A study was conducted to document the avian diversity of the Forest Research Centre (FRC) and Forest College and Research institute (FCRI) Mulugu, Telangana, India from January 2020 to December 2020. Birds were surveyed at two different timings of the day i.e. early morning from 7am to 10 am and at evening from 3pm to 6 pm using line transect and point count method. A total of 77 species belonging to 15 orders and 42 families were recorded in which the maximum abundance of the species was recorded in the order Passeriformes. The analysis of dietary preference showed the dominance of the insectivorous community (52 %) followed by Frugivores (13%). The data on residential status revealed that all the 77 species observed, are resident in India with local migratory nature. The recorded species, Black-headed Ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus) is listed under the near threatened (NT) category in the IUCN red data list. The work highlighted the importance of green cover around urban ecosystems as a preferred habitat for avian populations. FRC supports good bird diversity and protection and management of areas in and around them will help with conservation of the species.

Keywords: Avifauna, Diversity, Abundance, Telangana, India

The great beauty of avifaunal species in terms of colourful plumage, graceful, elegant, and merry flying and relaxing and musical cries has always fascinated and attracted mankind. All components of a natural ecosystem are interdependent and changing or removing one can cause the entire system to collapse. Birds are a well-known and crucial part of biodiversity. They serve a crucial role in maintaining the food web as a potential pollinator. They also serve as a bio-indicator of ecosystem quality, allowing one to assess the condition of an ecosystem's health based on their existence.^1–3 Ecologists utilise them to better understand the diversity of species in their natural habitat.⁴

Birds can serve as keystone species, whose presence or absence in an ecosystem can have an indirect impact on the survival of other species. They aid in the balance of prey and predator populations. They eat hazardous insects, which helps to keep their population under control. When birds are alive, they serve as hosts for parasites such as mites, flies, and lice, and when they die, they supply food for decomposers and scavengers.

The population of this beautiful creature is rapidly falling nowadays as a result of numerous anthropogenic disturbances, and many species have become extinct. The main reason is habitat destruction due to deforestation for agricultural, developmental, and other purposes, as well as random tree cutting, which has resulted in a reduction in forage and nesting places for the species.^5,6 Another factor contributing to their reduction is changes in vegetation composition, which affects the quality and quantity of food, water, and cover essential for their survival, impacting the species' distribution, variety, and abundance.^7,8

The current study aims to prepare a species checklist in the Forest Research Centre (FRC) and Forest College and Research Institute (FCRI) campus as it indicated the diversity of the species in order to conserve bird's existence.⁹ As there has not been existing studies on bird diversity in this area, the study aims to explore the avian diversity associated with FRC and FCRI, as well as document the significance of greenery in bird conservation.

Study area

Forest Research Centre (FRC) is situated between 17.7439° N and 78.6299° E in Mulugu Mandal, Siddipet District, Telangana State, India covering an extent of 196 ha which is nearly 50kms from the city of Hyderabad. The topography of the area is plains with gentle slopes. Summers in and around study area lasts for almost two months i.e. from April to June with an average daily high temperature of around 35˚C and winters are dry and mild mostly from mid October to January, with an average daily temperature of around 20˚C, with some showers except during south-west monsoon season. December is the coldest month. Temperature decreases with the onset of the south-west monsoon in the middle of June. Study area experiences seasonal variation in rainfall with maximum rainfall of around 7.1 inches mostly in the month of July and minimum rainfall of around 0.1 inches in the month of December. The forest type of the study site falls under Tropical dry deciduous forest as per Champion and Seth Classification of 1968. Area has very good diversity of flora comprising of around 171 species belonging to 53 families. Insects mostly from Hymenopter, Orthoptera and Coleoptera orders are found in the study area such as grasshopper, beetles, crickets, ants, termites, thrips, weevils, moth, butterflies, bees, wasps etc.

Methodology

The study was carried out from January 2020 to January 2021. For data collection, line transects of around to 500 to 1 km length was used depending upon the field condition. Along with line transect, birds were also observed using point count method in which birds were counted from a fixed point within the circle of 50 m radius. Each point was visited twice every month. The bird species were observed early in the morning between 7am to 10 am and from 3 pm to 6pm in the evening which is the most active period of the day for birding by walking within the study site.^10,11 However, the birds were observed throughout the day also. Olympus (10×50) binocular and Nikon Digital Camera were used to take photographs. Correct identification of birds was done using book by Salim Ali on Indian Birds and Birds of the Indian Sub-continent^12–14 and checklist was prepared. While documenting the species, their feeding habit was also observed and birds were classified into 7 feeding habits such as frugivores, carnivores, insectivores, granivores, piscivores, omnivores and nectarivores were recorded. IUCN status of the recorded species was also studied while preparing the checklist (Figure 1).

Figure 1 Google map of study area.

Protection status of birds species in forest research centre (FRC)

A total of 77 species belonging to 15 orders and 42 Families were recorded during our study (Table 1). Order Passeriformes recorded with maximum abundance of species with 58.4 per cent of total represented by forty-five species belonging to 24 families, followed by order Palecaniformes, Columbaformes and Accipitriformes. Family Accipitridae and Muscicapidae found to have maximum species richness with four species in each family. Among the bird species recorded, Black-headed Ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus) is listed under near threatened (NT) category in IUCN red data list. Rest of the species recorded in the area belongs to least concerned category. Dietary preference and feeding habits of birds is very important in understanding the complexity of ecosystem (Azman et al., 2011) and the present study showed the dominance of insectivorous community (52 %) followed by Frugivores (13%) (Figure 2). A dominance of insectivorous species indicates important agents of biocontrol of insect pest in agriculture, horticulture and forests.^15,16 The analysis of data on residential status revealed that all of 77 species, are resident with local migratory nature.

The present study was an attempt to make an inventory of the avian species of FRC and to delineate the importance of local landscape in conservation of avian fauna. Data recorded shows the rich diversity of avian species. Good diversity of birds in FRC and FCRI campus is attributed to the presence of good patch of forest in FRC and very good number of trees in FCRI campus. The study site is a transition zone and it serves as an eco-tone between forest ecosystem and urban areas (Figure 3).

Figure 2 Frequency of occurrence of bird species in each order.

Figure 3 Dietary habit of bird species in the study area.

The study shows the importance of green space of the campus for maintaining the balance and conservation of avian diversity. The area around the institute progressing rapidly towards the developmental activities, and hence there is a need to protect the habitat structure of birds in an around the institute. This study is the first attempt towards the conservation of avian species by documenting the diversity and abundance. For better understanding of the bird community further scientific studies are needed. The findings will aid in the preparation of a baseline data set on avian diversity as well as future conservation research.

For the study no financial assistance of any kind was received.

None.

All author listed here declare no conflict of interest exists.

1. Bensizerara D, Chenchouni H, Bachir AS, et.al. Ecological status interactions for assessing bird diversity in relation to a heterogeneous landscape structure. Avian Biology Research. 2013;6(1):67–77.
2. Amat JA, Green AJ. Water birds as bioindicators of environmental conditions. Conservation monitoring in freshwater habitats. Springer Netherlands. 2010:45–52.
3. Prakash V, Sivakumar S, Verghese J. Avifauna as indicators of habitat quality in buxa tiger reserve. Quarterly Report IV. Bombay Mumbai: Natural History Society; 2001.
4. Joshi PP. Assessment of avian population in different habitat around amolakchand mahavidyalaya campus, Yavatmal, Maharashtra, India. Journal of Bioscience. 2001;4:11–14.
5. Singh K, Maheshwari A, Dwivedi SV. Studies on avian diversity of Banda University of agriculture and technology campus, Banda, Uttarpradesh, India. International Journal of Avian & Wildlife Biology. 2018;3(2):177–180.
6. Singh R, Jaiswal A, Singh J, et al. Study of bird diversity in Gorakhpur University Campus. Journal of Biodiversity of Endanger Species. 2018;6:002.
7. Aggrawal A, Tiwari G, Harsh SA. Diversity and density estimation of birds of the Indian institute of forest management campus, Bhopal, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa. 1998;7:2–12.
8. Abdar MR. Diversity and Richness of bird species in newly formed habitats of Chandoli National Park in Western Ghats, Maharashtra State, India. Biodiversity Journal. 2013;4:235–242.
9. Rajpar MN, Zakaria M. Bird species abundance and their correlationship with microclimate and habitat variables at Natural Wetland Reserve, Peninsular Malaysia. International Journal of Zoology. 2011:1–17.
10. Simons TR, Shriner SA, Farnsworth GL. Comparison of breeding bird and vegetation communities in primary and secondary forests of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Biological Conservation. 2006;129:302–311.
11. Cunningham MA, Johnson DH, Svingen DN. Estimates of breeding bird populations in the sheyenne National Grassland, North Dakota. The Prairie Naturalist. 2006;38(1):50–67.
12. Kazmierczak K, Perlo BV. A field guide to the birds of the Indian subcontinent. New Delhi: Bloomsbury Publication; 2015.
13. Grimmett R, Inskipp C, Inskipp T. Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. Delhi: Oxford University Press; 2011.
14. Ali S. The book of Indian birds. Bombay natural history society. 13th edn. New Delhi: Oxford University Press; 2002.
15. Mahabal A Aves. The Director, editor. Fauna of Western Himalaya. Kolkata: Zoological Survey of India. 2005:275–339.
16. Thakur ML, Mattu VK, Lal H, et al. Avifauna of Arki Hills, Solan (Himachal Pradesh), India. Indian Birds. 2010;5:162–166.