Water bird diversity in Winter and Summer season of Motijheel lake, Murshidabad, West Bengal, India
Abstract
Wetlands are the most preferred habitats for water birds. They support the birds by way of feeding, roosting, nesting and rearing young ones. Birds are essential animal group of an ecosystem and maintain a trophic level. Therefore, detail study of avifauna and their ecology is important to protect them. The present investigation was carried out to document the variation of water birds in winter and summer season of Motijheel lake near Berhampore town in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal state from June, 2014 to June, 2016. In winter season 39 species of water birds were recorded of 12 different families during the study but in summer season 24 species were recorded of 8 families. Among the recorded species 13 are resident (R), 11 are winter migrant (WM), 6 are resident migrant (RM) and 9 are local migrant (LM). The analysis of the result showed that the diversity of water birds are high in both season, although diversity of birds are somewhat high in winter season than the summer season. Most of the migratory birds are come to the Motijheel Lake in winter season, so this ox-bow lake is particularly important for migratory bird species and marsh land breeding species. The wetland was also found important for long distance migrants as a stopper site for feeding and resting. The bird population shows fluctuation with changing seasons. Various ecological indices were applied to comment on the diversity and community structure of avifauna.
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