Status of waterbirds at Hathnikund Barrage wetland, Yamunanagar District, Haryana, India

Prakash C. Tak¹, Jagdish P. Sati ² & Anjum N. Rizvi ³

^1,2,3 Zoological Survey of India, Northern Regional Centre, 218-Kaulagarh Road, Dehra Dun, Uttarakhand248195, India

Email: ¹ pctakzsi@gmail.com ; ² jpsatizsi@yahoo.co.in ; ³ anrizvi@gmail.com (corresponding author)

Date of publication (online): 26 April 2010

Date of publication (print): 26 April 2010

ISSN 0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print)

Editor: Rajah Jayapal

Manuscript details:

Ms # o2200

Received 08 May 2009

Final received 24 December 2009

Finally accepted 03 March 2010

Citation: Tak, P.C., J.P. Sati & A.N. Rizvi (2010). Status of waterbirds at Hathnikund Barrage wetland, Yamunanagar District, Haryana, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 2(4): 841-844.

Copyright: © Prakash C. Tak,Jagdish P. Sati & AnjumN. Rizvi 2010. 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.

Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Dr. Ramakrishna, Director, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata for encouragement throughout. We are also thankful to ShriP. T. Bhutia, Scientist- ‘F’ and Officer-in-Charge, Zoological Survey of India, Dehra Dun for various facilities.

For figures & tables – click here

The present study on status of waterbirds of Hathnikund Barrage wetland was undertaken while conducting ‘GeneralFaunistic Surveys’ of KalesarNational Park and Wildlife Sanctuary under primary objectives of the Zoological Survey of India, Dehra Dun. This wetland is a small area of about 1km² in YamunanagarDistrict of Haryana. The barrage was constructed from October 1996 to June 1999 and came into being in the year 1999 under the West Jamuna Canal Project to substitute Tajewala water-head (constructed way back in 1873 and has now become non-functional) primarily for irrigation and power generation for Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. It is adjacent to the national park and is practically inseparable. Geographically, the wetland is located at 30⁰19.290’N & 77⁰02.579’E at an elevation of c. 310m. Fishing activities are not allowed in the barrage.

Kalsi (1998) was, perhaps, the first to provide a list of 161 species of birds from the Kalesar Sanctuary, while Sharma (2006) made available an updated and an un-annotated checklist of 304 species on the internet. To this checklist, Bahuguna et al. (2008) added five species of waterbirds. The present communication adds another five waterbird species. However, these studies did not deal with the status of waterbirds of Hathnikund, though a few studies on the status and diversity of waterbirdsof two other man-made wetlands (Asan and Bheemgoda barrage wetlands) from the nearby areas are available (Tak et al. 1998; Kumar & Bhatt 2000; Tak & Sati 2003).

Material and Methods

Observations on the waterbird diversity and relative abundance at Hathnikund were carried out for two successive winters between October and March during 2007-08 and 2008-09. Regular surveys at monthly intervals were undertaken. In all, 12 visits were made to the wetlands. Each time the absolute counts were made by two to three observers to minimize errors. Relative abundance was assessed in terms of the following four categories: i) very common (observed in 75-100% of visits); ii) common (50-74%);iii) uncommon (25-49%) and iv) less common (< 25%). The nomenclature and systematic sequence of birds as given by Manakadan & Pittie (2001) was followed.

Results

The observations revealed that this wetland provides habitat for 31 waterbirds species belonging to 22 genera and 10 families, including the five waterbirds species (Bar-headed Goose Anser indicus, Gadwall Anas strepera, Mallard Anas platyrhynchos, Red-crested Pochard Rhodonessa rufina, and Common Pochard Aythya ferina), which have been added for the first time to the existing checklist on avifauna of the area.

Of these, 14 species are widespread resident (R), one widespread resident whose population augmented by winter visitors (RW), 11 widespread winter visitors (W), and the remaining five species are sparse local winter visitors (w) (Table 1).

The family-wise proportion of species richness of waterbirds of Hathnikund Barrage varied from 35.4 to 3.2 % as follows: family Anatidaewith 11 species (35.4%), followed by Ardeidae 6 (19.3%); Scolopacidae three (9.6%), Phalacrocoracidae, Rallidae, Charadriidae, and Laridae with two species each (6.4% each), and Podicipedidae Ciconiidae, and Recurvirostridaeby a single species each (3.2% each) (Fig. 1).

While the proportion of avian families as represented by population abundance (average population: 344.7; range: 47-919 individuals) was: Anatidae with 83.9%, followed by Phalacrocoracidae (10.2%), Ardeidae(3.4%), Podicipedidae (0.6%), Charadriidae(0.51%), Rallidae and Recurvirostridae(0.34% each), Laridae (0.19%), Scolopacidae(0.14%), and Ciconiidae (0.1%) (Fig. 2).

The species-wise average population and range have also been provided in Table 1.

The observations on the relative abundance of 31 waterbird species revealed that five species were very common (Great Cormorant & Brahminy Shelduck with 91.6%; Little Cormorant 83.3%; Little Egret & Spot-billed Duck 75%) and six species were common (Gadwall with 66.6%, Red-crested Pochard 58%, Little Grebe, Large Egret, Common Pochard & Red-wattledLapwing 50%), while another six species were uncommon and the remaining 14 species were less common

Remarks

The occurrence of an average population of c. 350 individuals of 31 waterbird species during the study period is, perhaps, an indication of the fact that in near future the Hathnikundbarrage wetlands may not only become a favourablehabitat for waterbirds but may also develop into an ideal place for birdwatchers, naturalists, tourists, and researchers, since thewaterbirds are of great importance for their esthetic, sporting, and economic values.

References

Bahuguna, A., J.P. Sati & P.C. Tak (2008). Sighting of Black Stork (Ciconia nigra) in KalesarNational Park, Yamunanagar district, Haryana, India. Newsletter for Birdwatchers 48(4): 49-50.

Kalsi, R.S. (1998). Birds of Kalesar Wildlife Sanctuary, Haryana, India. Forktail 13: 29-32.

Kumar, A. & D. Bhatt (2000). Status of migratory avifauna of subtropical wetland in Ganga Valley, Haridwar, India. Annals of Forestry 8(1): 17-24.

Manakadan, R. & A. Pittie (2001). Standardisedcommon and scientific names of the birds of the Indian subcontinent. Buceros 6(1): i-ix+1-37.

Sharma, S.C. (2006). Birds of Kalesar National Park (Haryana) - An Un-annotated Checklist (with foreword by Bill Harvey) downloaded from internet in 2007. http://www.haryana-online.com/fauna/haryana_birds.htm. Accessed on 06 March 2007.

Tak, P.C. & J.P. Sati(2003). AVES. In: Fauna of Asan Wetland, Wetland Ecosystems Series.Zoological Survey of India 5: 31-38.

Tak, P.C., J.P. Sati& A. Kumar (1998). Waterfowl potential of Asan Reservoir (Dehra Dun Valley, India). Zoologie 5(2): 111-132.