Birds of Osmanabad District of Maharashtra, India
Sujit Narwade 1& M.M. Fartade 2
1 Scientist-in-Charge, ENVIS Centre on
Avian Ecology, Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400001,
India
2 Principal, Shree Sivaji
Mahavidhyalaya, Barshi, Solapur District, Maharashtra 413401, India
Email: 1 sujitsnarwade@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 ssmb_barshi@rediffmail.com
Date of
publication (online): 26 February 2011
Date of
publication (print): 26 February 2011
ISSN 0974-7907
(online) | 0974-7893 (print)
Editor:Nishith Dharaiya
Manuscript
details:
Ms
# o2462
Received
21 May 2010
Final
received 28 December 2010
Finally
accepted 07 January 2011
Citation: Narwade, S. & M.M. Fartade (2011). Birds of Osmanabad District of Maharashtra, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 3(2): 1567-1576.
Copyright: © Sujit Narwade & M.M. Fartade 2011. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT
allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium for non-profit purposes,
reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and
the source of publication.
For figures, images, tables -- click here
Pioneering
study of the birds of the Deccan has been done by Davidson & Wenden
(1878). Through an annotated
checklist of the birds of western Maharashtra, Prasad (2003) compiled one
for Solapur District which is the neighbouring area of
our interest. Bharucha & Gogte (1990)
studied the avian profile of a man-modified aquatic ecosystem in the backwaters
of the Ujjani Dam while separate lists of birds of Solapur District are
available in Rahmani (1989) and Mahabal (1989). Avian ecology of Solapur District, has been well studied, but the
Marathwada region of Maharashtra has not yet been explored thoroughly. Through this paper we would like to
draw attention towards the least known avifauna of the Osmanabad District.
Study area
The
study area comes under the Marathwada region of Maharashtra (Fig. 1). The forest types are semi arid biotope,
open scrublands and southern tropical thorn forest (Champion & Seth
1968). It lies on the Deccan plateau at an average of 600m above
sea level. Osmanabad District
comes under the low rainfall region, with about 600mm annual precipitation.
We
covered a total of 300km2 area in three blocks of 10x10 km2areas at the following selected places.
(i)
Yedshi grassland: This includes grassland area spread between northeast of
Osmanabad City and Yedshi Town (18015’N & 75059’E).
(ii)
Terna Lake: One of the largest dams of Osmanabad District, located 20km
northwest of Osmanabad City, near Dhoki Town (18019’N & 76005’E).
(iii)
Masla: This village is located 38km northeast from Solapur City and 20km south
from Osmanabad City. Data was
collected from a small wetland, agricultural area as well as from near human
habitation (17058’N & 76005’E). We also covered the areas of adjoining
villages named Dahivadi, Pangardarwadi, Savargaon, Kemwadi and Malumbra.
Methods
Bimonthly
surveys were carried out in the above mentionedselected areas from March 2007 to July 2008. The areas were surveyed using binoculars and digital cameras
for proper bird records. Direct
observations and species noting was made by walking on the roads, tracks, grassland and agriculture areas. The observations were carried out at different points around
the large wetland. Birds were
identified following Ali & Ripley (1983), Grimmett et al. (2000), and
Rasmussen & Anderton (2005). The list of birds was arranged family wise following Manakadan &
Pittie (2001). Current status of
threatened categories was adopted from BirdLife International (2000). Habitat wise species count was carried out in four different habitats
such as agriculture, wetland, grassland and near human
habitation.
Results
A
total of 165 bird species were recorded during the above
mentioned survey. Out of
them 109 were resident birds species, 15 were local migratory, 41 species were
migratory and eight species were under the threatened category. Fifty families represent the 165 bird
species with Muscicapidae comprising small birds at the top, following
Accipitridae (raptors) and Anatidae (mainly ducks), showing a
healthy bird diversity in the region (Table 1). Relative commonness of a species has
been given as common if species was sighted 7-8 times out of eight visits,
fairly common if sighted 4-5 times, uncommon if sighted 2-3 times and rare if sighted 0-2 times out of
eight visits. It was observed that
out of 165 species, 112 found were common, 11 fairly common, 31 uncommon and
11were rare (Table 2). The
detailed information on the threatened birds observed during the surveys has
been provided separately in Table 3.
General
observations: Threatened birds such as Pallied Harrier Circus macrourusand European Roller Coracias
garrulous (Image 1) were found over all the areas in
winter. The Great Indian Bustard Ardeotis nigriceps,an endangered and endemic bird of India and Pakistan was also observed. Three bustards were seen feeding in a
farmland area on the boundary of Kemwadi and Savargaon villages in November
2007. This area is just 8-10 km
away from the Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary, Nannaj, Solapur. The sanctuary covers an area of 150km
from Nannaj towards Ahmednagar District, but part of Osmanabad which is just
10km from the core area is still unprotected. A couple of nests and juveniles of ibises and storks found
on large trees in Masla Village hinted at a heronry nearby (Images 2 &
3). We observed a colony of 12 nests
of Little Tern Sterna
albifrons within a 200m2 area in the summer of
2007 at Masla Lake. It is
important to note that only two confirmed breeding records of Little Tern in
Maharashtra are available till date (Ali & Ripley 1983; Bharucha &
Gogte 1990).
Habitat
wise seasonal changes in species count: A pie chart of habitat wise species
count was prepared (Fig. 2) which indicates the use of the habitats by the
birds. The highest number of bird
species was found in wetland areas following agricultural and grassland
areas. Eleven species were found
using all four habitats commonly. The highest number of species i.e. 130 in winter,indicates that the area provides suitable ground for many migratory birds. In summer many birds found in the
afternoon, roosting near the edge of the water body to escape from the high
temperatures, used to disperse into nearby areas in the evening. Juveniles and subadults of the ground
nesting birds observed in winter indicate that the period of late summer and
monsoons was the major breeding season. The population of some of the birds such as Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus was
found high in winter, but a couple of birds observed in summer and the monsoons
confirmed that some of the birds are residents. Birds such as lapwings and larks were found using wetland
habitat extensively for nesting in their breeding season (Narwade et al. in
press). In winter, large flocks of
small birds such as buntings, larks, weavers and sparrows were observed in
agricultural areas. Seasonal
variations observed in the species count at different habitats needs to be
studied in detail for the bird conservation.
Discussion
The
major cropping season here is during the monsoon, from July onwards and
harvesting is carried out in October-November. Farmers cultivated short
term crops such as Urid in monsoon followed by Jowar Sorghum
vulgare as one of the
major Kharif crops. Harvesting was carried out during January-February after
which a large area of cropland becomes fallow due to the high temperatures and
scarce water supply. This lean
time was used by the people for social interactions such as weddings, which
thus resulted in fewer disturbances to the wildlife. But the hunting communities got active in summer because of
poor income resources which again put pressure on the
wildlife. It was observed that
hunters usually hunt for blackbuck, hare, quail and partridge. Rapid developmental activities are
continuing to increase the crop yield, as well as, the sources for income. Factors such as use of machines in
farming activities, irrigation facilities, use of fertilizers and pesticides
are responsible for rapid changes in the cropping patterns throughout the
area. Agricultural practices in the
study area were found affecting the breeding success of ground nesting birds
(Narwade et al. 2010).
Due
to the developmental activities the entire habitat of this district has become
vulnerable to the upcoming changes. The ambitious lake linking programmes by the Godavari Marathwada Irrigation Development
Corporation (GMIDC) has been launched by the Government of Maharashtra. This may be beneficial to the farmers
and wetland birds, but the existing grassland avifauna is under great threat.
The
area still provides some potential habitats for the declining population of the
threatened birds. It is the need
of the hour to monitor these areas systematically in the rapidly changing
environment with a focused study on status, distribution and conservation of the
avifauna of the region. This can
be achieved only through strengthening public participation in the study
of status, distribution and conservation of birds of Marathwada region,
Maharashtra. Once recorded as
common birds of the Deccan, the Lesser Florican (EN), Black-necked Stork (NT),
Red-headed Vulture (CR), White-rumped Vulture (CR), Sociable Lapwing (CR),
Greater Adjutant, Lesser Adjutant (VU) were not
sighted during our surveys. There is a great need to carry out proper and
systematic surveys in the large geographical area of the Marathwada region of
Maharashtra, India.
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