Seasonal diversity and habitat utilization of bird in The Barandabhar Corridor Forest Of Chitwan District, Nepal

Abstract

I carried out survey was during October 2007 to May 2008 in the Barandabhar Corridor Forest (BCF) covering an area of 12300 hectares to determine the seasonal diversity and habitat utilization of bird .The BCF is one of the Important Bird Areas (IBAs) of Nepal. My objectives were to explore the current species composition extant birds, to investigate diversity pattern of birds and to examine the pattern of habitats utilized by birds. I adopted line transects method using six permanent line transects which ran through eight major habitat including Sal forest, Open grassland, Salforest and grassland, Grassland associated with few sal trees, Wetland, Mix riverine, Mixforest and Sal mixed forest. I recorded 123 bird species represented by 15 orders and 43 families in two seasons autumn and spring. Species diversity and relative diversity of the birds were calculated by using Shannon-wiener function and Jacob’s coefficient. Among the species recorded, 94 species (76%) were resident,16 species (13%) were summer visitor,12 species (10%) were winter visitor and 1 species (1%) was local migrant. Diversity index of birds showed highest value in (1.70) spring followed by autumn (1.54). Similarly Jacob’s coefficient for relative diversity in autumn and spring is 0.825 and 0.806 respectively. Analysis of Variation (ANOVA) showed that there was significant relation between the number of bird population with variation of season (p<0.05, df= 1 and 7) and habitat types (p<0.05,df=7 and 7). Bird populatio0n were found highest in the Sal forest (46.48%), followed by Open grassland (22.81%), Sal and grassland (12.21%), Sal mixed forest (8.70%),Wetland(2.88%),Mix riverine (2.47%), Grassland associated with few Sal trees (2.02%) and Mixed forest (1.3%). I also recorded different activities of birds most of which were observed were found in the resting, eating, calling and flying. The activities of the birds like feeding and nesting were only observed in the spring season. Globally threatened bird Lesser Adjutant Leptoptilus javanicus was also recorded during my survey. I recorded six species of birds, which were listed in the Appendix II as described by Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Human disturbances were the main factors, which had jeopardized the survival of avian fauna in the BC