PROJECTS
Within a short period of its formation in 2012 RRCF awarded its first grant to a MSc. researcher who was trained in the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. Her study related to anthropogenic disturbances to diurnal raptors in Rajaji National Park, Uttarakhand.
RRCF was also a partner organisation involved in stopping the mass hunting of the migratory Amur Falcons in their stopover site in India's north-eastern State of Nagaland. Up to 1,20,000 Amur Falcons were massacred and there was intense trade of 'meat' within the neighbouring States. RRCF supported a small NGO who played a vital role in starting 'Eco-Clubs' for village children and rallying of community elders, fishermen, traditional hunters, the Church with missives to the State Government administration and forest departments. Today, as is well known all over the world bird community, killing has virtually stopped and is heralded as a conservation success. RRCF strives to maintain is support in order to bring about a change in attitude of the local people, many who now consider these beautiful small falcons as visitors to their land.
With an enthusiastic bunch of student volunteers Dr Nishant Kumar and his colleague Ms Urvi Gupta are working on the ubitiquous Black Kite and its migratory race linneatus in the National Capital Region (NCR) since 2013. We are also supporting Dr. Prachi Mehta currently carrying out studies on the IUCN-listed, endangered Forest Owlet and other species of owls in Maharashtra.
"EVALUATION of nesting status of the White-bellied Sea-eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) and management plan suggestion in Kerala" – Dr Roshnath Ramesh’s surveys in Kasaragod and Kannur districts in 2023 recorded 15 nests of the White-bellied Sea. A total of 26 previously reported nesting sites were found to be either abandoned or lost. It was observed that people had removed nesting trees from 8 sites, primarily for land development for construction needs. Furthermore, the sea eagles had abandoned nine nesting locations because the trees either fell during heavy rains or natural ageing. Despite a thorough search along with assistance from the local populace previously recorded sites were not found due to lack of description in previous literature. Overall, number of nestings had reduced compared to the previous year. A higher percentage (>70%) of the nests were either located in private property or religiously-owned places. For awareness programmes a poster was published on social media seeking information about the nesting location and an appeal was made in the local newspapers for seeking information on nesting locations. Stakeholders and owners of plantations which had nests of sea eagles were given tokens of appreciations. The Kerala forest department were also engaged with Dr Roshnath who made recommendations for the protection of the White-bellied Sea-eagle.
TWO STUDENTS from MSc (Wildlife Sciences) batch in Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST) Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir) have completed their short field studies titled (1) "Assessing the distribution status and habitat use of raptors and breeding of Eurasian Sparrow Hawk in Aherbal-Kousarnag catchment and Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary, Shopian, Kashmir". Mr Ishfaq Ahmad will submit his MSc dissertation shortly. (2) "Assessing the Distribution status, habitat use and Breeding of the threatened Gyps vultures for conservation planning in Aherbal-Kousarnag catchment and Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary, Shopian, Kashmir". Mr Waseem Abdullah will also be submitting his dissertation along with Ishfaq Ahmad.
"STUDYING Home Range, Seasonal Movement and Habitat Use by the Endangered Forest Owlet and Other Sympatric Owls using Radio-telemetry in Melghat Tiger Reserve". A study undertaken by Dr Prachi Mehta and Mr Jayant Kulkarni of Wildlife Research & Conservation Society (WRCS) Pune. Her research will focus on the next question pertaining to understanding the movement of the owl species using radio-telemetry. Radio telemetry is an immensely useful scientific technique used in studying spatial ecology, energetics, physiology and behaviour of free ranging animals and can give accurate information on species distribution, mortality rates, habitat use and home-range. The data generated through radio-tagging helps in determining habitat use, and movement patterns of owls.
"A STUDY of Resource Partitioning between Owls in Melghat Tiger Landscape." – submitted by Dr. Prachi Mehta, Wildlife Research & Conservation Society (WRCS), Pune. Co-PI: Mr. Jayant Kulkarni. Whilst working on the Forest Owlet in Melghat Prachi and her team had started a pilot project on assessing the distribution and nesting of other sympatric owls in the project area. A student from TERI university, Delhi did some preliminary work under supervision of Dr. Prachi and earned her MSc dissertation for this project. Among owls, nine species of owls have been documented from Melghat Tiger Reserve. Among the large sized owls, Indian Eagle Owl (Bubo bengalensis), Brown Fish Owl (Ketupa zeylonensis) and the Mottled Wood Owl (Strix ocellata) are commonly seen. Among the medium sized ones Barn owl is again widely distributed while there are a few opportunistic sightings of Brown Hawk Owl (Ninox scutulata) but its distribution within Melghat is unknown. Among the smaller owls, Spotted Owlet (Athene brama), Jungle Owlet (Glaucidium radiatum) and the Indian Scops Owl (Otus bakkamoena) are fairly well distributed in the landscape. Melghat is the stronghold of Forest Owlet (Heteroglaux blewitti) and supports a good population of the species in the area. The goal of this project is to understand the mechanism of resource partitioning between large and small owls in the study area. This study will provide valuable insights on co-existence of Forest Owlet with other owls in the area and help in understanding the factors associated with breeding success of individual owls in the area.
"A STUDY on the Population, Demography and Ecology of the Forest Owlet Heteroglaux blewitti in East Kalibhit Reserved Forests, Khandwa District, Madhya Pradesh" Prachi Mehta, Akshay V. Anand and Jayant Kulkarni. Read Final Report
"A STUDY on the Breeding Ecology and Nest Site Selection of the Forest Owlet Heteroglaux blewetti and other Sympatric Owls in Khandwa District, Madhya Pradesh." – submitted by Dr. Prachi Mehta, Wildlife Research & Conservation Society (WRCS), Pune for MSc thesis by Akshay Vinod Anand, Pondicherry University.
"Understanding the Diet of Critically Endangered Gyps Vultures for Conservation Planning using Molecular Tools” Awarded to Dr Mousumi Ghosh of the national Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Bengaluru, Karnataka. Critically endangered Gyps vultures now persist in low numbers in the Indian subcontinent after suffering a massive decline (~99%) in numbers caused by feeding on livestock carcasses containing the nephrotoxic drug diclofenac. Most are now concentrated near National Parks, likely due to availability of wild carcasses free from toxic veterinary drugs. Quantification of vulture diets was critical to test her hypothesis. In this study, Dr Ghosh developed a validated “field-to-benchtop-to-desktop” metabarcoding
workflow for assessing species- and sex-specific diet of these obligate scavengers from non-invasively collected faecal samples. She and her team designed four (two for diet, one each for vulture species and sexing) metabarcodes to meet her objectives. Using this strategy, she were able to identify the species for 99.2 % of the samples, sex 94 % of the samples and recover prey-specific sequences in all but three cases for 387 samples. Their analysis suggested that domestic livestock is the most frequently consumed diet item across samples from inside and outside protected habitats in sites located in central, western
and northern India, in contrast to sites in south Indian National Parks. Wild prey carcasses were the most frequently occurring dietary items in samples collected in southern Indian sites, suggesting that these sites face minimal risks of diclofenac poisoning. Overall, livestock availability in the surrounding areas and the location of the site (inside or outside National Park) were the best predictors of occurrence of livestock in vulture diet. To ensure the persistence of the breeding populations in other sites, Dr Ghosh recommends that concerted efforts should be made to remove use of diclofenac and other toxic drugs used in veterinary practices. Dr Ghosh has published two papers mentioned in the ‘Technical Reports & Publications’ section.
Black Kite Study with WII: 2013..onwards
- "Movement Ecology of Black-eared Kites Milvus migrans lineatus during Migration and the Non-breeding Period in the Indian Subcontinent: implications for Conservation" – Research objectives (1)define their migration routes (2) determine their (breeding) natal populations (3) detect potential hotspots of concentration during migration (4) assess their migration parameters (phenology, speed, duration of migration episodes (5) examine the factors that may affect such parameters, including (a) variables that characterise the individual migrant (e.g. its sex, age, breeding status, health or body condition) and (b) external biotic and abiotic variables such as wind conditions, availability of uplift from thermals or from mountain ridge-drafts, or habitat (6) test the implications of variations among individuals in migratory performance for their subsequent survival (7) study the movement behaviour and spatial displacements of the marked individuals during all the months of residence in India during the non-breeding period (e.g. rate of movement among different rubbish dumps or different towns, larger scale movements to track rain fronts and grasshopper explosions as accomplished in Africa. Migration of Black-eared Kite No. 6244 which is now in its breeding grounds in Russia click here
- "Behavioural Ecology of Black Kite Milvus migrans Subsisting on Urban Resources in Delhi". This study is in continuation of (3) below.
- "Resource Selection of Black Kites Milvus migrans" awarded to Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. Researcher: Nishant Kumar, MSc. Read more…
- A Study of Resource Selection by Black Kites in Urban Landscape of National Capital Region, India by Mr. Nishant Kumar, MSc. Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. STATUS: Project completed. Read project summary.
Forest Owlet & other Owls
- "Breeding Success of Forest Owlet in Melghat Forests, Maharashtra." Principal Investigator: Dr. Prachi Mehta. Duration 4 years. RRCF will be supporting another long-term study on the Forest Owlet in Central India. This project titled "A Study of Ecological Correlates that Influence Habitat Use, Reproductive Success and Nest-Site Selection by the Forest Owlet in Melghat Landscape, Maharashtra." is being initiated by the Wildlife Research and Conservation Society (WRCS), Pune in the buffer area of Melghat Forests. Executive Summary…
While studying the Forest Owlet it is difficult to ignore other species of owls so Dr. Prachi Mehta encouraged her student, Ms. Mahasweta Patnaik from TERI School of Advanced Studies to do a pilot study on other owls in the same habitat. A Poster titled "Owls Of Chaurakund: A study understanding the Distribution, Nesting Habitat and Behavior of Owls in Melghat Tiger Reserve" was displayed in the SCCS conference in the last week of September 2018 in Bangalore. Poster. - A Study of Ecology, Distribution and Demography of the Critically Endangered Forest OwletHeteroglaux blewitti in Burhanpur and Khandwa Forest Divisions, Madhya Pradesh" awarded to Wildlife Research and Conservation Society, Pune. Principal Investigator: Dr. Prachi Mehta. Read more…
To protect owl nests and their habitats, WRCS have formed owl protection committees comprising of local farmers at the project site in Madhya Pradesh. Prachi is also training women in making handicraft items based on themes about owls. The handicrafts are sold and the proceeds are returned to the committees as an incentive to protect owls. This initiative will help in creating a positive image of owls in people's mind, and in weaning them away from their superstitious beliefs about these marvellous birds.
- Conservation Strategies for Securing Endangered White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis and Long-billed Vulture Gyps indicus species in the Tamil Nadu part of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve awarded to Dr. Balasundaram Ramakrishnan. Duration of Project is 2 years. Dr. Ramakrishnan will focus on securing the country's southernmost vulture populations both at the regional and landscape levels, and of course, assessing the sale and usage of diclofenac in the fringe areas of vulture habitats.
- Amur Falcon Conservation Programme 2015-2016 & 2014-2015: We continue to support Nagaland Wildlife Biodiversity & Conservation Trust, Nagaland with the various activities including enforcement of hunting ban through high-level support, local community outreach and education through Eco-Clubs & Under-The-Canopy workshops along with adopting a small eco-tourism model. Watch the film on this website. Amy, the Marathon Bird. Read more…
- "Conservation of the Andaman Serpent-eagle Spilornis elgini in the Andaman Islands: Phase – I": Awarded to Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Coimbatore. Principal Investigator: Dr. Shirish S. Manchi. Executive Summary…
- Amur Falcon Conservation Project, Nagaland by Nagaland Wildlife & Biodiversity Conservation Trust (NWBCT). STATUS: Project completed. Read project summary
- Survey & Ecology of Owls & Owlets at Melghat Tiger Reserve and it's Adjoining Area, Maharashtra by Dr. Jayant Wadatkar, Wildlife Environment & Conservation Society (WECS), Amravati, Maharashtra. STATUS: Project completed.
- Influence of Habitat Structure & Anthropogenic Disturbance on Diurnal Raptor Community in Rajaji National Park, Dehradun by Ms. Monika Kaushik, MSc. STATUS: Project completed. Poster released at WII Wildlife Research Seminar & Alumni Meet, Dehradun 21 August 2014.
