Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary

Infobox Indian Jurisdiction
native_name= Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary
other_name =
type= wildlife sanctuary
iucn_category = IV
latd = 27|latm = 06
longd = 92|longm=24
locator_position=right
inset_

inset_map_size = 100px
inset_map_x = 175px
inset_map_y = 225px
inset_map_marker = yes
inset_map_marker_size = 4x4px
inset_map_default = yes
skyline =
skyline_caption = Golden Eagle
state_name= Arunachal Pradesh
district= West Kameng
nearest_city = Bomdila
blank_title_1 = # visitors 2006 | blank_value_1 = 75 | blank_title_2 = Governing body | blank_value_2 = [http://arunachalpradesh.nic.in/tourism.htm Secretary (Political), Government of Arunachal Pradesh]
altitude= 3250
area_total= 218
precip=
temp_summer= 28
temp_winter= -2
established_title = Established
established_date = 1989
website=
footnotes = [http://www.clsp.jhu.edu/people/zak/ramana/wapLocEaglenest.htm Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary]

Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area of India in the Himalayan foothills of West Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh. It conjoins Sessa Orchid Sanctuary to the northeast and Pakke(Pakhui) wildlife sanctuary and Tiger Reserve across the .

Eaglenest is notable as a prime birding site due to the extraordinary variety, numbers and accessibility of bird species there.

Geography and climate

Eaglenest and Sessa Orchid Sanctuary together occupy a rough east-west rectangle with Sessa occupying the north-east quadrant. Eaglenest is bounded to the north by Eaglenest Ridge and the reserved forests of the Bugun community (Lama Camp area). Eaglenest ajoins Tawang district to the north, an area under claim of Chinese sovereignty [Borders_of disputed_regions [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
] ] , in the jurisdiction of Cuona County of Shannan Prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The Bhalukpong-Bomdila highway (and Pakke immediately beyond) are its eastern boundary. There are no distinct geographical features delineating its western boundary along the Bhutan border and the southern boundary at about 27° N latitude. Eaglenest and Sessa ridges rise to convert|3250|m|ft|0 and convert|3150|m|ft|0 respectively and are the first major barriers to the monsoon as it moves north from the plains of Assam. These ridges get over mm to in|num=3000|abbr=no|spell=Commonwealth|precision=2|wiki=yes of rain on the southern slopes and about mm to in|num=1500|abbr=no|spell=Commonwealth|precision=2|wiki=yes on the northern slopes. [Choudhury A. 2003: Birds of Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary and Sessa Orchid Sanctuary,Arunachal Pradesh, India. Forktail 19:1]

The eastern half of Eaglenest and Sessa sanctuaries is drained by the Tippi Naala (Tippi river) which joins the Kameng river at Tippi village on the Bhalukpong-Bomdila highway. Several smaller streams including Buhiri Nadi and Dihung Nadi in the western half of the area flow down to join the Brahmaputra separately. [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/india/ng-46-02.jpgTopographic map] [Army Map Service, Corp of Engineers (1955) Series U502, Sheet NG-46-2, Towang, India; Bhutan; China, topographic map 1:250,000, retrieved 10/2/2007 [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/india/ng-46-02.jpgTopographic map] ]

Eaglenest is part of the Kameng protected area complex (KPAC), the largest contiguous closed-canopy forest tract of Arunachal Pradesh, which includes Eaglenest, Pakke, Sessa, Nameri, and Sonai Rupai sanctuaries and associated reserved forest blocks. The Complex covers 3500 km² in area and ranges from convert|100|m|ft|0 to convert|3300|m|ft|03300m in altitude. Eaglenest has an unpaved road running from its base to Eaglenest pass at convert|2800|m|ft|0 allowing good access to the entire altitudinal range, making it accessible to the military, scientists and ecotourists. [Official website of West Kameng District (6/21/2007) [http://westkameng.nic.in/geography.htm Geography] ] .

Fauna

Birds

Eaglenest is home to at least 454 species of birds including 3 cormorants, 5 herons, Black Stork, Oriental White (Black-headed) Ibis, 4ducks, 20 hawks, eagles, kites, harriers and vultures, 3 falcons, 10 pheasants, junglefowl, quail, and peafowl, Black-necked Crane, 3 rails, 6 plovers, dotterels, and lapwings, 7 waders, ibisbill, Stone-Curlew (Eurasian Thick-knee), Small Pratincole, 2 gulls, 14 pigeons, 3 parrots, 15 cukoos, 10 owls, 2 nightjars, 4 swifts, 2 trogons, 7 kingfishers, 2 bee-eaters, 2 rollers, hoopoes, 4 hornbills, 6 barbets, 14 woodpeckers, 2 broadbills, 2 pittas, 2 larks, 6 martins, 7 wagtails, 9 shrikes, 9 bulbuls, 4 Fairy-bluebirds, 3 shrike, Brown Dipper, 3 accentors, 46 thrushs, 65 Old World flycatchers, 6 parrotbills, 31 warblers, 25 flycatchers, 10 tits, 5 nuthatches, 3 treecreepers, 5flowerpeckers, 8 sunbirds, Oriental White-eye, 3 bunting, 14 finches, 2 munia, 3 sparrows, 5 starlings, 2 orioles, 7 drongos, Ashy Woodswallow and 9 jays. [Athreya Ramana (4/13/2005) Birds of W. Arunachal Pradesh, Checklist, Kaati Trust, Pune [http://www.clsp.jhu.edu/people/zak/ramana/wapListBird.htm Eaglenest record (E)] ]

Eaglenest is the site where Bugun Liocichla was first discovered in 1995 and again observed and described in 2006 by Ramana Athreyaa. [Athreya, R. (9/8/2006) A new species of Liocichla (Aves: Timaliidae) from Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh, India [http://www.indianbirds.in/images/IB%5B1%5D.2.4.Liocichla.pdf Indian Birds 2 (4): p82-94] ]

Herpetofauna

Eaglenest is home to a wide variety of Herpetofauna including at least 34 species of amphibians, 24 species of snakes and 7 species of lizards including 3 geckos, 3 agamids and 4 skinks. Abor Hills Agama was rediscovered at Eaglenest after 125 years. Other rare species include Darjeeling False-wolfsnake which was only known to science through 5 specimens, Anderson's Mountain lizard, Günther's Kukri Snake, Common Slug Snake, and Keelback snakes which have not been definitively identified.

Mammals

Eaglenest is home to at least 15 species of mammals including the endangered Capped Langur, Bengal tiger, Asian Elephant, Red Panda, Asiatic Black Bear and the vulnerable Assamese Macaque, Arunachal Macaque and Gaur.

Butterflies

Eaglenest is home to at least 165 species of butterflies including Bhutan Glory, Grey Admiral, Scarce Red-Forester, Dusky Labyrinth, Tigerbrown, Jungle-queen sp, White-edged Bush-Brown,and White Owl. [Athreya, R. (2006) Eaglenest Biodiversity Project − I (2003 – 2006): A report submitted to the Forest Department of the Government of Arunachal Pradesh, India, and the Rufford-Maurice-Laing Foundation (UK). Kaati Trust, Pune. [http://www.ncra.tifr.res.in/~rathreya/Eaglenest/ebp1reportW.pdf Conservation resources for Eaglenest wildlife sanctuary.] ]

Conservation

Eaglenest is physically protected from timber and animal poaching only by its isolation and the poor quality of the one lane road leading inside it. It is administered by the Divisional Forest Officer at Seijusa who is also the Field Director of Pakke Tiger Reserve. He is assisted by a Range Forest Office in Singchung and Beat Forest Offices in Ramalingam (close to Singchung) and Khellong. In practice, the Department has no presence inside the sanctuary. The absence of any settlement inside Eaglenest has minimized any problem of hunting. The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), a consortium of major international andregional organizations, has identified the Eastern Himalayan region around Arunachal Pradesh(Nepal, Bhutan and all of North-East India) as a critical global biodiversity rich areadeserving of conservation focus. They identified the North-Bank Landscape (i.e. north bank of Brahmaputra, extending up the Eaglenest slopes) and the Tawang region as worthy of particular focus. [Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Project database [http://www.cepf.net/xp/cepf/project_database/eastern_himalayas.xml Eastern Himalayas Region Strategic Directions] ]

Eaglenest is within the Conservation International Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot area. [Conservation International (2007) Himalaya - conservation action and protected areas, retrieved 10/1/2007 [http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/hotspots/himalaya/Pages/conservation.aspx Himalaya - conservation action and protected areas] ]

Birdlife International has designated Eaglenest and Sessa Sanctuaries as an Important Bird Area (IBA IN344), with Blyth's Tragopan identified as a vulnerable species of the area. [BirdLife International (2006) BirdLife IBA Factsheet, retrieved 10/1/2007 [http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/sites/index.html?action=SitHTMDetails.asp&sid=18041&m=0 IN344 Eaglenest and Sessa Sanctuaries] ]

This area is extremely important for the continued well-being of the Asian Elephant.Elephants regularly move up from the Assam plains to the Eaglenest ridge at 3250 m insummer, perhaps the highest altitude that elephants reach in India. Extensive clearing of foreststhrough illegal encroachments in Assam adjacent to Eaglenest has exacerbated elephant-manconflict in the plains; it has also meant that elephants now have to stay longer in the Eaglenest areaand may lead to depletion of their food resource by dominating the rate of regeneration.

History of name

Eaglenest apparently derives its name from Red Eagle Division of the Indian army which was posted in the area in the 1950's. [Athreya Ramana (3/13/2005) Kaati Trust, Pune [http://www.clsp.jhu.edu/people/zak/ramana/wapLocEaglenest.htm Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary] ]

Gallery

References

=References=
* [http://www.orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?action=searchresult&Bird_ID=2795 Field sketch of the bird prior to study and description]
* [https://lists.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9608&L=NATHISTORY-INDIA&P=R1290&I=-3 Ramana Athreya's trip report in 1996 describing the new species]
* [http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~sbhatnag/Nature/warunachal/wapMiscEaglenestBP.htm The Eaglenest Biodiversity project]
* [http://www.bnhs.org/article.php?cid=Nzc%3D&sid=Mjgx&aid=Mjgx&t=Mg%3D%3D The Bugun Liocichla, Discovery of new Bird Species in India: BNHS]