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.