Diet of three
insectivorous birds in Nagapattinam District, Tamil
Nadu, India – a preliminary study
S. Asokan 1, A. Mohamed Samsoor Ali 2 & R. Manikannan3
1Reader & 3 Ph.D. Research Scholar,
Department of Zoology & Division of Wildlife Biology, A.V.C. College
(Autonomous), Mannampandal, Mayiladuthurai,
Tamil Nadu 609305, India
2 Senior Research Fellow, Owl Research Project, Department of
Zoology, Saraswathi Narayanan College (Autonomous), Perungudi, Madurai, Tamil Nadu 625022, India
Email: beeasokan@yahoo.co.in 1; amsamsoor@yahoo.co.in 2 (corresponding author); manikannanr@yahoo.co.in 3
Date of online publication 26
June 2009
ISSN 0974-7907 (online) |
0974-7893 (print)
Editor: C. Srinivasulu
Manuscript details:
Ms # o2145
Received 13 February 2009
Final received 08 May 2009
Finally accepted 30 May 2009
Citation: Asokan, S., A.M.S. Ali & R. Manikannan(2009). Diet of three insectivorous birds in Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu, India – a preliminary
study. Journal of Threatened Taxa 1(6):
327-330.
Author Details: Dr. S. Asokanis currently teaching students, undertaking and supervising various research
activities. He has produced 7 PhD and 40 MPhilstudents in various field of Wildlife Biology and
Zoology. He has published more than 30 research papers in leading national and
international journals. A. Mohamed Samsoor is currently working
as a Senior Research Fellow (SRF) in the Owl Research Project (funded by MoEF, Govt. of India) at SaraswathiNarayanan College (Autonomous), Madurai. He graduated with a Master of Science
in Wildlife Biology from the A.V.C. College (Autonomous), Mayiladuthuraiin 2003 and has been working on the various filed of ornithology since 2004. R. Manikannan is working on diversity
of wetland birds in Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary
for a PhD degree.
Author Contribution: The field study
was conducted AMSA and RM under the supervision of Dr. S.A. AMSA analyzed data and wrote the manuscript
and Dr. S.A. provided necessary suggestions during manuscript preparation.
Copyright: © S. Asokan, A. Mohamed Samsoor Ali
& R. Manikannan 2009. Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTTallows 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.
Acknowledgements: We are highly
grateful to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India for their
financial support (14/14/2001/ERS/RE) to carry out the above work in Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu. We wish to express our sincere thanks to the
HOD and other staff members of zoology and the Principal and Management of
A.V.C. College (Autonomous), Mannampandal for having
rendered facilities and encouragement. We are thankful to M/s. P. Radhakrishnan and M. Chakravarthifor their field help.
Abstract: The
dietary composition of the White-breasted Kingfisher Halcyon smyrnensis, the Small Bee-eater Merops orientalis and the Black Drongo Dicrurus macrocercuswas studied between 2005 and 2006 in NagapattinamDistrict, Tamil Nadu, India by analyzing regurgitated
pellets. The analysis revealed that the White-breasted Kingfisher preys mainly
on arthropods (83.40%) and less on vertebrates; seven orders of insects were
identified, with Coleoptera, Hemiptera,
Hymenoptera and Orthoptera predominant. The small
bee-eater diet is composed of Coleoptera (22.3%), Hymenoptera
(20.8%), Hemiptera (14.1%), Orthoptera(12.6%), Odonata (10.7%), Lepidoptera (10.4%) and Diptera (8.6%). Beetles were also found to be the most
frequent prey (23.7%) in the diet of black drongos,
followed by Hemiptera (21.6%), Orthoptera(19.3%), Hymenoptera (14.4%), Lepidoptera (7.5%), Diptera(6.8%) and Odonata (6.0%).
Keywords: Bio-control,
birds, Coleoptera, diet, Hemiptera,
Hymenoptera, Insectivory
Introduction
Agricultural ecosystem provides a
concentrated and highly predictable source of food to many birds in the form of
grain, seeds, insects and rodents. A large
number of birds directly or indirectly depend upon crop fields, making them
integral parts of agro-ecosystems. Insectivorous birds are beneficial to agriculturists since they keep a
check on populations of various insect pests of crops. As enemies of insects, birds stand supreme
among vertebrates because they are highly mobile and are able to congregate
quickly in large numbers when sudden outbreaks of insect pests occur (Dhindsa & Saini 1994). Thus birds are highly motivated, efficient
and cost-effective insect pest controllers.
Detailed analysis of food and
feeding behaviour of insectivorous birds is
fundamental to assessments of their economic importance. However, information on the feeding ecology
of Indian birds is limited, being largely based on the findings of Beresford
(1944), Mukherjee (1975), Mathew et al. (1978) and
Ali & Ripley (1983). In southern
India, reports on the food and feeding ecology of insectivorous birds are few
and scanty (Mathew et al. 1978; Natarajan 1993; Asokan 1998; Sivakumaran & Thiyagesan 2003; Asokan et al.
2008). The present paper deals with the
diets of three common insectivorous birds: the White-breasted Kingfisher Halcyonsmyrnensis, Small Bee-eater Merops orientalis and Black Drongo Dicrurus macrocercusin Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu, India. Beyond general
observations on their distribution and breeding seasons, our knowledge on
feeding ecology of these three species is limited.
Materials and Methods
The present study was conducted
in two village’s viz., Thiruvalanagadu and Manakudi (18018”N & 79050”E) of
Cauvery Delta in Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu,
India between 2005 and 2006. The study
area is a portion of the granary of southern India because of extensive
cultivation of paddy, sugarcane, cotton, groundnut, banana, pulses and other
cereals. The river Cauvery and its
tributaries, namely, Kollidam, Uppanar, Vellar, Manjalar and Arasalarare the major perennial water sources in the study area. The north-east monsoon
brings rain between October and December (amounting to 65% of the total
rainfall in a year).
Analysis of regurgitated pellets
is a reliable, non-invasive method for studying food habits of insectivorous
birds (Ralph et al. 1985). The
regurgitated pellets were collected opportunistically at perch and roost-sites
around the agricultural lands. The
collected pellets were bagged, labeled and dried in a hot air oven at 600C
for identification of prey remains (Herrera & Ramirez 1974; Ralph et al.
1985). The prey fragments were
identified using a dissecting microscope and reference books. We identified the prey taxaby means of analyzing various body-parts in the remains of the diets as
follows: Coleoptera (mandibles, elytra and leg
fragments), Hemiptera (H-shaped tergalplates, mouthparts and leg fragments), Hymenoptera (mouthparts, leg fragments
and wing fragments), Orthoptera (raptorial leg
fragments and mandibles), Diptera (antennae, eyes and
wings), Odonata (wings, leg fragments and head
capsules), Lepidoptera (wing scales and proboscis), crabs (pedipalpsand shell fragments), fish (cartilage bones and scales), amphibians (mandibles
and pelvic girdle) and reptiles (mandibles).
Results and Discussion
Analysis of the diet of the
White-breasted Kingfisher based on 638 regurgitated pellets reveals that it
preys primarily on arthropods (83.40 %). Among the insects Coleoptera (21.95 %), Hemiptera (17.17 %), Hymenoptera (14.74 %) and Orthoptera (13.72 %) occur most frequently in its diet
(Table 1). In addition, crabs, fishes,
amphibians and reptiles comprise about 16.60% of the total diet (Table 1). Our findings are consistent with the results
of some of the earlier studies (e.g., Sen 1944; Mukherjee 1975; Yahya 2001). In another study carried out in Malaysia
(Burton 1998), insects - mostly grasshoppers, ants and beetles - and lizards
were observed to be the main diet of White-breasted Kingfisher. A similar trend was found in terms of prey
composition, with as many as 613 of the total 638 pellets (96%) having remains
of insects belonging to order Coleoptera, followed byHemiptera (93%), Orthoptera(91%) and Hymenoptera (89%). Other prey
remains were found in less than 50% of the total pellets analyzed (Table
2). The remains of fishes, mostly
restricted to rainy season, were detected in 103 pellets. During the rainy season (September to
January) when the water level is much higher and the river and ponds largely
inundated, the birds fed more on aquatic animals like fish and frogs, while
during the drier months from February to August they consumed more terrestrial
organisms.
The remains of 8757 insect prey
items were found in the regurgitated pellets of Small Bee-eaters. The most
dominant prey were Coleoptera (22.3%), Hymenoptera
(20.8%), Hemiptera (14.1%), Orthoptera(12.6%), Odonata (10.7%), Lepidoptera (10.4%) and Diptera (8.6%) (Table 3). Earlier,Asokan (1998) found that beetles and Hymenoptera were
the principal food items of Small Bee-eaters in NagapattinamDistrict. Mathew et al. (1978) reported
that they consumed almost equal proportions of Hymenoptera, Coleoptera,Odonata and Lepidoptera. However, Fry (1984) who
studied the Little Bee-eater Merops pusillus in Africa, reported
that Hymenoptera formed the major diet. The percentage occurrence of Hymenoptera in the study area in the diet
of Small Bee-eaters could be attributed to less numbers of bee-hives in the
study area. In terms of prey
composition, most pellets had remains of insects belonging to order Coleoptera (96%) followed by Hymenoptera (93%), Orthoptera (81%) and Odonata (72%).
The other prey remains such as Hemiptera, Diptera and Lepidoptera were found in less than 60% of
pellets (Table 4).
The analysis of 676 pellets of
Black Drongo indicated the high frequency occurrence
of insects belonging to order Coleoptera (23.7%) followed
by Hemiptera (21.6%), Orthoptera(19.3%), Hymenoptera (14.4%), Lepidoptera (7.5%), Diptera(6.8%) and Odonata (6.0%) (Table
5). Mathew et al. (1978) reported
that Coleoptera, Hemipteraand Orthoptera as major food of Black Drongos, and the present study showed a similar trend. Hussain & Bhalla (1937) found
that Black Drongos feed largely on grasshoppers and
locusts. In terms of prey composition
totally 676 regurgitated pellets were analyzed, of these 92% of the pellets
contained Coleopteran remains, 83% contained Hemipteranremains, 76% contained Orthopteran remains and 72%
contained Hymenopteran remains. The Diptera, Odonata and lepidoptera were found in 368 (54%),
389 (58%) and 413 (61%) pellets respectively (Table 6).
White-breasted Kingfishers, Small
Bee-eaters and Black Drongos consumed almost similar
proportions of Coleopterans, Hemipterans,
Hymenopterans and Orthopterans in our study. These
three species were predominantly found in agricultural lands and the above
insect prey formed principal food items due to their greater availability. Moorman et al. (2007) reported that
Coleopterans and Hemipterans formed the major diet of
foliage-gleaning and ground-gleaning insectivorous birds. Many other
investigators also have determined Coleopterans, Hemipteransand Hymenopterans (Mason & Maxwell-Lefroy 1912; Sodhi 1986; Kaspari & Joern 1993; Parasharya et al.
1994; Sivakumaran & Thiyagesan2003; Yard et al. 2004; Asokan et al. 2008) as
primary food resource of insectivorous birds.
The findings of the present study
revealed that a wide variety of insects are consumed by the three birds showed
and hence they act as very active bio-control agents against agricultural
insects pests. Nathan & Rajendran (1982) reported that Black Drongos destroying injurious insects like stem-borer, skippers and leaf rollers in
enormous numbers in the rice ecosystem of Pondicherry region. Parasharya et al.
(1994) also stated that White-breasted Kingfishers, Small Bee-eaters and Black Drongos are important bio-control agents against white grub
(Holotricha sp.), an important
subterranean pest damaging root system of several crops.
Interestingly, the local farmers
are aware of the beneficial role of these insectivorous birds in bio-control of
crop pests. Farmers can encourage these birds in agricultural fields by
providing perching sites, by keeping dried tree stumps in different localities
in the rice fields, and also by planting plantain along the farm
boundaries.
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