Factors affecting nest site selection of Milvus migrans govinda (Pariah kite), in and around AMU campus, Aligarh

Abstract

Pariah Kite Milvus migrans govinda is a widely distributed resident kite of the Indian subcontinent with reasonably good population and presently serving as one of the major facultative scavengers in most of the urban centers, holding importance as after the Indian sub-continent has almost lost its primary natural scavenger, White-rumped vulture (Gyps bengalensis), since the 1990's from most of its range. A better management can help maintain its good population and one such crucial component, understanding its nesting site selection within the urban area, was the focus of our study. We investigated the various parameters such as substrate type, substrate height, nest height, GBH, canopy cover above the nest, green cover and distance from foraging sites of all the active nest (n=70) found. The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was found highly positively significant with tree height, GBH and foraging site distance favoring the nesting site selection. Highly negative significant correlation with canopy cover and the green cover was found indicating its selectiveness towards more urban areas food is available. Also less canopy cover on the nest tree signifies for easy entry-exit to the nest as it has large wingspan and also for better vigilance. Also, the circular plots were plotted around the nest sites and random sites to compare the parameters between the utilized and available sites. The mean differences in the parameters came out to be significantly different, suggesting that the pariah kites are selective in nature for nest site selection.