BAYANI & DANDEKAR: Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve 113 A revised avian checklist of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), Chandrapur, Maharashtra, India Abhijeet Bayani & Nikhil Dandekar Bayani, A., & Dandekar, N., 2017. A revised checklist of avifauna of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), Chandrapur, Maharashtra, India. Indian BIRDS 13 (5): 113–124. Abhijeet Bayani, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pashan, Pune 411008, Maharashtra, India. E-mail: [email protected] [Corresponding author] Nikhil Dandekar, InSearch Outdoors, Ketan Heights, Rahulnagar Lane, Kothrud, Pune 411038, Maharashtra, India. E-mail: [email protected] Manuscript received on 12 February 2017. Abstract Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (henceforth, TATR) is one of the 50 Project Tiger areas of India. However, a meticulous and scientific documentation of its fauna, in recent years, is lacking. We documented avian diversity of TATR between 2010 and 2015. A total of 255 species were recorded during the study, five of which are endemic to India. We noted 17 species that are listed under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 66 species that recorded during 2003 to 2015 by various other visitors/observers, but were not seen by us are listed in Appendix 2. We recorded 20 species not previously reported from TATR. This report provides a revised checklist of the birds of TATR along with their patterns of occurrence and relative abundance. Introduction Although it seems that the avian diversity of TATR has been Birds are one of the most diverse and predominant forms of well documented, most publications are of sight records, or life on Earth, occupying almost all kinds of habitats and biomes. comprise short-term studies specific to a particular season, or TATR is an important tiger reserve of central India. It is a Protected a specific area of TATR. Also, besides Mahabalet al. (2006) Areaunder The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, whereby no other studies provide estimates of relative abundance. In legal protection has been provided for the conservation of the essence, a long term, systematic study of the avifauna of TATR is habitat and its animal and plant diversity (Quereshi et al. 2014; lacking. We studied avian diversity in TATR for five years and here Bayani et al. 2016). It is also a tourist hotspot. Earlier studies of we provide a revised checklist of the birds of TATR along with their the avifauna of this region exist: A preliminary checklist prepared occurrence and seasonal (relative) abundance, including some by Forest Department, Chandrapur, in 2003 (available at the new records for the area. education centre of TATR), lists 238 species; Mahabal (2006) reports 192 species; while various others, made during casual, Study area short-duration visits to the area include Kurhade (2002), Andheria TATR (19.98º–20.48ºN, 79.18º–79.66ºE) lies in Chandrapur (2003), and Dhamankar (2004). Many individual sightings of District of Vidarbha region in eastern Maharashtra (India), and birds have also been reported from TATR (Dhamankar 2003; ; has vegetation that falls under to the classification: 5A-CI-1B Kasambe et al. 2005; Dhamakar 2006; Sirdesai et al. 2013). Southern tropical dry deciduous forest (Dubey 1999; Bayani 2016). The total area of TATR is 1727.59 sq km out of which 625.82 sq km is designated as the critical tiger habitat (core area), and 1101.77sq km as the buffer area (Fig. 1). The TATR forest is dominated by Tectona grandis, Diospyros melanoxylon, and Terminalia elliptica, and patchily fragmented with thorny bushes and trees like Acacia leucophloea and A. nilotica. Its topography also supports diverse habitats, including open canopy grasslands, stony grasslands along the small hillocks, semi-deciduous riparian forest, perennial- and seasonal streams, wetlands, and agricultural lands. TATR harbours a wide range of faunal diversity including charismatic species like tiger Panthera tigris, leopard P. pardus, Indian wild dog Cuon alpinus, sloth bear Melursus ursinus; ungulates like sambar Rusa unicolor, spotted deer Axis axis, barking deer Muntiacus muntjak, nilgai Boselaphus tragocamelus, four-horned Antelope Tetracerus quadricornis; and lesser-known mammals like the Indian fox Vulpes benghalensis, rusty spotted cat Prionailurus rubiginosus, honey badger Mellivora capensis, small Indian civet Viverricula Fig. 1. Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve. Study area with details of sampling areas and important indica, etc., (Dubey 1999; Mahabal 2006; and authors’ personal sightings. observations). 114 Indian BIRDS VOL. 13 NO. 5 (PUBL. 16 OCTOBER 2017) Methodology Table 2. Details of point counts for wetlands Areas were sampled in both, the buffer, and the core zone, though Sr. No. Season Total no. of point Total number of hours areas along the northern, western, and southern boundaries counts of observation were our major study sites. The study was conducted from 1 Winter 2010–2011 144 144 September 2010 to May 2015 during three main seasons, i.e., summer (March–June), monsoon (July–October), and winter 2 Summer 2011 100 50 (November–February), in all the habitats. Transect sampling 3 Monsoon 2011 120 40 (Forbes 1907; Robinette et al. 1974) was followed to census and 4 Winter 2011–2012 140 140 record the bird species in all areas except wetlands, where we followed a point-count method. In all we walked 344 transects 5 Summer 2012 90 40 (712 km total transect length; (Table 1). Transects were covered 6 Monsoon 2012 90 54 between fixed times of the day: 0700 and 0900 hrs, and between 7 Winter 2012–2013 144 144 1600 and 1800 hrs, in all the seasons. We covered 12 wetlands 8 Summer 2013 110 45 during all the seasons, visiting each one of them once a week between 0700 and 0900 hrs (Table 2). The number of species, 9 Monsoon 2013 60 32 and the number of individuals per species, were counted for 10 Winter 2013–2014 120 120 each transect, and every point count. Identification of most of the 11 Summer 2014 54 27 bird species was based on Grimmett et al. (2011), and Naoroji (2007). We compiled seasonal lists of all transects separately, 12 Monsoon 2014 72 30 and the data from one particular season, across consecutive 13 Winter 2014–2015 122 122 years, was pooled together for further analysis. Species were 14 Summer 2015 80 52 categorised according to occurrence, abundance, and their IUCN Red List status. Their classification into residents henceforth,( RE), or migrants (henceforth, M) is based on their occurrence in the study area. If a species was observed in all the seasons, records were pooled into ‘occurrence category’, which essentially it was assumed to be a RE in the area, whereas if one was comprise stray records. observed during a specific season, then it is assumed to be M to For every transect walked, and during every point count, we the study area. Migrants include summer migrants (henceforth, counted the number of individuals of all species, and calculated the SM) migrating from eastern Africa, and southern India; winter mean encounter frequency in terms of the number of individuals migrants (henceforth, WM) comprising birds migrating in a per hour of observation, and the standard deviation (henceforth, north to south direction, crossing the trans-Himalayan axis; and SD) for each species in each season (Appendix 1; Shahabuddin passage migrants (henceforth, PM) comprising species observed et al. 2017). It should be noted that mean encounter frequency only during autumn and spring (and therefore staying for a very was specific for a season (i.e., summer, monsoon, or winter), short period). Some species that did not occur consistently in and not all seasons pooled together. For instance, if a species all the seasons but otherwise known to be resident in India was observed during five winters between 2010 and 2015, the are given status of Resident Migrants (henceforth, RM). It is mean is calculated using observations from all five winters. We important to note here that, resident/migratory status of bird used this mean encounter frequency without accounting for species is specific to the study area only. Vagrant henceforth,( V) the SD to represent the relative abundance and categorised it on the ACFOR scale (Crisp & Southward 1958; Hiscock 1996). We assigned a range for each of the ACFOR categories, namely, Table 1. Details of transect surveys Abundant ‘A’ (> 5 individuals per hour), Common ‘C’ (1–5 individuals per hour), Frequent ‘F’ (0.5–1 individuals per hour), Sr. No. Season Total no. of Total length of Total no. of hours Occasional ‘O’ (0.1–0.5 individuals per hour), and Rare ‘R’ (<0.1 transects transects (km) of observation individuals per hour). The encounter frequencies for transects, 1 Winter 2010–2011 32 64 81 and those of point counts, were calculated separately. In this case, 2 Summer 2011 25 54 63.5 all the ducks, geese, sandpipers, curlew, stints, stilt, storks, egrets (except cattle egret), herons, cranes, cormorants, Darter Anhinga 3 Monsoon 2011 38 76 95 melanogaster, Eurasian Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus, and 4 Winter 2011–2012 35 75 88.5 Osprey Pandion haliaetus were observed exclusively on wetlands. 5 Summer 2012 21 42 52.5 And hence the encounter frequency for them is calculated using 6 Monsoon 2012 31 62 77.5 point count hours. We also had numerous ‘single’ records, which essentially represented opportunistic sightings of birds that were 7 Winter 2012–2013 27 54 68.5 either one-off or were stray birds in the study area. We added 8 Summer 2013 19 50 47.5 such records into the ‘rare’ category of the ACFOR scale. We did 9 Monsoon 2013 32 64 80 not calculate encounter frequency for nightjars Caprimulgus sp., since they were observed almost exclusively at night, when we 10 Winter 2013–2014 39 80 97.5 did not carry out any transect or point counts.