Waterbird survey at Bheemgoda Barrage and Missarpur Ganga Ghat wetlands of Haridwar district in Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

Wetlands are areas where water is the primary factor controlling the environment and the associated plant and animal life. An attempted was made to know the health of the Ganges’s wetlands ecosystem, waterbird survey was conducted between January 2019 and December 2020 in Haridwar district. Total of sixty three waterbird species, belong to fourteen families reported during the study. Out of these duck family was dominated among the families. Six species River lapwing (Vanellus duvaucelii), Black-necked stork (Ephippiorhynch usasiaticus), Woolly-necked stork (Ciconia episcopus), Painted stork (Mycteria leucocephala), River tern (Sterna aurantia) and Black-headed ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus) were near threaten, One specie was reported endangered Black-bellied tern (Sterna acuticauda), and One vulnerable Common pochard (Aythya ferina) categories as per IUCN Red-list data. As interesting finding, we reported Asian Open bill stork (Anastomus oscitans) and Black-bellied tern (Sterna acuticauda) avian species first time in Haridwar Wetlands. The presence of avian species diversity increases the regional avian diversity of district Haridwar and emphasizes to prepare a scientific conservation strategy for the IUCN categorized waterbird species.