Conservation status, feeding guilds, and diversity of birds in Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary, Karnataka, India

Abstract

The present study was carried out to investigate the importance of habitat quality for the diversity, distribution, and abundance of avifauna in Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary, Ballari District from February 2015 to January 2016. A total number of 189 species of birds, belonging to 62 families and 18 orders were recorded during the survey. A family-wise analysis showed that the families Accipitridae (12 species), followed by Muscicapidae (11 species), Ardeidae & Alaudidae (8 species each), and Cuculidae (7 species) dominated the avifauna of the region. The residential status of birds revealed that 74% (140 species) were resident, 23% (44 species) were winter, 2% (3 species) were summer and 1% (2 species) was passage migrant’s species. The study resulted in the recording of fives globally Near Threatened category, viz, Painted Stork, Black-headed Ibis, Oriental Darter, River Tern, and Pallid Harrier; and two Vulnerable species, viz, Yellow-throated Bulbul and Woolly-necked Stork. The feeding guild analysis revealed that the insectivorous guild has the most number of recorded avian species (33%, 63 species), followed by carnivorous (31%, 58 species) and least by nectarivorous (1%, 2 species). This study provides baseline data for monitoring the avifauna in the sanctuary and demonstrates the importance of the area in bird conservation. The study also highlights the negative impact of anthropogenic activities as the main cause for the loss of diversity of both birds and their habitat and the urgent need to conserve this biodiversity-rich area with long-term monitoring programs.

A study of Avifauna from Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Junagadh, Gujarat, India

“…Moreover, there were 18 families which were represented by a single species (Table 1). A similar pattern of dominance of Passeriformes and Accipitridae was observed by different authors from various protected areas in India including the Araku Valley of the Ananthagiri Hills of the Eastern Ghats in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh (Kumar et al, 2010), a scrub forest of Sri Lankamalleswara Wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh (Mali et al, 2017), Tamhini Wildlife Sanctuary, northern Western Ghats, Maharashtra (Vinayak and Mali, 2018), Bhimbandh Wildlife Sanctuary, Bihar (Khan and Pant, 2017), Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh (Arya et al, 2020), northern Western Ghats, Gujarat (Jambu and Patel, 2021), and Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary, Karnataka (Harisha et al, 2021).…”

A checklist of avifauna of Mangalore University, Karnataka, India

“…To compile the list of birds we used secondary data cited in eBird data (accessed 20 February 2021). The feeding guild data for each species was collected from the existing literature (Ali & Ripley 1987;Vinayak & Mali 2018;Harisha et al 2021;Norbu et al 2021).…”

“…Karnataka is home to 535 bird species (Praveen et al 2018) and we recorded 150 (28%) species during the current study at Mangalore University Campus. Several other bird studies were conducted in different University campuses of Karnataka (Nazneen et al 2001;Rajashekara & Venkatesh 2016, 2017Harisha et al 2021). Since there is a limitation in observation, the long-term monitoring of these species is essential (Schlegel & Rupf 2010).…”

Exploring cattle sheds as complementary avifaunal habitat niches in rice dominated agricultural areas in Punjab, India

“…The area under cultivation of rice supports more than 350 species of birds throughout India (Gopisundar and Subramanya, 2010). Avifauna is, of course, under evident vulnerability as result of intense anthropogenic activities which further results in habitat shifting, and affecting avian classes to varying extent (Harisha et al, 2021).…”