Puja Sharma, Priya Singh, Vivek Ramachandran, Rajkamal Goswami, Sanjay Sondhi, Nilanjan Mukherjee,
Jagdish Krishnaswamy & Sandesh Kadur

Indian Birds | August 9, 2024

In 2022, a multi-taxa survey was conducted in the sites covered during the colonial Abor Expedition of 1911–12 in the Siang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh. The survey included birds from locations in the East Siang, Siang, and Upper Siang Districts. The bird survey conducted between February and May 2022 involved cataloguing all bird species reported in the region through direct or indirect sightings, including documenting bird data obtained on camera traps as incidental captures and encounters of dead or hunted bird specimens. A total of 267 checklists and 94 bird species’ vocalizations were contributed to the citizen-science eBird portal as a result of the survey. A total of 285 species (plus one hybrid) were recorded with some additions to the avifauna of the Upper Siang and Siang Districts. This included 26 species that were recorded as dead or hunted. However, 12 species reported in the 1911–12 study from the same sites were not recorded at this time. Important records include Temminck’s Tragopan Tragopan temminckii, Blyth’s Tragopan Tragopan blythii, Sclater’s Monal Lophophorus sclateri, and migrating flocks of Common Cranes Grus grus. This survey from human-modified habitats of Arunachal Pradesh would be a baseline to compare against the bird richness of intact habitats at similar altitudes in the state.