Determination of Spectrum of Winter Migratory Birds in Yamuna Nagar District in Haryana (India)
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Environment Conservation Journal 11(3) 37-43, 2010 (ISSN 0972-3099) Abstracted and Indexed Determination of spectrum of winter migratory birds in Yamuna Nagar district in Haryana (India) Rohtash Chand Gupta1 and Tirshem Kumar Kaushik2 Received: 13-06-2010 Accepted: 08-10-2010 Abstract During the three years of study (2005-08), some 58 species of wetland birds were observed in approximately 120 village ponds; out of these, atleast 28 species of wetland birds are winter migratory, coming from far off places located across the Himalayas. During the winter sojourns, these winter migratory birds face multiple threats in rural ponds of Haryana due to cipher attention of conservation authorities and persistent and accelerated utilization of rural ponds by the resident villagers. If the present admixture of interference and disturbance continues, then winter migratory birds like Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus), Greylag Goose (Anser anser), Common Coot (Fulica atra), Northern Shoveller (Anas clypeata), Northern Pintail (Anas acuta), Common Teal (Anas crecca), Gadwall (Anas strepera), Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), Common Pochard (Aythya ferina), Tufted Pochard (Aythya fuligula), Brahminy Shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea) and Red-crested Pochard (Rhodonessa rufina) will be wiped out just like Siberian Cranes arrived in Keoladeo National park in Rajasthan in India. The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India should pay timely attention to save migratory birds that visit India every winter in Lakhs and Crores. Keywords: Migratory Birds, Rural Ponds, Threats, Yamuna nagar, Haryana. Introduction The present study focusing attention on finding Kalsi (1998), Gupta and Bajaj (1989, 1991a, out the diversity of winter migratory birds that 1991b, 1996 Gupta and Midha, 1992, 1993, come to rural ponds in Yamunanagar district 1994a-d, 1995a-c) Gupta and Goel (1994), (30.1° N 77.28° E) having an area of 1569 sq. Gupta and Kumar (2009) and on wetland birds kms and located on the banks of Yamuna river at by Gupta and Bajaj (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000; a distance of 190 kms from Delhi and Gupta et al. , 2009, 2010a-c). juxtaposed with Saharanpur District of Uttar It is pertinent to mention that village ponds in Pradesh (35 KMs east of Saharanpur). The Yamunanager district in Haryana were staffed avifaunal studies in the Indian subcontinent have with winter migratory birds. However, no been conducted by several scientists like Ali studies have been carried on the avian (1962, 1969); Ali and Ripley (1983); Grimmet et biodiversity of village ponds in Yamunanagar al (1998); Bhatnagar et al. (2008); Higuchi et al. District (30.1° N 77.28° E) and hence the (2008); Kasambe (2008); Saikia et al. (2008) present study has been carried out. ;Sibley and Monroe (1990); Baker and Inglis (1930); Manakadan and Pittie (2001); Materials and Method Kazmierczak (2000); Pandey et al. (2008); The present studies were conducted for a period Kumar et al. (2005). of three years (2005-08) during winter seasons In Haryana, ornithological studies have been (September to April) and approximately 120 carried out by Yadav and Maleywar (1978) rural ponds were visited in 90 villages. Observations were made by covering the shores Author’s Address of each pond foot by foot, and extensive 1 H.No-566/3, Urban Estate, Kurukshetra, Haryana (India) photography was exercised. The camera used E-mail: [email protected] was Zenith (Model 1986) with 200 M telelens. Mobile: 09896051979 2 Department of Zoology, Kurukshetra University, The wetland bird’s species which were observed Kurukshetra, Haryana (India) were further segregated according to their E-mail: [email protected] residential status categories like “Resident” Copyright by ASEA 37 All rights of reproduction in any form reserved Environment Conservation Journal Gupta and Kaushik “Winter Migratory” “Local Migratory” and “Summer Migratory” by following the technique developed by Kumar et al. (2005). 20 18 18 Identification of birds was done by following Ali 16 14 12 (1996); Ali and Ripley (1983); Grimmet et al. 12 11 10 (1998); Alfred et al. (2001); Besten (2004) and 8 6 Kumar et al. (2005). The nomenclature adopted 6 4 4 4 2 3 was Manakadan and Pittie (2001). 2 1 1 No of bird Species 0 s s s s s s s s e e e e e e e e rm rm rm rm rm rm rm rm o o if o o o o o Results and Discussion if if i if if if if if d n n r u n i r e a o e r o c e p c ic s G c ra s i e n l o s ic l C A a Apodiformesa The present studies reveal that 58 species of d e F C P o P Charadriiformes P wetlands can be generally witnessed in rural Orders ponds in Haryana state (Table.1) and these birds belong to ten orders (Fig.1) and 17 families (Fig.3). The most dominate Order is Fig.1Depiction of incidence of wetland birds in village ponds of Yamuna nagar district in Order- Charadriiformes (17 species) followed by wise manner during the study period (2005-08). Anseriformes (13 species) and Ciconiiformes (08 species). The least diversity has been Local Migratory, observed in Order like Falconiformes (One 10, 17% Species) and Apodiformes (One Species) closely Resident, 18, 31% followed by Podicipediformes (2 species) and Coraciiformes (3 species). Out of 58 species of Winter Migratory wetland birds observed in village ponds of Local Migratory Resident Yamunanagar district, 28.49% were winter Summer Migratory Winter Migratory, Summer migratory, 18.21 % were Resident Birds, 28, 49% Migratory, 2, 3% 10.17% local migratory and 2.3 % were summer migratory. Kumar et al (2005) reported 109 residents, while the status is not known for eight species. Kalsi (1998) recorded 161 species of birds at Kalesar National Park in Yamunanagar district in Haryana. Gupta et al. Fig.2 Showing the Residential Status of Wetland (2009) reported 72 species of Wetland Birds birds observed in Yamunanagar district during the belonging to 10 Orders and 19 Families from study period (2005-08). rural village ponds of Karnal District in Podicipedidae, 2, 3% Phalacrocoracidae, 3, Haryana. Out of these, 37 species of birds are Hirundinidae, 2, 3% winter migratory, 13 are local migratory, 20 are 5% Apodidae, 1, 2% Anhingidae, 1, 2% Podicipedidae Meropidae, 1, 2% Phalacrocoracidae resident. Gupta and Kaushik (2010) reported 66 Anhingidae Alcedinidae, 2, 3% Ardeidae, 8, 14% Ardeidae species of wetland birds from Kurukshetra, out Anatidae Accipitridae, 1, 2% Rallidae of which 33 species of birds were winter Jacanidae Laridae, 2, 3% Charadriidae migratory, 21 species resident, 11 species local Recurvirostridae, 3, 5% Scolopacidae Recurvirostridae Laridae migratory and 3 species were summer migratory. Accipitridae Alcedinidae Scolopacidae, 6, 10% At the same time, Gupta et al, 2010 recorded a Meropidae Apodidae total of 63 species of Wetland birds from village Anatidae, 13, 22% Hirundinidae Motacillidae ponds in Kaithal District. Out of 63 species of Charadriidae, 4, 7% Rallidae, 4, 7% wetland birds, 31 are winter migratory, 9 local Jacanidae, 2, 3% migratory, 3 summers migratory and 20 species are resident birds. It is pertinent to mention large numbers of wetland birds migrate into India annually from far off places located across the Fig.3: Depiction of incidence of wetland birds in Himalayas (Ali and Ripley, 1983, Bird life village ponds of Yamunanagar district in family-wise International 2001) manner during the study period (2005-08). 38 Environment Conservation Journal Determination of spectrum of winter Table 1: Checklist of wetland birds observed in village ponds of Yamuna nagar district in Haryana, India S. Common Scientific Name RES. CHH JAG MUS RAD SAD BIL No Name STATUS (I) ORDER-PODICIPEDIFORMES (i) FAMILY- PODICIPEDIDAE 1 Little Grebe Tachybaptus R √ √ √ √ √ √ rufficollis (Pallas, 1764) 2 Great Crested Podiceps cristatus WM √ √ x x x x Grebe (Linnaeus, 1758) (II) ORDER-PELECANIFORMES (i) FAMILY-PHALACROCORACIDAE 3 Little Phalacrocorax niger R √ √ √ √ √ √ Cormorant (Vieillot, 1817) 4 Indian Shag Phalacrocorax LM √ √ √ √ √ √ fuscicollis (Stephens, 1826) 5 Great Phalacrocorax LM √ √ √ √ √ √ Cormorant carbo (Linnaeus, 1758) (ii) ANHINGIDAE 6 Darter Anhinga R √ √ x x √ √ melanogaster (Pennant, 1769) (III) ORDER-CICONIIFORMES (i) FAMILY- ARDEIDAE 7 Little Egret Egretta garzetta LM √ √ √ √ √ √ (Linnaeus, 1766) 8 Grey Heron Ardea cinerea WM √ √ √ √ √ √ (Linnaeus, 1758) 9 Purple Heron Ardea purpurea LM √ √ √ √ √ √ (Linnaeus, 1766) 10 Large Egret Casmerodius albus LM √ √ √ √ √ √ (Linnaeus 1758) 11 Median Egret Mesophoyx LM √ √ √ √ √ √ intermedia (Wagler 1829) 12 Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis R √ √ √ √ √ √ (Linnaeus, 1758) 13 Indian Pond- Ardeola grayii R √ √ √ √ √ √ Heron (Sykes, 1832) 14 Black-crowned Nycticorax R √ √ √ √ √ √ Night Heron nycticorax (Linnaeus,1758) (IV) ORDER-ANSERIFORMES (i) FAMILY- ANATIDAE 15 Greylag Anser anser WM √ √ √ √ √ √ Goose (Linnaeus, 1758) 16 Lesser Dendrocygna SM √ √ √ √ √ √ Whistling javanica duck (Horsfield, 1821) 17 Brahminy Tadorna ferruginea WM √ √ √ X √ √ Shelduck (Pallas 1764) 18 Bar-headed Anser indicus WM √ √ √ √ √ √ Goose (Latham,1790) 19 Gadwall Anas strepera WM √ √ √ √ √ √ (Linnaeus, 1758) 39 Environment Conservation Journal Gupta and Kaushik 20 Mallard Anas platyrhynchos WM √ √ x x x x (Linnaeus, 1758) 21 Spot-billed Anas poecilorhyncha WM √ √ √ √ √ √ Duck (J.R.Forester,(1781) 22 Northern Anas clypeata WM √ √ √ √ √ √ Shoveller (Linnaeus, 1758) 23 Northern Anas acuta WM √ √ √ √ √ √ Pintail (Linnaeus, 1758) 24 Common Anas crecca WM √ √ √ √ √ √ Teal (Linnaeus, 1758) 25 Red-crested Rhodonessa rufina WM √ √ x x x x Pochard (Pallas, 1773)