Diversity and conservation status of avifauna in the Surguja region , Chhattisgarh , India

This study is aimed at updating the avifauna status and to assess major threats in six districts of the Surguja region of northern Chhattisgarh. The avifauna of this region is less studied as compared to the central and southern regions of the state. Chhattisgarh has unique and important habitats for bird species. The geographical region has two major forest types which provide a suitable habitat for many terrestrial and numerous wetlands that support aquatic bird species. The northern region is a basin of rivers Hasdeo and Rihand, prominently forested and a major coal belt. In this study, planned and opportunistic surveys were done in different seasons, and data was collected from 1995 to 2019. In the northern Chhattisgarh region,we have compiled all-district data and a total of 361 bird species were recorded. The maximum number of bird species were recorded from Koriya 318, followed by Raigarh 262, Surguja 162, Balrampur 260, Surajpur 208, and Jashpur 254. Species recorded include three Critically Endangered (CR), two Endangered (EN), five Vulnerable (VU), and 13 Near Threatened (NT). Nesting of Lesser Adjutant, Indian Vulture, White-rumped Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, and sighting of Sarus Crane in Surguja region is reported. The study also revealed the presence of nine Himalayan and sub-Himalayan species. Comparing with previous studies 117 new species were found. Chhattisgarh has ample potential and opportunities for new records as many regions have not yet been adequately explored, it can be a key birding hub for bird lovers as well as the scientific community. The large-scale mining-oriented activities, hunting, and poaching are posing serious threats, which will have a direct or indirect, impact on the future of the avifauna of the region.


INTRODUCTION
The undivided state of Madhya Pradesh prior to year 2000 included the present state of Chhatisgarh and formed a part of central India. Chhattisgarh State has three distinct regions, the northern hills of Surguja, central plains, and Bastar in the south. Surguja is predominantly a hilly extension of the Vindhyachal range landscape with forests and a major coal belt of the state. This region has been a prime hunting ground in the past and supported rich biodiversity. Owing to the large number of existing and upcoming coal mines, railway, and other projects the avifauna are subjected to considerable threat. This study was undertaken to determine the present status of the avifauna, comparing our findings with past studies.
The earlier publications on avifauna of Surguja region are by D' Abreu (1931Abreu ( , 1935 and Hewetson (1956). Ali & Ripley (1987), Grimmett et al. (1998Grimmett et al. ( , 2014, Rahmani & Islam (2008), and Rasmussen & Anderton (2012) have included bird records from Surguja region. Other publications are by Chandra & Singh (2004) who recorded 517 species in united Madhya Pradesh. Chakraborty (2008) conducted avifaunal surveys in three protected areas and reported 50 species from Kanger Valley National Park (KVNP), 54 species from Guru Ghasidas National Park (GGNP) of Chhattisgarh, and 44 species from Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) of Madhya Pradesh.; Chandra & Boaz (2018a) documented 199 species in Surguja District, 230 species in Guru Ghasidas National Park (Chandra & Boaz 2018b), 188 species in Badalkhol Wildlife Sanctuary (Chandra & Boaz 2018c), and 196 species in Gomarda Wildlife Sanctuary (Chandra & Boaz 2018d). In the Surguja region, the status of Malabar Pied Hornbill was reported by Singh & Vishwakarma (2020). Vishwakarma et al. (2020b) documented 133 species at Kopra Reservoir in adjoining Bilaspur District, Chhattisgarh. The intention of the present study was to compare the old and the present avian status, owing to ecological changes caused by the impact of development activities like increase in the number of coal mines, new railway, and power projects. Chhattisgarh Wildlife Society (2009-10) carried out surveys for Indian Peafowl in three protected areas of Chhattisgarh including Raigarh District;52 species at a coal mine in Raigarh District (Anurag Vishwakarma pers. obs. 2018), and 365 species in bird count of Chhattisgarh State including Surguja region (Naidu et al. 2021).
The earlier reports were carried out only partly in the region and the findings were sporadically published. We attempted to cover all districts, even the remotest parts to assess the status of avian species. This study was undertaken to assess the overall avifauna status and conservation issues in the region and to compare old observations of Chakraborty (2008), Chandra & Boaz (2018a,b,c,d) with our observations obtained during the period 1995-2019. An attempt was made to cover as much area as possible by intermittent visits during the period to obtain the best data. This study is helpful in updating avifauna status to some extent, sincemost parts of the region remains unexplored and overall inadequately documented.

STUDY AREA AND METHODS
The Surguja region of Chhattisgarh falls in Chota Nagpur (6B) Province of the Deccan Peninsula Biogeographic zone of India (Rogers et al. 2002), which extends between southeastern parts of Vindhyachal-Baghelkhand and peninsular region of India. It includes six districts-Koriya, Surguja, Jashpur, Raigarh, Surajpur, and Balrampur-a tablel and of numerous hills and plateaus. The drainage system is mainly through Hasdeo (a tributary of Mahanadi) and Rihand (locally known as Reher, flowing northward) rivers. It has five protected areas including one national park and four wildlife sanctuaries. The Guru Ghasidas National Park, spread over an area of 1,471 km 2 in Koriya District which is also an IBA Site Code (IN-CT-01), was carved out of Sanjay Gandhi National Park of united Madhya Pradesh (Chakraborty 2008). The four wildlife sanctuaries of the Surguja region are i) Badalkhol (104.55 km 2 ) in Jashpur District, ii) Gomarda (277.91 km 2 ) in Raigarh District, iii) Semarsot (430.00 km 2 ) in Surguja District, and iv) Tamor Pingla (608.52 km 2 ) in Surguja District (Rahmani et al. 2018) covering approximately 18.13% of the total forest area (15,950 km 2 ) of Surguja region (ENVIS 2015). It has a good expanse of forests, major dams, and extensive territorial agricultural lands and plains. The climate of Surguja is like the rest of Chhattisgarh. The average temperature varies 5-8 o C in winter and 40-45 o C in summer. The minimum altitude is around 500 m and the highest being 1,226 m at Mailan (Jashpur District) (Chandra & Boaz 2018b).
The main forest typesare mixed deciduous forest (sub classes 3B/C,5A/C, 5B/C, 8A/C, 5/IS1, 3C/C2, 5B/ C1) in Surguja District; dry deciduous in Gomarda Wildlife Sanctuary (GWS), Raigarh District; tropical moist deciduous, tropical dry deciduous, Sal and miscellaneous forest in Guru Ghasidas National Park (GGNP) in Koriya and Jashpur districts, and other parts of the region Efforts were made to collect as much data as possible by compiling past studies and present field observations. These covered habitat types, namely, Sal forest, wetlands, mixed forest, riverine patches, agricultural lands, grasslands, and coal & bauxite mine areas. The maximum possible area was covered between 1995 and intermittently up to 2019, covering all seasons (winter, summer, and monsoon), with emphasis on mornings (0630-0930 h) and evenings (1600-1800 h) (Vishwakarma et al. 2020a). The methodology used was by travelling through the geographical areas of districts, random walks, visual observations, following Javed & Kaul (2002). The aid of binoculars and cameras was deployed whereever possible. The encountered bird species were documented in daily field diaries. The species encountered were identified using standard literature by Ali & Ripley (1987), Grimmett et al. (1998, 2014), Fergusen & Christie (2001), and Rasmussen & Anderton (2012. Identification of a few difficult species was confirmed by Bombay Natural History Society-ENVIS or with the assistance of experts. Valid scientific names provided in this note are following Praveen et al. (2020).
Of the total diversity, 261 species (72.3%) are residents, 98 species (27.15%) winter migrants, and two species (0.55%) summer migrants. This study has added 117 species belonging to five order and 18 families including 82 (70.0%) resident species comprising of four rare, 61 common, 17 uncommon, and 35 (30%) migrants species comprising of 28 common, seven uncommon species, to the previous lists. Earlier studies by D'Abreu (1931( , 1935( ), Hewetson (1956, Chakraborty (2008), and Chandra & Boaz (2018 a,b,c,d)  Since the Surguja region is situated inthe Vindhyachal biographic range, Tyabji (1994) opined that a thorough survey of the whole north-east of MP (now part of Chhattisgarh) may yield some interesting information on the distribution pattern of Himalayan/sub-Himalayan species, whose presence had hitherto been unsuspected in central India. This study recorded ninewinter migrants, which breed in high altitude (1, (Ali & Ripley 1987). These species are regular winter visitors in Surguja and further south in the state. Himalayan Vulture has been found in March 2020 in the Bastar region.
The migratory bird species like the Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus, Bar-headed Goose Anser indicus, Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata, Bartailed Godwit Limosa lapponica, Brown-headed Gull Chroicocephalus brunnicephalus, Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica, and Whiskered Tern Chlidonias hybrid, have been recorded to use the territory of Surguja and other parts of Chhattisgarh as wintering grounds and also as a stopover during to and fro journeys (Chandra et al. 2015;Bharos 2020;Singh & Vishwakarma 2020). Nesting and congregation of various rare and threatened species such as the presence of 11 species of owls (Strigidae and Tytonidae), five species of vultures (Accipitridae), nesting of Malabar Whistling Thrush Myophonus horsfieldii, White-rumped Vulture, Indian Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Lesser Adjutant, Sarus Crane, and congregation of Grey-headed Lapwing Vanellus cinereus prove that Surguja region is a hotspot for birds.

THREATS AND CONSERVATION
The new opencast coal mines had a detrimental impact on the ecology of the region. A study carried out in the core area and 5-km bufferof Singmouza-Jampali (opencast mine) coal block located in Raigarh District, revealed only 492 individuals of 52 bird species belonging to 28 families (Anurag Vishwakarma pers. obs. 2018). Major disturbances noticed in the core area were sound pollution caused by blasting, air pollution by mining dust, habitat degradation and ground digging, vehicle movements, and anthropogenic pressure, which forced the birds to move away. Mandatory substitute afforestation, in place of habitat destruction, was noticed as casual. Bird species adoption of remnant flowering trees as refuge,which they normally do, was found only occasionally, this aspect was examined in a separate study by Vishwakarma et al. (2020b).
Poaching and trading of birds by the locals is an old tradition of the region, which has been time and again observed. They use traditional and innovative methods to do so, resulting in marked depletion in avifauna belonging to Anatidae, Galliformes, Columbidae families, and any species for that matter. Depletion in the number of peafowls, Yellow-footed Green Pigeon, and Orangebreasted Green Pigeon was noticeable. Big and small mammals, reptiles, and rodents are also not spared.
The whole of Surguja, Surajpur, Balrampur, Korea, Raigarh and adjoining Korba District is a prime coal belt area, with 61,140.6 MT coal reserve mines in operation in three coalfield areas, by South East Coalfield Ltd (2023). Ongoing ambitious projects of Indian Railways, Coal India, Chhattisgarh State Power Generation, and transmission companies, private powergeneration companies, and steel industries to facilitate high productivity, have already had an adverse effect on the rich forests like clear-fellingin sizeable areas, fragmentation, and their flora and fauna. During visits to Jhagrakhand, Ramnagar, and Charcha collieries of Koriya District in 2015, a fewer number of species and population was noticed as compared to the year 1994-95. Infact more species and numbers were seen outside collieries area. A study on birds of Jampali coal mining revealed shifting by birds to other places due to anthropogenic, blasting and rapid forest cutting disturbances (Anurag Vishwakarma pers. obs. 2018). Such a situation is very much in the offing in Raigarh, Surajpur, and Koriya districts. In coming years an environmental impact assessment (EIA) study of the affected areas is suggested which will be of imminent importance to check further deterioration.

CONCLUSION
The present study revealed the presence of 361 bird species in the region, which includes 11 threatened and 13 near threatened species.The dominant bird species encountered belonged to Accipitridae (26 species), followed by Muscicapidae (17 species), and Anatidae (16 species). During this survey, we encountered 117 hitherto unreported bird species, and nine Himalayan and sub-Himalayan species in the Surguja region.The whole of Surguja being a prime coal and bauxite belt area is subjected to large-scale exploitation for commercial purposes. For this purpose, large number of open cast coal mines are being opened. For coal transportation, a network of railways and highways is under progress and a big network of power transmission towers is coming up to provide electricity for these projects. The combined effect of these development activities will certainly have an adverse impact on the environment, as an exemplary study has revealed. Wetlands, though located remotely, are less studied but are subjected to the immense pressure of commercial fishing, siltation, mining, degradation of a catchment area, and amusement activities. EIA study of the region is the need of the hour to redress conservation issues. Awareness programs must be started immediately by the government with the assistance of staff and NGOs to inculcate in the community the sense and responsibilities towards the importance of nature and wildlife and the need to conserve them.
The present study provides a baseline data for future ornithological studies, which need to be intensified in both surveyed and non surveyed potential pockets to determine the updated status.