Abstract

Avifaunal diversity in a particular area indicates the health and any deviation in the ecosystem functioning. Documentation of avian species, thus, in any area is emphasized from environment monitoring perspective. Keeping this in view an attempt was made to prepare a checklist of bird species inhabiting the farmlands of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (CCSHAU), Hisar. A total of 99 species representing 80 genera, 44 families and 18 orders were recorded from June 2019 to July 2021 among which 65.65% were residents and the remaining were migratory. Two of the recorded species, Paleornis eupatria and Threskiornis melanocephalus belong to near threatened category, three belongs to Schedule-I of IWPA (1972). Analysis of food and feeding guilds revealed that omnivorous guild is predominant followed by insectivorous. Availability of abundant food resources in agricultural landscapes make them potential habitats and attract diverse avifauna. The outcome of present study has provided sufficient data on the documentation of avian fauna of the study area.

1. Introduction

Haryana is predominantly an agrarian society situated in North-Western part of the country and covers an area of 44,212 square kilometers. Birds are omnipresent and serve several ecosystem services like pollination, scavenging, seed dispersal, etc ¹. Bird assemblages are potential bioindicator of stability, integrity and functioning of any ecosystem. The composition of bird species depends on the available resources and climatic conditions of any area; hence assessment of avian community is emphasized to monitor the environment. A few of the bird species however cause considerable damage to agricultural and horticultural crops. Agricultural habitats provide diversified, biologically productive, and concentrated food resources and sometimes serve as stopovers for migratory birds. The food generally includes fruits, grains, green vegetation, insects and their larvae, rodents, seeds, soil invertebrate and vertebrates etc. Birds are classified as carnivorous, frugivorous, granivorous, insectivorous, nectarivorous and omnivorous based on their feeding habits, but omnivorous and granivorous are most abundant among them. Carnivorous and insectivorous species are farmer’s friend and provides beneficial services to agriculture by consuming crop pests like insects, rodents, etc ². Along with food resources, cover, roosting, nesting and breeding ground are also provided by agro ecosystems to birds, so it becomes imperative to point out that several workers have studied avian communities in India from different point of views in landscapes ^{3, 4, 5, 6, 7}. As far as Haryana is concerned, ^{8, 9, 10, 11} have contributed a lot to the avian ecological studies. Intensive agricultural practices, indiscriminate use of pesticides and other agro chemicals pose a great threat to avian diversity.

Present study assessed the avian diversity and their community characteristics through surveys from July 2019 to June 2021 at the research farm area of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. Several crop fields, horticultural area, vegetable section and wetland area of the university were selected for observations on avian diversity. The data gathered during the investigation may help to design the strategy to minimize the crop loss and conservation plans of for birds of agricultural importance.

2. Study Area

Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University is located at 29°08'59.1"N 75°42'16.8"E in district Hisar of Haryana, India. The climate of the area is subtropical to arid with cold winters and very hot summers with an average annual temperature between 23-26°C and scanty rainfall. The farmland of the university has huge green cover of different plant species, seasonal agricultural, horticultural and vegetable crops throughout the year.

3. Materials and Methods

A preliminary survey to get acquainted with topography of the study area was carried out; thereafter 44 field surveys were conducted fortnightly from July 2019 to June 2021. Different study sites were visited during morning and evening hours at least for three hours after sun rise and before sun set respectively but inclement weather days were avoided. Observations on birds were taken by following line transects method ^{12, 13} and total sixteen transects (500 meter each) were carved out of whole study area. Each transect was scanned thoroughly on foot to note down the presence of any bird species spotted within 100 meter radius on both the sides of the transects. Birding was done with the help of binoculars (Nikon ACULON binoculars; 8×42, 8°) to pin down the unique morphological features crucial for identification thereafter photographs were clicked with digital camera (COOLPIX P900) for record and assistance in identification of the correct species. The birds observed in fields were identified using reference books like ^{14, 15, 16, 17} and other authenticated online databases (IUCN Red list of Threatened Species and Oriental Bird Club image database). Recorded and identified avifauna wasclassified based on common name, zoological name, genus, family and order ¹⁸. Residential and local abundance status were assigned to the identified species based on presence or absence ^{19, 20} and frequency of sighting methods ²¹. To determine the local abundance of residential species all 44 visits were taken in consideration whereas 24 and 20 visits during the months from October to March and April to September for winter and summer migratory species respectively. The species sighted during 76-100% visits were classified as abundant, very common if sighted in 51-75%, common if sighted in 26-50% whereas rare species if sighted in 1-25% visits. Conservation status and population trend of the recorded avifauna were assessed as per ^{22, 23, 24}. Feeding guilds were decided as work of ^{25, 26} and field observations.

The recorded data were analysed for calculating relative diversity (RDi) of the orders and families by following formula ²⁷

4. Results and Discussion

The total 99 avian species recorded at farmlands of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar Haryana were classified in to 80 genera, 44 families and 18 orders. Among the recorded bird species, maximum number belongs to order Passeriformes (51 species of 19 families) of followed by Pelecaniformes (six species of two families); Anseriformes and Cuculiformes (each with five species of two families); Coraciiformes (four species of three families); Columbiformes (four species of one family); Charadriiformes (three species of three families); Piciformes (three species of two families); Accipitriformes, Galliformes, Gruiformes and Psittaciformes (each with three species of one family); Bucerotiformes, Falconiformes, Podicipediformes, Strigiformes, Suliformes and Upupiformes (each with one species of one family) (Table 1). Our findings related to bird diversity match with the observation of ²⁸, these researchers concluded that passerine birds represent maximum diversity in an area due to their wide range of habitats, feeding habits such as floral buds, fruits, grains, insects, other invertebrates, nectar, nuts, etc. Similarly, ²⁹ recorded maximum bird species belonging to order Passeriformes in the agricultural landscapes of Burdwan. Observations for avifaunal diversity in agro ecosystem were also taken by ³⁰ in six different agro ecosystems of Uttrakhand and recorded 64 bird species belonging to 34 families.

The relative diversity (RDi) values of families revealed Muscicapidae (highest RDi= 11.11) as the most diverse family with 11 species (Table 1). Out of total 99 species; 65.65% were found resident, 21.21% winter migrants, 6.06% summer migrants, 5.05% local migrants and 2.02% passage migrants (Figure 1). Some of the migratory species spotted included Red Headed Bunting and Rosy Starling (passage migrants); African Comb Duck, Common Nightingale and Plum Headed Parakeet (local migrants); Blue Tailed Bee Eater, Grey Bellied Cuckoo, Indian Golden Oriole, Pied Cuckoo and Lesser Whistling Duck (summer migrants); Black Redstart, Bluethroat, Citrine Wagtail, Common Coot, Common Pochard, Grey Wagtail, Red Breasted Flycatcher, Tufted Pochard, White Wagtail and Yellow Wagtail (winter migrants). The observations on the abundance status of current study revealed that out of total 99species; 13, 31, 41, 14 were respectively abundant, very common, common and rare species (Figure 2). Food resources in any ecosystem play a vital role in richness and species diversity of the area. The analysis of recorded data for feeding guild of documented species explains that most dominant guild was omnivorous (38.38%) followed by insectivorous (32.32%); carnivorous (15.15%), granivorous (7.07%), frugivorous (6.06%) and insecti/nectarivorous (1.01%) (Figure 3). Findings of ³¹ on the residential status, local abundance and foraging guilds of avian species in six different agricultural ecosystems of Telangana are similar to our observations. They recorded that maximum number (98 out of total 144) of species were having residential status and remaining 46 were identified as migratory. The abundance status revealed 30.94% fairly common, 30.22 % rare, 20.14% common and 18.70% very common bird species. The researcher also identified six major feeding guilds, i.e., insectivores (43.0%), omnivores (29.9%), frugivores (5.6%), granivores (11.2%), carnivores (6.5%) and nectarivores (3.7%).

Out of 99 species of present study; 80 preferred terrestrial, 11aquatic and 8 preferred both the aquatic as well as terrestrial habitats (Figure 4). Similarly ³² recorded habitats of bird species and found 125, 63, 67 and 19 species in agricultural, residential, aquatic and barren habitats respectively. Conservation status of recorded avifauna was also taken into consideration during present investigation and results revealed that 97 species are least concern and 2 (Alexandrine Parakeet, Paleorniseupatriaand Black-Headed Ibis, Threskiornismelanocephalus) near threatened as per IUCN Red List criteria (Figure 5).

Three species Black Kite (Milvus migrans), Black-winged Kite (Elanus caeruleus) and Shikra (Accipiter badius) were found mentioned under Schedule-I while the remaining 96 under Schedule-IV of Indian Wildlife Protection Act (1972). Out of the total reported, six species fall under Appendix-II of CITES (2012). The existence of near threatened and vulnerable species in aforesaid habitats emphasizes the importance of conservation for these species ³³.

Out of the recorded species, 50.51%, 20.20%, 18.18% and 11.11% exhibit stable, increasing, decreasing and unknown global IUCN population trends respectively (Figure 6). Similar to findings of current study, ³⁴ also recorded a total of 43 avian species in agricultural landscapes of Bortir Bir, West Bengal among which global population trend of 10 species was decreasing, 9 had increasing, 13 with stable and 11 had unknown status.

5. Conclusion

The present study reveals that farmland of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University is the home to 99 species belonging to 80 genera, 44 families and 18 orders. The data recorded from different sites can be instrumental for future assessments on the status of birds and their conservation in the agro ecosystems.

Acknowledgements

The authors extend their sincere thanks to the Department of Zoology & Aquaculture, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, hisar. We are also thankful to CSIR for financial assistance.

References