No abstract

, we were at Partala (22° 49′ 4.56″ N; 80° 18′ 33.83″ E), initiating People's Biodiversity Register. Partala is situated in Narayanganj tehsil of Mandla district in Madhya Pradesh. The village is surrounded by forested hills on three sides, and a small river flows amidst them. The river banks are surrounded by agricultural fields with scattered trees. The main crops are paddy, wheat, maize, and various pulses. The dominant vegetation in this region is Tectona grandis, Terminalia arjuna, Aegle marmelos, Soymida febrifuga, Madhuca indica, Ficus religiosa, and Butea monosperma. At 18:15 hrs we reached a huge Peepal tree Ficus religiosa, which is one of the roosting sites of the Yellowfooted Green-pigeon Treron phoenicoptera. On reaching, we heard a cacophony of nightjar calls from an adjacent field. It was getting dark and we could only see silhouettes of the nightjars flying erratically, crisscrossing each other above the wheat field. There were around 30-35 birds, continuously calling and sallying on swarms of insects (moths). We identified them as Savanna Nightjar Caprimulgus affinis based on their distinct cweetzz, cweetzz, cweetzz calls. Along with nightjars, small insectivorous bats were also observed feasting on the moths. Two more species of nightjars, namely Indian Jungle Nightjar Caprimulgus indicus and Indian Little Nightjar Caprimulgus asiaticus, are found in this region. However, we could not hear the calls of these species to ascertain their presence in the congregation. The nightjars were scattered across the wheat field, and since visibility was extremely poor, we could not take photographs. We observed this congregation for almost half an hour, after which we could not follow their movements due to nightfall. Ali and Ripley (1983) indicate that the Savanna Nightjar forms loose flocks of 7 or 8 while undertaking local movements. Similarly, Rasmussen and Anderton (2005) also state that Savanna Nightjars 'often fly in groups'. These anecdotes suggest the gregarious tendency of Savanna Nightjars. However, large congregations of Savanna Nightjars, as recorded by us, have not been published. A similar observation was made by P. Jeganathan (pers. comm.

Pande et al. (2011) have reported possible hybrid of the Forest Owlet Heteroglaux blewitti and Spotted Owlet Athene brama. This has begun an intriguing debate on hybridization among owls. Their claim is based on field observations; photographic and videotaped evidences however, the interpretation offered by the authors would seem unlikely. We found several anomalies in this paper pertaining to identification of the species, vocalization, behaviour and logic presented for hybridization. There are many points in the communication that need a wellsupported reference.The first paragraph of the paper describes about lowest hybridization rate among owls (Mikkola 2003) however authors make a contradictory statement in the second last paragraph of the paper giving a reference of del Hoyo et al. (1999) addressing it as a well-known phenomenon. However, del Hoyo et al. (1999) state 1800