FORKTAIL 16 (2000): 131-146 Birds of oak forests in the Kumaon Himalaya, Uttar Pradesh, India AISHA SULTANA and JAMAL A. KHAN We surveyed 19 patches of oak forests in three districts of the Kumaon Himalaya to document the status of birds from April 1995 to July 1997. Totals of 203, 85 and 84 species of birds were recorded by using species richness counting, point counts and line transect methods respectively. Totals of 182, 81 and 162 bird species were recorded from Almora, Nainital and Pithoragarh districts respectively. These, together with records from other relevant published sources, have been combined to produce a checklist of 382 bird species for the Kumaon Himalaya. It is recommended that further surveys should be conducted in Almora and Nainital districts. INTRODUCTION STUDY AREA The oak forests in the Kumaon Himalaya, Uttar Pradesh The surveys were conducted in three districts i.e. have been studied in detail by plant ecologists (Saxena Almora, Nainital and Pithoragarh of the Kumaon and Singh 1982, Saxena et al. 1985, Singh and Singh Himalaya (28°43'55" and 30°30'12"N latitude and 1986). However, very little current information exists 78°44'30" and 80°45'E longitude). We covered 19 oak on major animal communities (e.g. avian, mammalian patches of different sizes during these surveys (Fig. 1) etc.) which inhabit oak forests in the Kumaon Himalaya. between an altitudinal range of 1,200 to 3,500 m (Table Therefore, we carried out extensive surveys in extant 1). The Kumaon Himalaya are mountainous and oak patches to document the status of birds from April divisible into subtropical (300 to 1,500 m), temperate 1995 to July 1997. (1,500 to 3,500 m) and alpine (>3,500 m) zones (Saxena Figure 1. Location of sites covered during surveys in the Kumaon Himalaya (for site names, see Table 1) 132 AISHA SULTANA & JAMAL A. KHAN Forktail 16 (2000) Table 1. Sites covered during bird surveys in the Kumaon from 07h00-08h30 in the morning and 16h00-17h30 Himalaya in the evening. Bird species were recorded within a radius of 20 m. This was followed by sampling of birds by line Site name Code Patch Altitudinal size range transect and species richness counting methods in the Naini Tal Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary. Six line transects, each 500 Kunjakharak 1 14.5 1900-2500 m in length and 500 m apart, were monitored from Vinayak 2 15.32 1900-2400 07h00-09h00 to census the birds. There were nine Mukteshwar 3 11.75 1500-2400 monitoring sessions of each transect. A total of 71 bird Gager 4 3.25 1700-2300 lists were compiled in Binsar using the species richness Maheshkhan 5 22 1900-2300 counting method. Each list consisted of only 20 Almora consecutive different bird species seen. No species was Jageshwer 6 21 1800-2300 included more than once on each list. This was followed Sitlakhet 7 11.25 1700-2200 by the sampling of the bird communities in five oak Pandavkholi 8 13.23 1800-2500 patches of the Askot Wildlife Sanctuary, using the species Ranikhet 9 3 1880-2100 richness counting method, and a total of 54 bird lists Sundardunga 10 25.75 2500-3500 Pindari 11 21.5 2500-3500 were compiled. Lahur 12 49.5 2100-3000 During surveys in the pre-monsoon season of 1997, Binsar 13 11.25 1600-2500 birds were sampled by monitoring of 121 points and by Pithoragarh compiling 110 lists in different localities of the Kumaon Dhaphiadhura 14 34.36 1200-2500 Himalaya. The points were established randomly at each Majhtham 15 25 1300-3200 site and monitored for 20 minutes only as more than Duku 16 52 1290-2700 one point was monitored per day. Birds were counted Sobala 17 28.12 1900-3500 within a fixed radius of 20 m. The points were separated Munsiyari 18 30.5 2300-3000 by a minimum distance of at least 100 m. At each point, Mechh 19 23.25 1800-2200 data were collected on the following parameters: 1. Bird species et al. 1985). The vegetation in the Kumaon Himalaya is 2. Group size, sex (if identifiable) predominantly forest, and mostly belongs to moist 3. Radial distance and vertical distance temperate type (Champion and Seth 1968). There are 4. Activity five main forest types found in the whole of the Kumaon 5. Tree species Himalaya. These are sal forests (found up 1,200 m), pine forests (1,200-2,400 m), oak forests (1,300-3,200 6. Portion of the tree which was used by bird (upper m), mixed broadleaf forest (foothills to 3,300 m) and canopy, middle canopy, lower canopy, stem) and Betula utilis forest (3,200-3,500 m). The major tree ground species found in different sites included Quercus leucotrichophora, Q. lanata, Q. floribunda, Q. semecarpifolia, Data analysis Tsuga dumosa and Rhododendron arboreum, in association The total number of species for each site was calculated with Viburnum species, Myrica esculenta, Alnus by adding the number of different species cumulatively nepaulensis, Swida oblonga, Lyonia ovalifolia, Persea duthieii from either point counts or from different lists compiled and Lindera pulcherrima. The dominant shrub species in the area. All bird records from point counts, line were Myrsine africana, Arundinaria species, Berberis transect monitoring and species lists were pooled aristata, Rubus species, Daphnae species, Mahonia together to prepare a combined checklist for all surveyed nepaulensis and Pyracantha species. sites. All individual sightings of birds were pooled for each locality and bird species were ranked according to following abundance categories: METHODOLOGY 1 = rare (0-5 sightings) Sampling of birds 2 = common (6-25 sightings) 3 = abundant (26-50 sightings) The sampling of bird communities was initiated in 4 = very abundant (>50 sightings) Ranikhet region in the pre-monsoon season of 1995, followed by a survey and intensive study in the Binsar The species abundance scores for each site were Wildlife Sanctuary in Almora district in the pre- summed together to calculate mean rank abundance monsoon season of 1996. During the post-monsoon score for a species reflecting its overall abundance for season of 1996, surveys were carried out in the Askot the Kumaon Himalaya. The values of mean rank Wildlife Sanctuary in Pithoragarh district, and these abundance varied between 0 to 2.5. The total number were followed by surveys in the whole of the Kumaon of bird species were also classified according to their Himalaya during the pre-monsoon season of 1997. feeding guild and status following Ali and Ripley (1987), The species richness counting method (MacKinnon using the guild classification suggested by Karr (1971). and Phillipps 1993), point count method (Bibby et al. 1992) and line transect method (Emlen 1971) were used for sampling birds in oak patches. The study was initiated RESULTS in Ranikhet where 21 points were established in oak forest. The points were randomly established, with a Table 2 provides the number of bird species sampled minimum interval of 100-150 m and were monitored by different methods. A total of 203, 85 and 84 species Forktail 16 (2000) Birds of oak forests in the Kumaon Himalaya, Uttar Pradesh, India 133 Table 2. The number of species recorded at different sites in the Table 3 provides the classification of 197 bird species Kumaon Himalaya by different sampling methods according to their feeding guilds. The highest number (58.6%) of birds belonged to the insectivorous guild Sites SRCM PC LT and the lowest number (2.4%) to the nectarivorous guild NNSNNSNNS Nainital in the bird community in the Kumaon Himalaya. At Kunjakharak 4 39 8 22 district level the contribution of insectivorous birds Vinayak 3 35 8 12 varied slightly and was highest in Almora district Mukteshwar 4 42 8 21 (65.3%) and lowest in Pithoragarh district (59.4%). The Gager 3 39 4 13 birds were also classified according to their status in the Maheshkhan 5 49 8 29 Kumaon Himalayas (Table 4). The contribution of Total 19 78 36 35 resident birds was maximum (81.7%) in the community and it varied very little between the three districts. Almora Jageshwer 11 70 9 34 Sitlakhet 5 57 4 21 DISCUSSION Pandavkholi 3 44 4 15 Ranikhet - - 78 62 Sundardunga 18 108 4 7 The Kumaon Himalaya have been explored relatively Pindari 8 73 12 22 poorly as far as bird communities are concerned. There Lahur 6 53 8 22 are about 55 published accounts of birds from the Binsar 71 154 - - 54 84 Kumaon Himalayas. The most important of these were Total 122 185 119 75 54 84 those by Hudson (1930), who documented 124 bird species occurring on seven hills around Nainital between Pithoragarh 6,000 and 8,500 ft; Briggs (1931), who documented 83 Dhaphiadhura 34 111 8 28 bird species in Ranikhet forest, and Tak (1995), who Majhtham 4 49 9 29 documented 127, 94 and 82 species of birds from Duku 9 86 6 16 Nainital, Almora and Pithoragarh districts respectively. Sobala 31 117 12 20 The present study covered the same area in Ranikhet, Munsiyari 5 58 4 14 as well as the same period of the year as that of Briggs Mechh 3 41 4 9 Total 86 160 43 40 (1931), who also observed the birds in the Cantonment forests lying between Chobatia and Dhobi Ghat Nullah Overall total 254 203 198 85 54 84 in Ranikhet. We have compared the birds recorded in the present study with that of Briggs (1931) for Ranikhet SRCM = Species richness counting method, PC = Point count, forest only. Out of 83 birds recorded in 1931 and 114 LT = Line transect, N = Number of bird lists, points or transects, NS = Number of bird species birds in 1995, there are 68 common species, 15 species are exclusive to 1931 and 46 species were recorded only in 1995.