern of migratory bird species with the help of traditional and forthright monitoring methods such as observation of migratory birds at stop-over sites, observation of visible migration in progress, capture and banding of migrant birds, and using growing satellite tagging methods, which brought up some meaningful outcomes about migrant and vagrant birds (Sidney, 1996). In contrast to the traditional assumptions, vagrancy could also be influenced by man-made pressures such as urban sprawl and wetland degradation, as they are sensitive to habitat change (Gilroy et al., 2016). There are a few doubts about pelican migratory patterns that are still unanswered, which raises gaps in scientific information on the migration dynamics of pelican species in India and elsewhere. Therefore, enabling proper monitoring exercises using modern techniques to gain more information may help explore and conserve the bird species, especially the threatened ones, and their ecology in the years to come. CONCLUSIONS Indeed, there is a need to monitor birds to produce documentation of their movements and habitat quality, which will significantly help to conserve threatened bird species against intense environmental changes in the present and future. This communication aimed to document a sighting record from the Nelapatu Bird Sanctuary and compile other sighting records of P. onocrotalus in southern India using ebird platform. The driving factors of vagrancy movements and inland migration routes are largely unknown. Therefore, monitoring and often documenting the spatiotemporal patterns of this vagrancy movement in birds, including all Pelican species, will contribute to a better understanding of this phenomenon for building effective conservation strategies. 501 BULLETIN OF THE IRAQ NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Sharma et al. S.No. Observers Count Place M/Y Latitude Longitude Altitude (m.) 1 Gnanaskandan Kesavabharathi 1 Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary, Tamil Nadu JAN /2009 12.545767 79.855542 47 2 Sandip Das 3 Indira Gandhi Zoological Park, Andhra Pradesh NOV /2012 17.767348 83.344611 53 3 Amarendra Konda 1 Uppalapadu Bird Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh DEC /2014 16.307207 80.51337 34 4 Ramana Kumar Kandula 1 Uppalapadu Bird Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh JAN /2014 16.307207 80.51337 34 5 The Nature Trust 1 Pallikaranai marsh lands, Tamil Nadu DEC /2014 12.935358 80.22867 14 6 The Nature Trust 1 CAPML Center, Chennai, Tamil Nadu DEC /2014 12.91493 80.22125 14 7 The Nature Trust 1 Karapakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu JUL /2015 12.903757 80.212646 13 8 The Nature Trust 1 Nelapattu Wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh DEC /2015 13.825847 79.948892 59 9 The Nature Trust 1 Ayyapalem, Andhra Pradesh JAN /2016 13.824401 79.950004 61 10 Pavithra Sankaran 1 Nagavalli Kere, Karnataka FEB /2016 11.934834 77.037785 706 11 Kadambari Devarajan 1 Kolleru Bird Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh JAN /2017 16.567002 81.231659 33 12 Kuldeep Deshpande 1 Kolleru Birds Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh JAN /2017 16.645929 81.260376 30 13 Sankara Narayanan 1 Nelapattu Wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh DEC /2017 13.819578 79.955149 59 14 Dipu Karuthedathu 1 Perumbakkam Marshlands, Tamil Nadu DEC /2017 12.900543 80.218391 11 15 Suryakanta Acharya 1 Kolleru Birds Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh JAN /2018 16.65934 81.2167 37 16 Ganeshwar S V 1 Perumbakkam Marshlands, Tamil Nadu JAN /2018 12.900543 80.218391 11 17 Arjun Dev 1 Pulicat Lake (Andhra Pradesh part) JAN /2018 13.678024 80.111275 18 18 Stephan Lorenz 1 Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, Karnataka JAN /2018 12.424956 76.657029 724 19 Srikanth Bhamidipati 1 Kolleru Birds Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh FEB /2021 16.636893 81.214012 41 20 Sharma Kamalanathan * 1 Nelapattu Wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh DEC /2022 13.828064 79.95377 55 21 Siribabu Gera 1 Nelapattu Wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh JAN /2023 13.772822 79.97656 45 Total 23 * Sighting described in this communication (Accessed on 15 Apr 2023) https://ebird.org/: Source Table (1): eBird records of Great White Pelican from Southern India (2000-2023). https://ebird.org/ 502 Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus. 18 (2): 497-505. Vagrancy records of the great Map (1): Recorded sightings of P. onocrotalus in Southern India. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS All the authors are thankful to the contributors to this communication, especially for their review and suggestions. CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT The authors have no conflict of interest with this manuscript to declare. The photographs used in this manuscript were captured by Sharma Kamalanathan, ensuring there are no copyright issues. LITERATURE CITED Ali, S. 1960. ‘Flamingo City’ revisited: nesting of the Rosy Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus Linnaeus in the Rann of Kutch. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, 57(2): 412-415. 503 BULLETIN OF THE IRAQ NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Sharma et al. Ali, S. and Ripley, S. D. 1987. Compact handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan together with those of Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. 2nd ed. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 884pp. Crivelli, A. J., Yossi, L., Taniu, M. and Hans, J. 1991. Where do Palaearctic great white pelicans Pelecanus onocrotalus presently overwinter? Revue d'Écologie (Terre Vie), 46: 145-171. Elisa, P., Liana, C. and Maria, P. 2015. Records of vagrant bird species in Antarctica: New observations. Marine Biodiversity Records, 8 (e61): 1-6. [CrossRef] Gilroy, J. J., Gill, J. A., Butchart, S. H. M., Jones, V. R. and Franco, A. M. 2016. Migratory diversity predicts population declines in birds. Ecology Letters, 19 (3): 308-317. [CrossRef] Gopalakrishna, B. and Pushpalatha, B. 2003. Rare sighting record of great white pelican in Udupi District of Karnataka State. Newsletter for Birdwatchers, 43(6): 92. Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C. and Inskipp, T. 1998. Pocket guide to the birds of the Indian Subcontinent. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 384 pp. [Click here] Jacob, T. J., Pramod, P., Gangadharan, K. and Mahesh, M. 1995. First record of the Rosy Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus Linnaeus in Kerala. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 91(3): 452. Jayakumar, S., Muralidharan, S. and Dhananjayan, V. 2020. Organochlorine pesticide residues among colonial nesting birds in Tamil Nadu, India: a maiden assessment from their breeding grounds. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 78 (4): 555-567. [CrossRef] Johnston, A., Hochachka, W. M., Strimas-Mackey, M. E., Ruiz-Gutierrez, V. R., Robinson, O. J., Miller, E. T., Auer, T., Kelling, S. T. and Fink, D. 2019. Best practices for making reliable inferences from citizen science data: case study using eBird to estimate species distributions. BioRxiv, 574392. [CrossRef] Kannan, V. and Manakadan, R. 2005. The status and distribution of Spot-billed Pelican Pelecanus philippensis in southern India. Forktail, 21: 9-14. Kumar S, Periyasamy, A., Venkatesh Ranga Rao, N., Sunil, S. S., Kumara H. N., P. Sundararaj, P., Chidananda, G. and Sathish, A. 2019. Multiple infestations of gastrointestinal parasites – Probable cause for high mortality of Spot-billed Pelican (Pelecanus philippensis) at Kokrebellur Community Reserve, India, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife, 9: 68-73. [CrossRef] https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755267215000378 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.12569 https://library.ignfa.gov.in/book/WILDLIFE/POCKET%20GUIDE%20TO%20THE%20BIRDS%20OF%20THE%20INDIAN%20SUBCONTINENT-18617.pdf https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-020-00709-y https://doi.org/10.1101/574392 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijppaw.2019.04.001 504 Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus. 18 (2): 497-505. Vagrancy records of the great Lees, A. C. and Gilroy, J. J. 2021. Bird migration: When vagrants become pioneers. Current Biology, 31(24): PR1568–R1570. [CrossRef] Milius, N. 2000. The birds of Rothera, Adelaide Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Marine Ornithology, 28: 63-67. Nair, M. V. 1993. Rosy Pelican at Aakkulam. Newsletter for Birdwatchers. 33 (1): 7-8. Rey, R. A., Trathan, P., Putz, K. and Schiavini, A. 2007 Effect of oceanographic conditions on the winter movements of rockhopper penguins Eudyptes chrysocome chrysocome from Staten Island, Argentina. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 330: 285-295. [CrossRef] Sheeba, N. and Vijayan, L. 2009. Record of the great white pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus from Uppalapadu, Andhra Pradesh, India. Indian Birds, 5 (1): 17-18. Sidney, A. G. Jr. 1996. Bird migration: methodologies and major research trajectories (1945- 1995). The Condor, 98 (2): 442-453. [CrossRef] SoIB. 2023. State of India's birds factsheet: great white pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus (India). [Click here] Taher, H. and Mani, U. 2008. Sighting of the great white pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus at Kolleru wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh, India. Indian Birds, 4 (1): 14. Thirunaranan, K., Jayakumar, S., Sivaramam, S. and Babu, S. 2017. Sightings of the Great White Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus (Linn. 1758) (Aves: Pelicaniformes: Pelicanidae) in Pallikaranai Marshlands, Tamil Nadu, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 9 (9): 10729-10732. [CrossRef] Thorup, K., Ortvad, T. E., Holland, R. A., Rabøl, J., Kristensen, M. W. and Wikelski, M. 2012. Orientation of vagrant birds on the Faroe Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Journal of Ornithology, 153: 1261-1265. Tiwari, J. K., Alain, J. C. and S. N. and Varu, S. N. 2003. Status and distribution of pelicans in Kutch District of Gujarat. Newsletter for Birdwatchers, 43 (2): 22. Woehler, T. D. 1992. Records of vagrant penguins from Tasmania. Marine Ornithology, 20: 61-73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.10.058 https://doi.org/10.3354/meps330285 https://doi.org/10.2307/1369168 https://stateofindiasbirds.in/species/grwpel1/ http://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3307.9.9.10729-10732 505 BULLETIN OF THE IRAQ NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Sharma et al. Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus. (2024) 18 (2): 497-505. سجالت التشرد للبجع األبيض الكبير Pelecanus onocrotalus Linnaeus Pelecaniformes) Aves, Pelecanidae,في جنوب الهند ) سوبرامانيان موراليدهران*و كاماالناثان شارما*، ساميدوراي جاياكومار** بيعي، *قسم علم السموم البيئية للطيور، مركز سليم علي لعلم الطيور والتاريخ الط (، كويمباتور، تاميل نادو، الهند.WIIمركز جنوب الهند ملعهد الحياة البرية في الهند ) . )مستقلة(، مايالدوثوراي، A.V.C**قسم علم الحيوان وعلم أحياء الحياة البرية، كلية تاميل نادو، الهند. 20/12/2024، النشر: 1/6/2024القبول: 29/5/2024املراجعة:، 23/1/2024االستالم: الخالصة عّد الهجرة العارضة ُ في سياق هجرة الطيور، )التشرد( ت ً للطيور عنصًرا أقل تنظيما مما يجعل دراسة أنماط هذه الظاهرة في الطيور املهاجرة وسيلة فعالة لفهم التغيرات في دداتـرافي، وتوسع انتشارها. وُيعتبر استكشاف محـتوزيعها، وتحوالت نطاقها الجغ ع ــة جميـع استراتيجيات فعالة لحمايـة لوضـغ األهميـة أمًرا بالـوأنماط الهجرة العارض ة الدراسات ـع، نظًرا لقلـواع املهددة من البجـأنواع الطيور املهاجرة، بما في ذلك األن الكبيرض ــع األبيــة بمسارات هجرتها الداخلية في الهند. ُيعد البجـاملتعلق Pelecanus onocrotalus (L., 1758) املنتمي إلى رتبة البجعيات (Pelecaniformes) أحد الزوار الشتويين للهند، غير أن نطاقه الشتوي ، (Pelecanidae) وعائلة البجع داخل البالد لم يتم بحثه بصورة وافية. تستعرض هذه الورقة توثيًقا لرصد البجع عد إحدى املناطق ذات األهمية الخاصة األبيض الكبير في محمية نيالباتو للطيور ُ ، والتي ت للطيور في والية أندرا براديش بالهند، مع تسليط الضوء بشكل موجز على الظاهرة العارضة لهذا النوع في واليات جنوب الهند.