A new bird species has been found in India, the first such discovery here in more than 50 years, the amateur ornithologist who first spotted the bird said Tuesday. The multicolored bird species, Liocichla bugunorum, was first sighted in May. The multicolored bird, Liocichla bugunorum, was first sighted in May in the remote Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh, a northeastern state near the border with China, by Ramana Athreya, an astronomer as well as amateur ornithologist.

Mr. Athreya said he named it after the Bugun tribe, which lives in the area. The bird has a black cap, a bright yellow patch around the eyes and yellow, crimson, black and white patches on the wings. Mr. Athreya caught two of the species, but released them after making detailed notes and taking photographs — and keeping feathers that had worked loose in his net. “We thought the bird was just too rare for one to be killed,” he said. “With today’s modern technology, we could gather all the information we needed to confirm it as a new species. We took feathers and photographs and recorded the bird s songs.” Though the bird was discovered in May, the news was kept under wraps until the bird was confirmed as a new species. Mr. Athreya said he first spotted the bird in 1995, “but it was only this year I had a sufficiently good look that we could move into the matter.”
(The N.Y. Times, 14/09/2006)