Coastal Nicobar bird species need more conservation efforts
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Flora__Fauna/Coastal_Nicobar_bird_species_nee\
d_more_conservation_efforts/articleshow/3594300.cms
14 Oct 2008, 1341 hrs IST,PTI

NEW DELHI: The tsunami 2004 has wiped away a significant 70 per cent
population of the Nicobar megapode, an endemic coastal living bird
species in
Nicobar and Andaman island, says a recently published study.

However, as the birds are regenerating in the villages evacuated by the
locals, there is no cause for immediate worry, if conservation steps are
taken with the participation of locals, says the study.

"It is estimated about 800 breeding pairs of the Nicobar megapode occur
on the coastal habitat of the Nicobar islands after tsunami killer waves
swept the island. It is nearly 70 per cent less than what was reported
before the tsunami," says findings of the study done the last two years.

The study was jointly conducted by R Sankaran, director of
Coimbatore-based Salim Ali Centre for Orinthology and Natural History
(SACONH) and K Sivakumar of Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India
(WII).

The megapodes being a unique group of birds utilise external sources of
heat to incubate their eggs by building mound nests on the base of a
live tree. Except the Nicobar group of islands, the species is not found
anywhere else in the country.

Locally called Kongah, Nicobar megapode is a brownish stout
pheasant-like bird with large powerful legs and toes. Found in pairs or
mixed droves of adults and young near dense undergrowth of evergreen
forests on sandy beaches of islands, these birds are strong runners and
spend most of their time on the ground.
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