21 Kas 2024 Perşembe
Communal roosting pattern of some Pelecaniformes in north Gujarat, India
Abstract : Communal roosting is a common practice of many waterbirds. Although, it is a common behavioral pattern, a few documentary records are available in North Gujarat, India. Therefore, present study aimed to investigate the roosting behavior of order Pelecaniformes includes medium sized and large sized waterbirds. Roosting of Order Pelecaniformes birds including Bulbulcus ibis, Ardea intermedia, Egretta garzetta, Ardea alba from family Ardeidae and Threskiornis melanocephalus, Pseudibis papillosa from family Threskiornithidae was studied during last two years. We have studied selection of trees for roost, height of trees, roosting population, flock size, arrival and departure time of birds and pre roosting and post roosting behaviour of birds. The investigation found that Threskiornis melanocephalus comes in large number in flocks at roosting sites which is up to 20. It was noted that during departure flock size is larger than the arrival time. It was also observed that departure time was comparatively lesser than arrival time in almost all the species.