Reported by Roopak Goswami
Guwahati: In a significant ornithological discovery, researchers have documented the first-ever photographic record of the rare Naumann’s Thrush in Assam, marking a major addition to the state’s bird records and reflecting the growing importance of the Brahmaputra Valley as a winter refuge for migratory birds.
The finding, published in the latest edition of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, was made by researcher Pulakeswar Basumatary, who photographed the bird at Panbari Village in Dhemaji district on January 13, 2026. Pulakeswar Basumatary is associated with the Balipara Foundation.
Within Assam, prior records include a sighting from Manas National Park, Baksa district (6 January 2006), and an individual of hybrid or uncertain status from the Digboi Oil Fields, Tinsukia district (17 December 2018) (Hatibaruah et al. 2019; Abhinav et al. 2022).
The present record from Panbari Village, Dhemaji district (13 January 2026), thus constitutes the first photographically confirmed record of a pure individual from the state.
Naumann’s Thrush (Turdus naumanni) is a medium-sized migratory bird that breeds in central and eastern Siberia and winters mainly in parts of East Asia.
Sightings in India are considered exceptionally rare, with only a handful of confirmed records documented so far.
According to the study, the bird was spotted foraging in open grassland mixed with paddy fields in Dhemaji at an elevation of around 105 metres, significantly lower than most earlier Indian records, which were largely from high-altitude Himalayan regions.
The researchers said the sighting is important not only because it is Assam’s first photographically confirmed record of a “pure” Naumann’s Thrush but also because it may indicate changing winter movement patterns of migratory Palearctic birds into northeastern India.
The individual bird, identified as a first-winter female, remained in the area for more than a month. Experts confirmed the species through detailed analysis of plumage features and photographs uploaded to birding platforms and identification forums.
The paper notes that previous Assam records included only a sighting from Manas National Park in 2006 and a suspected hybrid individual from Digboi in 2018.
The Dhemaji observation is therefore being regarded as the state’s first definitive photographic evidence of the species.
Researchers also pointed out that Dhemaji district already supports rich avifaunal diversity, with over 334 bird species recorded in the region.
The study suggests that continued monitoring of Assam’s grasslands and agricultural landscapes during winter could reveal more rare migratory species and help scientists better understand changing bird migration routes linked to continental weather patterns and ecological shifts.