Avian diversity study of Kharibari Wetland and its adjacent Bheries, Kamduni, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India

Arjan Basu Roy; Lina Chatterjee; Tarak Samanta; Nivedita Sengupta; Vijay Barve

doi:10.15468/atkpy2

Avian diversity study of Kharibari Wetland and its adjacent Bheries, Kamduni, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India

Citation

Basu Roy A, Chatterjee L, Samanta T, Sengupta N, Barve V (2024). Avian diversity study of Kharibari Wetland and its adjacent Bheries, Kamduni, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India. Version 1.6. Nature Mates-Nature Club. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/atkpy2 accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-12-13.

Description

The dataset “Avian diversity study of Kharibari Wetland and its adjacent Bheries, Kamduni, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India” is published by Nature Mates Nature Club The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) defines a wetland as, “a place in which the land is covered by water — salt, fresh or somewhere in between — either seasonally or permanently. It functions as its distinct ecosystem.” Bheries are the type of fisheries generally practiced in low land impounded with earthen embankments all round. The age-old bheri-culture has emerged in North 24 Parganas District in its south and eastern skirts centering the lower course of the Bidyadhari River. Salinity in bheri-water is sourced from brackish sea water entered through rivers and canals. Kolkata has several wetlands in its vicinity and one of them is the Kamduni wetlands of Kharibari, near Barasat. The wetland and bheries of Kharibari is a visiting spot for many local and migratory birds. Some of these birds are from the Himalayan foothills, others travel from central Asia. During spring, the waters in the wetlands recede making food easily available for the water birds. This attracts a host of long and short-distance migrant birds along with local birds. The Black Winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) is the main feature of Kamduni wetlands. They are known as lal thengi by the locals because of their long, thin, vivid pink legs. They have white bodies and black wings, and they utilize their slender legs to wade through the shallow waters in quest of food. They are local migrants and always search for water bodies with shallow water, which gives simple feeding. As the temperature rises and the water level falls, the birds migrate to more favorable habitats. Pied Avocets (Recurvirostra avosetta) is another flying visitor to Kamduni, traveling across the Himalayas from Central Asia. During the winter, they migrate to the subcontinent's coasts. On their journey back home, they take a short break in Kamduni to refuel for their lengthy trip across the Himalayas. These black and white birds have downward concave beaks that allow them to scoop up food from shallow seas. They are known locally as Ulto Thuti (reverse beak) due to their unusual beak shape. They move in big numbers and produce a spectacular display when they soar out of the water. Kamduni wetlands of Kharibari is an ideal place for the birds which need to be protected from increased urbanization and human intervention. This dataset includes all the birds recorded from kamduni wetlands of kharibari and the bheries present in the vicinity. A list of all the birds identified during a biodiversity survey carried out between November 2017 to April 2018 is included in this dataset. All the birds have been identified upto species level. There are 56 bird species in total, with records of them in 18 different families and 10 different orders.

Purpose

This study can give a future scope in understanding how bheries affect the biodiversity of an area.

Sampling Description

Study Extent

Kharibari Wetland and its adjacent Bheries, Kamduni, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India

Sampling

Point Count

Method steps

The data were recorded using the point count method from multiple points within the study area. Equipment used are binocular Olympus (10*50 DPS I ) Camera (Nikon Coolpix P900, P600, B600). Observed data were recorded in the field notebook.

Taxonomic Coverages

All the birds have been identified upto species level. There are 56 bird species total, with records of them in 18 different families and 10 different orders.

Aves
common name: Bird rank: class

Geographic Coverages

Kharibari Wetland and its adjacent Bheries, Kamduni, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India

Bibliographic Citations

Grimmett R, Inskipp C, Inskipp T (2016) Birds of the Indian Subcontinent: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. Bloomsbury Publishing. -
eBird. (2022). eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Available: http://www.ebird.org -
IUCN. 2023. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2023-1. https://www.iucnredlist.org. Accessed on [21/03/2024]. -

Contacts

Arjan Basu Roy
originator
position: Secretary
Nature Mate-Nature Club
6/7 Bijoygarh
Kolkata
700032
West Bengal
IN
Telephone: 98743 57414
email: basuroyarjan@gmail.com
homepage: https://naturematesindia.org/
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9872-3562

Lina Chatterjee
originator
position: Research Associate
Nature Mates-Nature Club
6/7 Bijoygarh
Kolkata
700032
West Bengal
IN
email: lina.linachatterjee@gmail.com
homepage: https://naturematesindia.org/
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5626-5046

Tarak Samanta
originator
position: Research Associate
Nature Mates-Nature Club
6/7 Bijoygarh
Kolkata
700032
West Bengal
IN
email: taraksamanta995@gmail.com
homepage: https://naturematesindia.org/
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6809-0549

Nivedita Sengupta
originator
position: Intern
Nature Mates-Nature Club
6/7 Bijoygarh
Kolkata
700032
West Bengal
IN
email: niveditasngpta.ns@gmail.com
homepage: https://naturematesindia.org/
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1085-7385

Vijay Barve
originator
position: Research Advisor
Nature Mates-Nature Club
6/7 Bijoygarh
Kolkata
700032
West Bengal
IN
email: vijay.barve@gmail.com
homepage: https://naturematesindia.org/
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4852-2567

Lina Chatterjee
metadata author
position: Research Associate
Nature Mates-Nature Club
6/7 Bijoygarh
Kolkata
700032
West Bengal
IN
email: lina.linachatterjee@gmail.com
homepage: https://naturematesindia.org/
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5626-5046

Vijay Barve
metadata author
position: Research Advisor
Nature Mates-Nature Club
6/7 Bijoygarh
Kolkata
700032
West Bengal
IN
email: vijay.barve@gmail.com
homepage: https://naturematesindia.org/
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4852-2567

Nivedita Sengupta
metadata author
position: Intern
Nature Mates-Nature Club
6/7 Bijoygarh
Kolkata
700032
West Bengal
IN
email: niveditasngpta.ns@gmail.com
homepage: https://naturematesindia.org/
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1085-7385

Nivedita Sengupta
user
email: niveditasngpta.ns@gmail.com

Arjan Basu Roy
administrative point of contact
position: Secretary
Nature Mate-Nature Club
6/7 Bijoygarh
Kolkata
700032
West Bengal
IN
Telephone: 98743 57414
email: basuroyarjan@gmail.com
homepage: https://naturematesindia.org/
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9872-3562