We are reporting here the sighting of a grassland warbler, Golden-headed Cisticola, Cisticola exilis from Ranipuram, Kasaragode district, Kerala. This could be the northernmost record of the species from Kerala State.

Ranipuram hills, a section of the Western Ghats in the Kasargode district, Kerala, consists of highlands with diverse habitats including moist deciduous forests, semi-evergreen forests and shola forests with montane grasslands. On 10 September 2017, we spotted Golden-headed Cisticola at Ranipuram hills (12.424° N, 75.331° E) at an altitude of 953 m. Initially only the call was heard as the tall grass with the muddy, slippery hill terrain combined with intermittent rain and mist made it tough to locate the bird. Regardless, we managed to spot the bird on the grassland shortly after.

The bird had an overall golden brown colouration. Its size was smaller than a Broad-tailed Grass Warbler Schoenicola platyurus but comparable with Zitting Cisticola Cisticola juncidis and prinias. The possibility of prinias was ruled out from the overall plumage. The golden brown head, unstreaked golden brown nape, broad parallel streaks over the mantle and pale pinkish bill indicated a Golden-headed Cisticola rather than a Zitting Cisticola. Photographs and call recordings aided in confirming the species’ identity.

We could hear the calls of the species all around on the grassland, which is the preferred nesting habitat of these birds (Grimmett et al. 2011). Keeping a safe distance, we also could briefly observe the nesting activity wherein we noticed the female bird repeatedly and tirelessly making trips between the grassland and the nest. Unfortunately, we were not able to observe whether it was carrying nesting materials or food for its hatchlings. The male bird was more vocal with bright golden orange crest which is the breeding plumage.

The montane grasslands of central Western Ghats is home for the erythrocephalus race of C.exilis and these birds are restricted to the montane grasslands of Northern Kerala  with records from Kannur, Wayanad and Palakkad districts (Sashikumar et al., 2011). There are also a few sightings of this species from adjacent grasslands in Karnataka, especially from the Greater Talacauvery and Kudremukh range (Praveen et al. 2016). Since there are no published reports of the Golden-headed Cisticola from Kasaragode, this documentation gains significance as the northernmost record for Kerala State.

References

Grimmett, R., C. Inskipp & T. Inskipp. 2011. Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. 2nd Ed. 1-528pp Oxford University Press.

Praveen, J., Subramanya, S., & Raj, V. M., 2016. A checklist of the birds of Karnataka. Indian BIRDS, 12 (4&5): 89–118.

Sashikumar, C., J. Praveen, M.J. Palot & P.O. Nameer. 2011. Birds of Kerala: Status and Distribution. 835pp. DC Books, Kottayam, Kerala.