Volume 24, Issue 73, January - June, 2023

Diversity of birds in the banks of the Bagmati River, Kathmandu, Nepal

Praveen Kumar Jha^♦, Nisha Devkota

Department of Zoology, Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal

^♦Corresponding author
Department of Zoology, Tri-Chandra Multiple campus, Tribhuvan University, Ghantaghar, Katmandu Nepal

ABSTRACT

Background: The avian community structure reveals an area's ecological circumstances. In order to determine the diversity of bird species, species richness, relative abundance, seasonal status and national as well as worldwide conservation status, this study was undertaken in October 2021 and January 2022 during two visits (autumn and winter) along the banks of the Bagmati River. To incorporate all of the study area's various habitat types, the point-count approach was used. A total of 32 points were set up at four separate locations and birds were monitored for 20 minutes at each point within 200 meters of a fixed raising position and in a 20-meter-diameter circle. The surveys began at the peak bird activity times of the morning (7 a.m. to 10 a.m.) and the evening (16 p.m. to 18 p.m.). The Shannon-Weiner Diversity Index was used to analyze the data. Results: There were 563 different birds in total, representing 60 different species, nine orders and 24 different families. With 14 families and 39 species, Passeriformes was the most prevalent order. Very common (10), Common (20), Uncommon (9) and rare species had the highest relative abundance (21). There were 45 species total: 10 winter visitors, 5 summer visitors and 45 residents. Winter season (H′=1.378) has a higher overall species diversity than autumn season (H′=1.368). The sites with the most diversity was site 1 (Sundarijal; H′=3.654 & 3.536), site 4 (Chobhar; H′=3.466 & 3.336), site 3 (Pashupati; H′=3.234 & 3.132) and site 2 (Gokarneshwor; H′=3.163 & 3.064), which had the lowest diversity in both the winter and the autumn seasons. Conclusion: Diversity, evenness and richness of birds were higher in winter season than autumn may be due to the environmental condition and food availability. The highest density and richness of bird species were found at Sundarijal out of the four sites.

Keywords: Avifauna, Diversity, Species richness, Point count method, Season

Species, 2023, 24(73), e14s1014

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v24i73/e14s1014

Published: 14 February 2023