Abstrait

AVIAN COMMUNITY STRUCTURE AT KESHOPUR WETLAND- A RAMSAR SITE IN NORTH INDIA

Shifali Jangral, Nisha Vashishat

The present study was performed to record the avian diversity of birds at Keshopur Chhamb Community Reserve; district Gurdaspur in the state of Punjab, India from June 2018 to May 2019. A total of 121 species of birds belonging to 19 orders and 47 families were observed during the study period. The maximum number (38) of the species in the area belonged to order Passeriformes. 27 winter migratory, 3 summer migratory and 91 resident species of birds were observed during study. One vulnerable (Aythya ferina) and six near threatened species were observed (i.e. Aythya nyroca, Anhinga melanogaster, Mycteria leucocephala, Sterna aurantia, Psittacula eupatria, Threskiornis melanocephalus) as per IUCN red list. A particular pattern of arrival and departure of migratory birds was observed. The winter migrants started to appear in October when the temperature started decreasing. The abundance of birds varied significantly during different seasons. Major variation was found in abundance of few species at three different sites of the same wetland. This study revealed that Keshopur Chhamb Community Reserve acts as a refuge site for many water birds including wader, waterfowl and many migratory and threatened species.