A study of the ecological requirements of waterfowl at man-made reservoirs in Kheda District, Gujarat, India, with a view towards conservation, management and planning

Wetland Bird Assemblage in Rural Ponds of Kurukshetra, India

“…Waders, shorebirds, Purple Moorhen and wagtails were observed foraging in the irrigated wheat and paddy fields flanking the ponds (Table 3). Foraging by aquatic birds outside the wetlands in surrounding agriculture fields has also been reported by earlier workers (Lane and Fujioka 1996; Mukherjee et al 2002;Urfi 2003;Jha 2013). The trees at the banks of the ponds were used by cormorants, egrets, herons, storks, kites and kingfishers for roosting and nesting.…”

“…Shorebirds (jacanas, plovers, sandpipers, stilts and avocets) and wagtails were confined to the fringes of the ponds. These birds mostly feed on aquatic invertebrates, such as mollusks, insects, and worms, and some vegetable matter obtained by probing mud (Mukherjee et al 2002). However, cormorants were observed to forage in both shallow and deeper zones of the ponds.…”

“…These large, unwanted monotypic stands of water hyacinth could reduce the value of the wetland as good waterfowl habitat (Manral et al 2013). Wetland characteristics like size, water depth, quality of water, trophic structure, and presence of suitable roosting and nursery sites influence the abundance and diversity of water birds (Wiens 1989;Mukherjee et al 2002;Ma et al 2010); therefore, effective management of these rural ponds will provide suitable habitats for supporting diverse and abundant wetland bird communities (Ali et al 2013). for Birdwatchers 48: 49-50.…”

Additions to the Birds of Bangalore University Campus (BUC), India

“…The checklist of Bengaluru birds presented 341 species with 186 regularly occurring species (George et al 1994;Rajashekar 2011;Rajashekara and Venkatesha 2014b, 2015, 2016, which included the presently recorded 134 species of both aquatic and terrestrial birds in the BUC, India. A strong association between habitat quality is present between the biotic and abiotic factors with the involvement of safe roosting site, availability of food and water resources, habitat size and habitat complexities, human disturbances and recreational activities, that influences the bird populations as reported by Mukherjee et al (2002), Patankar et al (2007), Narang et al (2008) and, Venkatesha (2010, 2014b). Twenty species of waterbirds in the BUC are also recorded in different lakes of the Bengaluru region earlier by Rajashekar (2011) and, Rajashekara and Venkatesha (2010, 2014b.…”

Flamingo mortality due to collision with high tension electric wires in Gujarat, India

“…However, the deaths of small birds go unnoticed due to their size. Sarus Crane Grus antigone have been reported dying due to collision with electric wires at the wetlands of Kheda District, Gujarat (Parasharya et al 2000;Mukherjee et al 2002) and Uttar Pradesh (Sundar & Choudhury 2005). The Great White Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus has been a victim of such wires at Nanda BirdLife International 2008b) feeding in the salt pans are also at high risk of collision (Image 6).…”