Authors : Patel R. and Rahalkar S.
Page Nos : 76-88
Description :
Birds are an essential part of the food chain in every ecosystem. They play a vital role as scavengers, pollinators, seed dispersal agents, and predators of insect pests. Wetlands are essential habitats crucial for supporting terrestrial and aquatic bird communities, and the presence or absence of birds reflects the condition of the wetlands. Therefore, an attempt has been made to study birds' abundance and distribution in different Khutaghat Dam stations from June 2021 to May 2023 in all four seasons. Beltline transect and point count methods were employed to investigate the abundance of birds. Station-wise data were summarised in the Excel sheet throughout the study period. Relative abundance was calculated using MS Excel. This study revealed 37087 individuals and 140 bird species belonging to 15 orders and 40 families. Passeriformes was the most abundant order in all seasons. One-way ANOVA was used to determine the effect of seasons on the abundance of birds, and ANOVA was also used to know the effect of stations on the abundance of birds. The ANOVA result divulged that bird abundance significantly differed in different seasons (p<0.05). ANOVA test shows no significant differences (P>0.05) in the mean abundance of birds recorded from various stations of Kharung dam in the autumn, winter and rainy seasons. In contrast, summer birds' mean abundance significantly differed (p<0.05) among various stations. Our findings support that the dam is a suitable habitat for the residential and migratory birds; however, the birds recorded in and around are significantly affected by anthropogenic activity like fishing activity, washing cloth, direct bathing, washing livestock, immersion of idols, pollution due to spraying of insecticides on the crop in the catchment area. Prospects of the present research work would contribute to conserving the avifauna of the study area by safeguarding their habitats.
