Avifauna in five
wetlands of Diara and Barindregion in Maldah District of West Bengal, India
Monoranjan Chowdhury1 & Bidyut Nandi 2
1 Department of Botany,
University of North Bengal, Darjeeling, West Bengal 734013, India
2 Department of Zoology, Malda College, Malda, West Bengal
732101, India
1 mono_malda@yahoo.com (corresponding author), 2 nandi.bidyut@yahoo.com
Abstract: The present work deals with
avifauna of five important wetlands of Diara and Barind region in Maldah District
of West Bengal, India. Sixty-two
species of water birds belonging to 21 families were regularly seen during the
survey period (2008–2010). Out of 62 bird species recorded, 13 are threatened species as per the
IUCN checklist. The ecosystem and existing biodiversity of these wetlands are
under various levels of anthropogenic pressures that directly affect the
avifauna.
Keywords: Avifauna, human
intervention, Maldah, threatened birds, wetlands.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o2736.5660-6 | ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:D4160AE4-3BF1-4A94-B88F-1932B571347D
Editor: C. Srinivasulu,
Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. Date of publication:26 April 2014 (online & print)
Manuscript details: Ms #
o2736 | Received 22 March 2011 | Final received 07 April 2014 | Finally
accepted 09 April 2014
Citation: Monoranjan Chowdhury & BidyutNandi (2014). Avifauna in five
wetlands of Diara and Barindregion in Maldah District of West Bengal, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 6(4): 5660–5666; http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o2736.5660-6
Copyright: © Chowdhury &
Nandi 2014. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium,
reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and
the source of publication.
Funding: Self.
Competing Interest: The
authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: We
are grateful to our colleagues Mr. B.K. Roy and D. Mandalfor beautiful photography of the birds during the survey. The authors are also
thankful to Chandan Roy, MotinAhmed, Palas Ghosh and Subhas Ghosh for their kind
assistance as survey team members. The authors convey theirthanks to all the reviewers and the subject editor for their valuable advice
and suggestions that helped us to improve this manuscript.
For figures, images, tables -- click here
Wetlands
are very important as productive but fragile ecosystems in different climatic
zones of the world. These habitats are often selected by aquatic birds as their food
and foraging centers. The
wetlands, rivers, pond and ephemeral water bodies with enough food and weedy
vegetation provide a good habitation for the resident, resident migratory and
migratory birds. Wetlands also
provide shelter to frogs, snakes, fishes, insects and mammals along with good
number of plant species (Anonymous 1991). India is one of the global hotspots for birds with over 1340 bird
species (13% of world species) recorded from the country (Manakadan & Pittie 2001), of
which 310 species are dependent on different fresh and salt
water wetlands (Kumar et al. 2005). The conversion of wetland habitat to agricultural lands and urban areas
is gradually destroying the ideal habitat of water birds. In India, 29 wetland birds are reported
as threatened with extinction (Islam & Rahmani2002).
The
state of West Bengal is very important for its diverse ecosystem including well
protected sanctuaries, mangroves, water bodies and reserve forests that,
support good birdlife. Ramakrishnan & Maheswaran(2007) listed around 750 birds, of which 23 species are categorized as
Vulnerable and 14 species as Near Threatened (according to the IUCN Redlist). Maldah District in West Bengal is dotted with several
natural marsh lands with rich diversified biota (Chowdhury 2009). According to BirdLife International (2001),
the wetland of this area lies in Biome - 11 (Indo-Malayan tropical dry
zone). Jha(2005) provides a preliminary list of 269 bird species, of which 13 are
globally threatened and 11 are Near Threatened from different habitats of Maldah District. Jha & Sengupta(1999a) reported six important less common water birds from this district.
Study Area
TheMaldah District is located between 24040’20”–25032’08”N
& 87045’50”–88028’10”E, covering 3,733km2of land. Topographically this
district is divided into three regions, i.e., Tal, Diaraand Barind and a part of the Gangetic flood plains. Maldah District holds first position based on
inland fresh water natural wetlands in West Bengal. Eleven big fresh water wetlands, out of
23 (>100 hectare) in West Bengal, are present in different blocks of this
district (Anonymous, 1990). In North Bengal the large or small, permanent or
seasonally waterlogged marshes are popularly known as “beel”. As per recent satellite data the
estimated wetland area of Maldah is 29416.95ha, which
is 7.88% of the total geographical area of West Bengal (Bhattacharyya et al.
2000). The wetlands of this region
are generally palustrine (floodplains, seasonal
waterlogged, marsh), lacustrine (Lakes) and riverine types. All these wetlands are directly or
indirectly connected with the different river systems like Ganga, Pagla, Mahananda, Tangan and Punarbhaba.
The
present study is restricted to the Diara and Barind region of MaldahDistrict. The five most important bird
habitats were selected from Diara (Farakka barrage (FB) on the river Ganga, Gabgachi-Bhatia wetland complex (GW) and Sagardighi (S)) and Barind (Belatuli wetland (BW) and Nayabandhwetland complex (NW)) region for this study (Fig. 1, Table 1). Among these five sites, GW is a large palustrine composed of several smaller water bodies like Malanchapally beel, Bhatia beel, Abhirampur beel, Veon beel,Gabgachi I, Nander beel and Koimary beel. The NW is
also a large palustrine with several smaller water bodies
like Chakla beel, Bakla beel, Ramdole beel, Vikon beel and Sirisdanga. Sagardighi is
an old and constructed lacustrine consisting of a single obliquely rectangular
water body. FB on the river Ganga
is also quite wide and houses various water birds.
Methods: For preparing the list of avifauna of these study areas, 26
consecutive surveys were executed from November 2008–March 2011. Bird species were observed visually
using binoculars of different ranges and their photographs were taken using a
Cannon SX10 camera for identification. Surveys started during the peak hours of their activity, in the morning,
from 0500–1100hr and in the evening, from 1600–1800hr on a regular
basis in different groups. Observations were carried out mainly during the months November to March
(2008 – 2011). To prepare the recorded bird list a total of 22 transects of 1km stretches were established in the study
areas. Observations were carried
along each transect following Ridgely &
Greenfield (2006). The
identification and classification of birds followed Ali (2002). The listed species were thoroughly
checked with the Red List of Threatened Species of IUCN version 2010.4 to know
the present status. Some common
human influences that cause habitat loss in the study areas were also recorded.
Result and Discussion
The
resident (R), resident migratory (RM) and migratory (M) birds like ducks,
cormorant, pochard, waterhen,
gadwall, mallard, goose, jacanas nest in the bush on the peripheral mat of
vegetation of reeds, sedges, grass and water hyacinth in all these
wetlands. The RaiganjBird Sanctuary, which is recognized as an important Aisan Openbill Stork breeding centreof this region is located only 60km away from the
northern boundary of the Maldah District. Openbillstorks are also very common in the wetlands of Maldah. The local resident birds are found in
different wetlands, almost throughout the year in reasonable numbers. They nest on trees like Bombax ceiba, Mangifera indica, Aegle marmelos, Oroxylum indicum etc. which are located in areas surrounding the water
bodies. The birds like herons and
egrets nest on different trees like Azadirachta indica, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Mangifera indica etc. in urban and rural areas of the district.
The
different wetlands of the Maldah District are very
popular with their various water bird habitats. Murti (1991)
recorded around 23 water birds from the Gangetic belt
of Munger to Farakka on the
river Ganga. Jha(2006) recognized 12 rare water birds from the Farakkabarrage area on the river Ganga. Sharma (1997, 1998) reported more than 50,000 and 70,000
individuals of Aythya fuligulafrom either side of the Farakka barrage on the river
Ganga. One individual of Ephippiorhynchus asiaticuswas reported from chaurs of river Ganga near
the Farakka barrage (Sharma 2009). Another famous bird habitat is
NW, from where a total of six threatened species, five near threatened and 11
biome species of water birds were reported (Ramakrishnan& Maheswaran 2007).
In
the present study, a total of 62 bird species belonging to 21 families (Table
2) were observed. The highest
numbers of recorded species belonged to the families, Ardeidaeand Anatidae (Fig. 2). Among the 62 birds species recorded, 13
are globally threatened. Species like Ardea insignis (Critically Endangered C2a(i)), Leptoptilos dubius (Endangered A2bcd+3bcd+4bcd; C2a(ii)), Aythya baeri (Critically
Endangered A2cd+3cd+4cd), Rynchops albicollis (Vulnerable A2cde+3cde+4cde), Leptoptilos javanicus (Vulnerable
A2cd+3cd+4cd), Haliaeetus leucoryphus (Vulnerable C2a(ii)), Aquila clanga (Vulnerable C2a(ii)), Anhinga melanogaster (Near
Threatened), Threskiornis melanocephalus (Near Threatened), Aythya nyroca (Near Threatened), Sterna acuticauda (Endangered A2cde+3cde+4cde), Pelecanus philippensis (Near
Threatened) and Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus (Near Threatened) are recognized as per IUCN Redlist (IUCN 2014).
Among
the species from these wetlands, 28 species are local or resident, 20 species
are resident migrant and 14 species are migrant birds. During the entire survey period only a
pair of Pelecanus philippensis was sighted once at GW on 21 December
2008. We observed one pair of Leptoptilos dubiusonly once on 7 January 2009, and also at GW. One individual of Leptoptilos javanicus on 12
January 2009, a single individual on 10 March 2010 and two individuals on 17
December 2011 from GW. Four
individuals of Ardea insignis were recorded at GW on 3 January 2010. We observed six individuals of Rynchops albicollis from BW on 3 February 2010 and four
individuals from FB on 7 February 2010. This species is a regular migrant in groups of 4–20 and was
observed on emerged sandbars of the river Ganga near Manikchakand Farakka barrage. A flock consisting of 12
individuals of Aythya baeri was recorded from Belatuli wetland on 3 February, 2010 and about seven birds were recorded from GW
on 6 March 2011. One individual of Aquilaclanga was recorded from NW on 14 March
2010. One individual of Haliaeetus leucoryphusand Aquila clanga was recorded on 6 March from
GW. Some important birds of the
study areas are featured in Images 1–4.
During
the study period, we found that the wetlands were seriously disturbed by human
activities including the occasional presence of hunters. Out of these five wetlands, only two (FB
and NW) are declared as IBA (Important Bird Areas) in West Bengal (Jha & Sengupta 1999b). The other three wetlands are not yet
recognized inspite of housing a significant number of
bird species. Villagers near the
wetlands catch avifauna during the winter season using fishing nets or by using
fire guns and sell the catch at village markets. These activities
gradually reduces the number of bird species in these wetlands.
Rapid
urbanization, cattle rearing and excessive agricultural activities are the
major threats to the wetlands of Diara and Barind of this district. The three wetlands like GW, NW and BW
are suffering due to excessive paddy cultivation. During the post monsoon season farmers
clear the dense mat of aquatic weeds from the shallow areas to prepare the
fields for paddy cultivation, that sometimes result in the destruction of nests
of various water birds. Excessive
application of toxic pesticides and fertilizers in paddy fields in these wetland
areas is gradually polluting the ecosystems. The water and soil of GW and FB are also
getting polluted due to mixing with urban sewage. The GW is located at English
bazaar municipality areas and the excess populations in this area demands more
space thereby impacting the wetland. Malanchapally, Sri Krishna Colony, Netaji Park, Lake Garden, etc., are the newly established
colonies in catchment area of GW through the filling of the wetland area to
facilitate construction works. Control and regulation of
such destructive activities within this region requires more involvement of
government and local public to conserve such important bird habitats. All these five important wetland
habitats are not protected. The
forest department is adopting a management strategy to protect these areas and
is in the process of creating a strong law against poaching. Efforts should be
taken to conserve the wetlands like GW (English Bazaar block), NW (Habibpur block), BW (Old Maldahblock) and FB (Kaliachak block II & III). Proper
monitoring and more research are required to understand the birdlife in this
region.
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