Journal of
Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 February 2024 | 16(2):
24737–24745
ISSN
0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8593.16.2.24737-24745
#8593 |
Received 15 June 2023 | Final received 01 August 2023 | Finally accepted 17
December 2023
Observations on Indian Skimmer Rynchops
albicollis Swainson,
1838 (Aves: Charadriiformes: Laridae)
breeding colonies in Middle Ganges stretch, India
Kumar Ankit 1, Mujahid Ahamad
2, Vivek Ranjan 3, Sanjay Kumar
4, Syed Ainul Hussain 5 &
Govindan Veeraswami Gopi 6
1,2,3,5,6 Wildlife Institute of
India, Chandrabani PO Box #18, Dehradun, Uttarakhand
248001, India.
4 Lal Bahadur Shashtri
Bhawan, Sarojini Naidu Marg, Raj Bhavan Colony, The
Mall Avenue, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226027, India.
1 kumarankit.shiats@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 mujahid@wii.gov.in, 3 rvivek@wii.gov.in,
4 sanjaykumarias02@yahoo.co.in, 5 hussain@wii.gov.in, 6
gopigv@wii.gov.in
Editor: S. Balachandran, Rtd. Deputy Director, Bombay Natural History Society,
Mumbai, India. Date of publication: 26 February
2024 (online & print)
Citation: Ankit, K., M. Ahamad,
V. Ranjan, S. Kumar, S.A. Hussain & G.V. Gopi (2024).
Observations on Indian Skimmer Rynchops albicollis Swainson, 1838
(Aves: Charadriiformes: Laridae)
breeding colonies in Middle Ganges stretch, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 16(2):
24737–24745. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8593.16.2.24737-24745
Copyright: © Ankit et al. 2024. Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun and National Mission for Clean Ganga, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Author details: Kumar Ankit is senior research fellow at Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. He is also PhD scholar of AcSIR, Ghaziabad. His specialization is in movement ecology, human-carnivore interaction, water birds and population ecology. Mujahid Ahamad is a PhD scholar and currently working as a senior project biologist at the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. He specialized in animal ecology and human-wildlife interaction. Vivek Ranjan is a PhD scholar at the Wildlife Institute of India working on human-wildlife interaction in human-dominated landscapes. Sanjay Kumar is IAS of 2002 batch with Uttar Pradesh as home cadre. He is author of many books on birds and nature conservation. He had played a vital role in the field of conservation by providing technical support to the government in establishing ramsar sites, important wetland areas and conservation reserves. Syed Ainul
Hussain is the project manager (NMCG) and former scientist-G at the Wildlife Institute of India. His specialization is in wetland ecology and habitat ecology. Govindan Veeraswami Gopi is scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India. He is member of different IUCN commissions. His core research interests are in understanding about inland and coastal wetlands and the species that depend on them.
He is also involved in assessing developmental projects, teaching, training and supervising in-service officers, master’s and PhD students at WII.
Author contributions: KA—conceptualization, data collection, data analysis & analysis, methodology, writing the original draft. MA—data collection and analysis. VR—data collection. SK—conceptualization and data visualization SAH—conceptualization, data visualization investigation, supervision GVG— conceptualization, data visualization investigation, supervision, review & editing.
Acknowledgements: We express our
sincere thanks to the director, dean, researchassociate
and course director of XV. MSc of Wildlife Institute of India for their support
in the study. We are grateful to the National Mission for Clean Ganga and the
Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India, to fund the fieldwork related to
this work. We express our sincere gratitude Uttar Pradesh Forest Department and
Prayagraj District Administration for providing
permission and logistical support. We acknowledge Mrs. Divya
IFS (Former DFO, Prayagraj) for her kind support. We
also thank Mr. Vikash Tiwari, Mr. Deepak Dhakad, and
Mr. Rajesh Kumar for volunteering in data collection. We are grateful to Ankita
Sinha & Naman Goyal for reviewing the manuscript
and Ashish Jangid for helping in map preparation.
Abstract: Indian Skimmer Rynchops albicollis
Swainson, 1838 is a riverine habitat specialist bird
and a species of significant conservation concern. In 2020 it was up-listed to
the ‘Endangered’ category of the IUCN Red List. Breeding grounds of the species
are known from the major rivers of India like Ganga, Chambal, Son, and
Mahanadi. We monitored breeding colonies of the species in two breeding seasons
(2017 and 2018) in the middle Ganges stretch. We identified nine nesting
islands and monitored a total of 111 active nests during the study period. A
total of 302 eggs were counted with clutch sizes ranging 1–5 and the mean
clutch size of 2.7 (±1.18 SD). We observed a 10% & 7% of hatching and fledgling
success rate in 2017 and 10% & 17% in 2018, respectively. Low breeding
success was probably due to the severe anthropogenic factors such as egg
collection, cattle trampling, and stochastic weather events such as flooding
and sand inundation by sand storms in nests. We also recorded instances of nest
abandoning because of unknown reasons. This article recommends more surveys to
identify new breeding colonies of Indian Skimmer in the middle Ganges and
subsequently provide adequate protection to the colonies. We also recommend
sensitization programs for different stakeholders to create more awareness for
the conservation of this threatened species in the middle Ganges stretch.
Keywords: Breeding birds,
breeding phenology, endangered birds, nesting birds, prayagraj,
river island, riverine birds, threatened riverine bird, waterbirds.
Introduction
The Skimmers are a group of birds that belong to the genus Rynchops of the family Laridae
(BirdLife International 2023). They are known for
their uneven bill for foraging on the fishes, insects, and shrimps through
skimming on the water surface (Zusi 1996; Martin et al. 2007). Globally, three
members of Rynchops genus are known—the
African Skimmer Rynchops flavirostris, the Black Skimmer Rynchops
niger, and the Indian Skimmer Rynchops
albicollis (Bhushan 2018). Among them, the Indian
Skimmers are globally threatened riverine birds native
to southern and southeastern Asia. They have been recently up-listed to the
‘Endangered’ category of the IUCN Red List because of the declining population
trend (Birdlife international 2023). Indian Skimmers are medium, tern-size
birds of 40–43 cm in length with a wingspan of around 108 cm (Grimmett et al. 2016; Shaikh et al. 2018). The adults have
a drooping orange-red bill with lower mandible projecting beyond the upper
mandible (Ali & Ripley 1987). It has a black cap and mantle, and wings
contrasting with white underparts (Grimmett et al.
2016). In 2001, the adult population was estimated to be 4,000–6,700
individuals. However, with the recent assessment in 2020, the population
estimate of the Indian Skimmer is 2,450–2,900 mature individuals. It is
estimated to be 41% decline of the population from 2001 to 2020 (Birdlife
International 2023).
Historically, the population was distributed in the major river systems
of Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Mekong delta (Sundar
2004). However, the current distribution of the species is believed to be from
Pakistan and Nepal, with the stronghold of the population in India and
Bangladesh (Rajguru 2017; Debata
et al. 2019). In India, the breeding population of the species is known from
the major rivers like Chambal, Mahanadi, Ganges, and Son (BirdLife
International 2023). However, in recent years non-breeding population are also
recorded from the peninsular India, east and west coast, and other wetlands
(Gopi & Pandav 2007; Malla
et al. 2015; Shaikh et al. 2021). There are also records of wintering and
breeding grounds of the species from Bangladesh (Mohsanin
2014; Kabir et al. 2016; Chowdhury et al. 2020; Das et al. 2020). The known
breeding grounds of the species reported from India are National Chambal
Sanctuary on river Chambal in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya
Pradesh (Sundar 2004; Das 2015; Shaikh et al. 2018;
Singh & Sharma 2018), Narora Ramsar
Site on river Ganges in Uttar Pradesh (Siddiqui et al. 2007), Son Gharial
Wildlife Sanctuary on river Son in Madhya Pradesh (Dilawar
& Sharma 2016), and Pong Dam Wildlife Sanctuary in Himachal Pradesh
(Fernandes & Besten 2013). However, new breeding
records have been reported in the last five years from the middle Ganges
stretch (Ankit et al. 2018; Mital et al. 2019) and
Mahanadi (Rajguru et al 2017; Debata
et al. 2018). The breeding season starts after the winters ranging from
February to May in different breeding sites. Indian Skimmers breed in colonies
and sometimes with other species like River Tern Sterna aurantia,
Little Tern Sternula albifrons,
River Lapwing Vanellus duvaucelii,
and Small Pratincoles Glareola lactea (Rahmani
2012; Rajguru 2017; Ankit et al. 2018; Debata et al. 2019). Generally, Indian Skimmers lay eggs in
sandy spits of emerged river islands; the clutch size ranges between 1–5, and
both the sexes are involved in incubation and parental care after the hatching
of eggs (Shaikh et al. 2018; Debata et al. 2019).
Habitat degradation due to several anthropogenic disturbances resulting
in low reproductive success is considered a major cause for the rapid
population decline. Also, there are records of stochastic weather events
causing nest failure of the species at different breeding sites (Shaikh et al.
2018; Debata 2019). However, the essential
information pertaining to the breeding biology, threats to the breeding
colonies, and long-term population monitoring are still very limited across its
breeding ranges (Rajguru 2017; Debata
et al. 2019; Shaikh et al. 2018). After the discovery of new breeding colonies
in the middle Ganges stretch in the year 2017, we investigated different
aspects of the breeding biology of Indian Skimmer. We also identified threats
to the breeding colonies in the middle Ganges stretch by monitoring two
breeding seasons, which is far apart from the earlier known breeding grounds of
other riverine system.
METHODS
Study Area
This study was carried out in the Prayagraj
District (25.47270N, 81.87830E) of Uttar Pradesh
(formerly Allahabad) (Image 1). The district is known for the confluence of two
major rivers of India—Ganges and Yamuna—and the invisible Saraswati.
The river Ganges has been divided into three courses—Upper (stretch in
mountainous regions of the Himalaya), Middle (stretch of floodplains), and
Lower Ganges (stretch after the confluence of major river till it meets the Bay
of Bengal) due to its characteristics such as flow, channel width, depth and
sedimentation. settings. The Prayagraj district is
adjacent to middle Ganges stretch. Prayagraj
experiences three prominent seasons, summer (March–June), monsoon
(July–September), and winter (October–February). The average maximum
temperature ranges 23°–41°C with 1,027 mm annual rainfall. The district is
famous for ‘Kumbh Mela’ at
the confluence point which is known for world’s largest human congregation due
to traditional beliefs. Additionally, the area also witnesses human gathering
round the year due to religious practices, annual ‘Magh
Mela’ during the winter is one of the examples. The
Ganges in Prayagraj is also one of the polluted
stretches because of several anthropogenic activities, including the effluent
discharges from the leather industries of Kanpur city, which is located on the
upstream of the river. However, the area supports good biodiversity of riverine
species like the Gangetic Dolphin Platanista
gangetica, Gharial Gavialis
gangeticus, Marsh Crocodile Crocodylus
palustris, different species of turtles, fishes,
and wetland birds like the River Tern Sterna aurantia,
Little Tern Sternula albifrons,
River Lapwing Vanellus duvacellii,
Small Pratincoles Glareola lactea,
and Ruddy Shelduck Tadorna ferruginea. The dry and hot summer causing low water
levels exposes sandbars and river islands, which facilitates breeding riverine
birds like Little Tern, River Lapwing, and Indian Skimmer. As a part of an
ongoing project on waterbirds, after a few sightings
of Indian Skimmer in the confluence area in January 2017, we extensively
surveyed a total of 75 km of riverine stretches in Prayagraj
district (25 km stretch each upstream and downstream
of the river Ganges and 25 km upstream of the Yamuna from the confluence) in
January to June in both the year of 2017 and 2018. The banks of the rivers were
mostly sandy with intermittent mudflats, cultivations and settlements. There
were also exposed river islands mostly in the river upstream of Ganges (from
the confluence) due to low water depth.
Observations on nesting birds
The survey method included trail walking along the banks and
opportunistic surveys through mechanised boat from
February to June. After observing the events of the courtship display and
congregation of birds, we considered the river islands as the nesting island of
the birds. After 3–4 days, we visited the islands to record any breeding
activity such as nest preparation. After getting ensured the sign of nest
preparation, we considered it as nesting island. we started regular monitoring
the nesting islands in the morning (0600–0800 h) or evening time (1600–1800 h)
from the river bank using Bushnell 8 × 42 binocular. Only after observing signs
of incubation, we visited the nesting islands using a non-motor boat, ensuring
minimal disturbance to the breeding birds. Further, we started regularly
visiting the nesting island in the morning (0600–0800 h) or evening (1600–1800 hs). Two observers visited the islands and separately
recorded the number of individuals, nests, clutch sizes, hatchlings, nest
failures, and anthropogenic disturbances. The observer’s entry and exit times
to the nesting island were fixed. One observer was followed by the second
observer in the multiple straight lines with inter-distance of 1.8–2.4 m (n =
8–18 depending on the size of the nesting island). The double observer method
ensured the confirmed identification of the nests, and presence of new active
nests. Since, most of the islands were having fewer active nests, the double
observer method minimised the possibility of double
counting or missing of active nests.
We ensured that the observation took minimum possible time while
collecting the data, which were around 5–10 min depending on the number of
nests and island size. We did not use any invasive techniques to mark the nest
or the eggs, and during the observation, precautions were made to minimize the
disturbance to the birds. We consciously walked on the islands to minimize the
footprints on the island. Same survey and monitoring protocols were used in
both the years of the breeding cycle. Successful nest was considered with the
minimum one egg hatched in a particular nest and hatching success percentage
was calculated as the proportion of number of successful nest and number of
nests (Debata et al. 2019). Whereas, the fledgling
success was calculated as the proportion of nest with fledglings and number of
successful nests. We also analyzed the clutch size the percentage of the nest
failure because of the different factors.
RESULTS
Sightings, abundance, and breeding phenology
Sightings of Indian Skimmers were continuous from January to March 2017
& 2018, mostly on flights or during foraging. We recorded the first
congregation of the birds on a river island in late March 2017 and early April
2018. Subsequently, we recorded seven and two nesting islands in 2017 and 2018,
respectively (Image 1). A total of 356 (n = 232 in 2017, n = 144 in 2018)
individuals of Indian Skimmers were observed in the different nesting islands.
The sporadic sightings of the birds during the surveys are excluded from the
total count. Courtship display, mating, and nest preparation continued between
late March and April in both years. However, mating events and nest
preparedness were also observed in May and the first week of June 2017 in some
nesting islands. In 2017 season, the first clutch was noticed during the first
week of April. However, we located nesting in the second week of April in the
year 2018. The first hatching of eggs in the nests was observed during mid-May
in 2017 and late April 2018 (presuming the first clutch of the season in the
last week of March). In 2017, the hatching of eggs was also observed till June
in a couple of nesting islands. In May and early June, we observed the
dispersal of fledglings from the nesting islands. Both the mating partners were
involved in parental care and nest guarding during the breeding cycle.
Active nests and clutch size variation
All the nine nesting islands were approximately in the range of 15 km
upstream of river Ganges from the confluence point. We recorded 111 active
nests of Indian Skimmers (n = 73 in 2017 and n = 38 in 2018) and these active
nests were the shallow depressions in sands, mostly away from the edges of the
river islands (Table 1). A total of 302 eggs were laid by the species in the study
area (n = 186 in 2017 and n = 116 in 2018) (Table 1). The clutch size
varied between 1–4 and 1–5 in different
nesting islands of 2017 and 2018 observations, respectively. The mean clutch
size was 2.54 (SD ± 1.11) and 3.05 (SD ± 1.27) in the years 2017 and 2018,
respectively. We also recorded the active nests and fledglings of River
Lapwing, Little Tern, Small Pratincole, and Black-winged Stilt on the nesting
islands of Indian Skimmer.
Breeding Success and possible causes of nest failure
Out of all the nine nesting islands in 2017 and 2018, nesting failure
was observed in three islands due to anthropogenic and natural causes in the
year 2017. The remaining six nesting islands recorded hatching (n = 4 in 2017
and n = 2 in 2018). Among all the monitored active nests, only 10% and 11% of
the nest successfully produced chicks in 2017 and 2018 respectively whereas,
10% and 7% survived up to fledgling stage with respect to the number of nests
in the year 2017 and 2018, respectively. The main causes of the nest failure
were anthropogenic pressure such as cattle trampling, egg collection, and
natural causes include predation, flooding, and sand inundation (Table 2).
DISCUSSION
Long-term ecological monitoring is an essential tool for the
conservation of any species. It provides basic ecological information of the
targeted species and its associated community in lieu of different
environmental conditions. It gradually helps in identifying key conservation
priorities and monitoring the effect of change in policy and environment (Havstad & Herrick 2003; Giron-Nava
et al. 2017). However, long-term ecological monitoring of the waterbirds and their associated habitats is limited in
India (Prasad et al. 2002; Kar et al. 2018; Singh & Sharma 2018; Debata et al. 2019). The riverine systems of India
facilitate the occurrence of river-dependent birds by providing shelter,
forage, and breeding grounds (Islam & Rahmani
2008; Rajguru 2017; Sinha et al. 2019). Many species
of birds are known to utilize the river and its associated habitats to complete
partial or entire lifecycles (Page & Gill 1994; Vaughan et al. 2007; Froneman et al. 2011; Rahmani
2012). Additionally, the riverine system has an intricate relationship with
humans, which sometimes causes overexploitation and habitat degradation, and
can adversely impact the populations of species like the Indian Skimmer and the
Black-bellied Tern Sterna acuticauda (Kar et
al. 2018; Kar & Debata 2019). In our study area,
we observed multiple pressures on the river system, which negatively impacts
the breeding cycle of Indian Skimmer and may severely affect the species at the
population level on a
long run.
Population and breeding in the middle Ganges stretch
There were previous sighting and breeding records (Narora-Ramsar
Site) of Indian Skimmers from the river Ganges (Siddiqui et al. 2007). The
recent breeding records from the middle Ganges stretch is from Prayagraj (Ankit et al. 2018) (Image 2) and Varanasi (Mital et al. 2019). This study and previous records
suggest the congregations of the birds in December and January in the middle
Ganges stretch (Shukla 2016). Both the years 2017 and 2018, we observed the
congregation of more than 100 Indian Skimmers in different Islands. However,
the nesting islands were relatively less with respect to the total number of
individuals sighted. There may be a possibility that most of the birds used
these islands as a stopover site. There was a difference between the nesting
islands in the years 2017 and 2018, we presume that after a couple of nest
failures these individuals laid their second clutch in our study area hence, we
located more breeding colonies in 2017. The records of only two breeding
islands in 2018 led to the speculation that there would have been more nesting
colonies in the upstream of the Ganges beyond our study area because of the
observance of higher number of individuals in one of the nesting islands. These
individuals might have shifted to the upstream for breeding as there are
observations on breeding Skimmers in upstream of Allahabad recorded by Survey
teams of Wildlife Institute of India in Bulandshahr
and Farrukhabad districts in between the year 2017
and 2021. The breeding period ranges between February and May, similar to the
observation made at different breeding sites (Dilawar
& Sharma 2016; Rajguru 2017; Shaikh et al. 2018; Debata et al. 2019). Across the two monitoring years, no
nesting islands were observed in the Yamuna stretch, possibly because of the
unavailability of river islands as the river Yamuna which had high water levels
during both the surveyed years. However, there are recent nesting records have
been observed in Yamuna in Prayagraj District (Mani
2023)
Poor breeding success and threats to the breeding colonies
Prayagraj is one of the densely human-populated cities of the Northern-India;
hence it poses severe anthropogenic pressure to riverine stretches adjacent to
the city. All the nesting islands were in close proximity to the periphery of
the city, which has caused the enabling of multiple threats to the breeding
colonies. The main reason for the nest failure was due to the anthropogenic
pressures followed by the stochastic events that caused low breeding success in
the study area (Image 3). Similar threats have also been identified at
different breeding sites (Siddiqui et al. 2007; Debata
et al. 2018; Shaikh et al. 2018; Mital et al. 2019).
The breeding success is very low when compared to the similar study of Debata et al. (2019) in the Mahanadi River in the same
breeding season. It highlights the magnitude of anthropogenic pressure on the
middle Ganges which may be negatively impacting other riverine species too.
Multiple anthropogenic threats were identified that had directly impacted the
breeding colonies, such as cattle trampling. It was observed that because of
low water depth, cattle use these islands as passage to go from one bank to
other for foraging. Additionally, they venture in to the river islands to
forage on vegetation growth. We also observed egg collection by the locals.
However, no information on consumption or commercial use was available. There
are indirect threats such as disturbances because of agricultural activities in
the bank of the river and on river islands. The locals grow seasonal crop such
as watermelon, pumpkin, and other cucurbitaceous crops of the gourd family on
the sandy area of banks and river islands. We haven’t recorded any agriculture
on the nesting islands but we observed agriculture
activity on the nearby banks. Additionally, free-ranging dogs, and boat activity,
which may have led to the abandoning of the nests by the breeding pairs.
After the nesting failure in multiple nesting islands due to
anthropogenic activities in 2017, we availed help from the forest department
and Prayagraj administration for ensuring the
protection of the nesting islands through awareness in adjoining villages for
farmers working in the adjacent field. Forest officials were deployed in the
daytime as nest guardians (near the bank) to minimize the anthropogenic
disturbance. No casualty was reported in the breeding island during the night
and all the chicks fledged during this phase resulting in no nest failure at
the chick stage in the year 2017. In the year 2018, the nest failure and egg
collection didn’t happen probably due to the awareness created among the
villagers in and around the nesting islands by the forest department team
immediately after the locations were informed to the Forest department. Forest
officials were deployed again in the daytime as nest guardians (near the bank)
to minimize any sort of anthropogenic disturbance. However, after sunset, we
recorded the event of cattle trampling in nesting islands which resulted some
casualties on eggs and chick stages. The impact of pollution and prey
availability due to fishing was not quantified in this study. This could have
been the major cause of abandoning the nesting islands because of low food
resources; hence, it needs investigation in the future. However, we observed
disturbances to the breeding birds on the nesting islands due to fishing
activity of human and boat in the proximity of the nesting islands. There were
no instances of river bed material collection observed like in other breeding
sites (Shaikh et al. 2018; Debata et al. 2019).
However, erosion of non-nesting islands was observed because of increased water
current and depth due to both natural and manmade factors, natural factors
include unseasonal rainfall and manmade factors include water flow regulation
from the upstream of Kanpur barrage for irrigation. However, we don’t have data
regarding the causes of water flow and water level fluctuation in the study
area.
Conservation actions required
The basic ecological knowledge of breeding biology, diet, and movement
during the non-breeding period of Indian skimmers is inadequate from all the
breeding locations. However, it is notable that emphasis has been given by the
scientific community on breeding and non-breeding sites of the species through
continuous monitoring on different ecological aspects (Kabir et al. 2016; Rajguru 2017; Shaikh et al. 2018; Debata
et al. 2019; Chowdhury et al. 2020). Recently observation has been also made in
other rivers like Gomti in Ganga Basin (Chauhan 2023). The continuous
monitoring and exploration in the potential breeding areas will unearth more
information pertaining to the species for conservation.
The middle Ganges stretch is in lieu of several disturbances around the
year. Hence, it becomes crucial to identify the breeding colonies in this
particular stretch through continuous surveys and expeditions. Subsequently,
nest protection should be provided to the breeding colonies through nest
guarding and minimizing the anthropogenic pressure especially fishing during
the nesting season. The ‘nest guardian’ program for protecting Indian skimmer
nesting colonies is already in practice in National Chambal Sanctuary (Mishra
& Tandon 2021), which can be replicated in the middle Ganges stretch.
Sensitization of different stakeholders through awareness drives, workshops,
and community participation can also help in the protection of the nest and
nesting islands during the season. Convincing locals and farmers not to do
agriculture on river islands can also provide more availability of nesting
islands for the Indian Skimmer and other riverine birds during peak breeding
periods.
The glimmer of hope is that surveys have been conducted at regular
intervals under the objective of biodiversity conservation of National Mission
for Clean Ganga program in the past few years. It has helped in the identification
of breeding locations of Indian Skimmers along the Ganges. Additionally,
community participation programs such as ‘Ganga Prahari’ under
the same project to involve the locals in biodiversity conservation of the
river Ganges. However, with all these efforts it is necessary to protect
breeding colonies of endangered Indian skimmer in the future which may
subsequently help in increasing the population of the species and its survival.
The record of the breeding colony from Prayagraj and
Varanasi are promising findings that warrant further exploration surveys for
more breeding colonies in the future.
Table 1. Total number of eggs and active nests and nesting islands
description of Indian Skimmers recorded in Prayagraj
on different nesting islands in the years 2017 and 2018.
Nesting islands |
Total active nest |
Total number of eggs |
Perimeter of nesting islands (in meters) |
Distance from bank (in meters) |
Distance from human settlement (in meters) |
2017_N1 |
8 |
11 |
1056 |
187 |
210 |
2017_N2 |
13 |
42 |
1934 |
413 |
1652 |
2017_N3 |
6 |
15 |
433 |
224 |
1284 |
2017_N4 |
31 |
86 |
708 |
220 |
1794 |
2017_N5 |
3 |
9 |
225 |
108 |
1705 |
2017_N6 |
3 |
8 |
862 |
198 |
1926 |
2017_N7 |
9 |
15 |
2179 |
377 |
1915 |
2018_N1 |
26 |
85 |
743 |
197 |
1553 |
2018_N2 |
12 |
31 |
509 |
179 |
15608 |
Table 2. Causes of nest failure of Indian Skimmers in Prayagraj in the years 2017 and 2018.
Causes of failure |
2017 |
2018 |
||
Number of nests |
% |
Number of nests |
% |
|
Egg Stage Failure |
|
|
|
|
Egg collection |
8 |
12 |
0 |
0 |
Flooding |
16 |
24 |
0 |
0 |
Predation |
28 |
42 |
0 |
0 |
Sand Inundation |
0 |
0 |
18 |
60 |
Cattle trampling |
0 |
0 |
5 |
17 |
Abandoning |
14 |
21 |
7 |
23 |
Chick stage failure |
|
|
|
|
Abandoning |
0 |
0 |
2 |
25 |
Cattle trampling |
0 |
0 |
6 |
75 |
For images
- - click here for full PDF
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