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Chumkijini Chhatria

  • Biodiversity Journal, 16 (3): 375-385

    Basudev Bacha & Chumkijini Chhatria
    Preliminary study on bird species and feeding guild composition inside the Sambalpur University Campus of Western Odisha, India
    https://doi.org/10.31396/Biodiv.Jour.2025.16.3.375.385

    ABSTRACT
    Birds are an important component of terrestrial ecosystems. These groups are called masters of air and play an essential role in ecological functions and responses to climate change and habitat destruction. Globally, the bird population is continually facing a decline in numbers due to the destruction of their habitat and atmospheric pollution. However, it has been observed that institutional habitat contributes to maintaining bird populations. In this study, we investigated the bird species assemblages inside the Sambalpur University campus, which is enclosed within the semi-urban stress. The survey was carried out within a calendar year, May to December 2024. The bird survey was conducted early morning and evening, using point counting method. During this, a total of 75 bird species were recorded belonging to 39 families and 16 orders. The university contains the three WPA schedule category bird species schedule I, II, and IV consisting of 5.33%, 21.33%, and 73.33%, respectively. Residential birds (Re) are 63, followed by 7 species of local migratory birds (Lm) and 5 species of migratory birds (M). The migratory species include Acrocephalus dumetorum, Copsychus saularis, Merops philippinus and Terpsiphone paradisi. The most common bird species include Culumba livia, Egretta garzetta, Bubulcus ibis coromandus, Corvus splendens, Argya striata, Phylloscopus trochilodes, Pycnonotus cafer, Acridotheres tristis, Amaurornis phoenicurus and Gracupica contra. It can be concluded that the presence of different anthropogenic activities could reduce the migration of birds. Among the ten feeding guilds, the insectivores were the most dominant followed by another family i.e. Omnivorous, Carnivorous, Granivore, Frugivore, Piscivore, Molluscivore, and Nectarivore, additionally; two feeding guilds are consuming both insectivores-frugivorous, and granivores-insectivores respectively. This finding suggests that human interference such as urban development could lead to the destruction of their natural habitats which affects bird species richness and feeding guilds composition inside the university campus.