Bird Status: Most species show drooping, Indian peafowl among those that bloom

“In the last 20 years, the Indian peafowl has expanded into the high Himalayas and the rainforests of the Western Ghats. It now occurs in all districts of Kerala, a state where it was extremely rare before. In addition to expanding its range, it also appears to be increasing population density in areas where it has occurred before,” the report says.

Among bird species that have done well, compared to their pre-2000 baseline level, the Asian koel has shown a rapid increase in abundance of 75%, with a current annual increase of 2.7% per year. anus. So have the house raven, the rock pigeon and the Alexandrian parakeet, which have established new populations in various cities.

Published after a three-year interval, the report is an assessment of the range, abundance trends and conservation status of 942 of India’s 1,200 bird species and has been carried out by 13 partner organisations, including the Wildlife Institute of India (WII). and Zoological Service of India (ZSI).

The evaluations are based on three indices. Two of them are related to the change in abundance (long-term trend (change in 30 years) and current annual trend (change in the last seven years)) and the third is a measure of the size of the distribution range in India. . According to the report, for many of the 942 species neither long-term trends nor current annual trends could be established.

Of the 338 species for which long-term trends have been identified, 204 or 60% have declined over the long term, 98 species are stable, while 36 have increased. Similarly, current annual trends could be determined for 359 species, of which 142 species or 39% are declining, 64 are rapidly declining, 189 are stable, and 28 bird species are increasing.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species shows that the population of 49% of bird species worldwide is declining, compared to just 6% increasing.

Range size, or the measure of a bird species’ territory and range, was assessed for all 942 bird species. According to the report, the range size of 39% of bird species is moderate, 33% is very large, while 28% of species inhabit a “restricted and very restricted” area.

Using IUCN standards, the report says that 178 bird species have a high conservation priority, 323 a moderate priority and 441 a low priority. High priority species include those whose abundance indices have declined considerably over the long term and continue to decline today.

“It is very difficult to carry out a bird census. It is not done anywhere in the world. Instead, we look at the “abundance” of bird species based on sightings. This gives us an indication of the size of the population and its distribution,” says Dr Ghazala Shahabuddin of ATREE, one of the lead authors of the report.

The report found that bird species that are “specialists” – restricted to limited habitats such as wetlands, rainforests and grasslands, as opposed to species that can inhabit a wide range of habitats such as plantations and agricultural fields – are declining rapidly.

“Generalist” birds that can live in multiple types of habitats do well as a group, according to the report.

“However, specialists are more threatened than generalists. Grassland specialists have decreased by more than 50%, indicating the importance of protecting and maintaining grassland ecosystems. A sharp decline in birds living in a wide variety of open habitats other than grasslands suggests the need to investigate threats in, for example, open agricultural landscapes and fallow land. Birds that are forest specialists (forest or plantation) have also declined more than generalists, indicating a need to conserve natural forest habitats to provide habitat for specialists,” the report says.

Abundance trends for migratory species show that long-distance migrants, such as Eurasian or Arctic migratory birds, have declined the most (by more than 50%), followed by short-distance migrants.

Shorebirds that breed in the Arctic have been particularly affected, with declines close to 80%. By contrast, the resident species as a group have remained much more stable.

The dietary needs of birds have also manifested themselves in abundance trends. Birds that eat vertebrates and carrion have declined the most, “suggesting that this food resource contains harmful contaminants.”

Vultures were on the verge of extinction by consuming carcasses contaminated with diclofenac. One of the most prolific birds in India, their numbers had dropped to almost zero in the 1990s and early 2000s. Birds of prey are one of the hardest hit species in the country by agrochemicals, the report notes. .

White-rumped vultures, Indian vultures, and red-headed vultures have suffered the largest long-term declines (98%, 95%, and 91%, respectively). Today, there are remnant populations of vultures in and around protected areas.

The report has found that birds that eat invertebrates, including insects, are declining rapidly, which is in line with global trends of declining insect populations. Trend analysis shows that birds that eat fruit and nectar are doing well.

Birds endemic to the Western Ghats and the Sri Lankan biodiversity hotspot have declined rapidly in India in recent decades.

India is home to 232 endemic species found nowhere else in the world.

In the Western Ghats, most of the endemics are rainforest dwellers, such as the White-bellied Treepie and the wayanad Laughing thrush. In particular, the great gray shrike has shown a long-term decline of more than 80%.

Ducks are also rapidly declining in India. India is home to eight resident and 35 migratory species, which occupy a variety of habitats, including inland lakes and tanks, submerged rice paddies, rivers, forest ponds, and coastal lagoons. Large congregations of ducks are found at Chilika, Pulicat, Rann of Kachchh, Maguri, Loktak, Sambhar and Keoladeo. He
Baer’s duck, common duck and Andaman teal have been found to be the most vulnerable.

Sandbar-nesting riparian birds are also showing a decline due to widespread pressures on rivers from irrigation schemes, transportation, human disturbance, domestic use, and pollution from agricultural and industrial chemicals, variations in water level and sand extraction.

Of the large waterfowl, the glossy ibis and black-capped ibis have increased dramatically in abundance over the past three decades, by over 130% and 80%, respectively. Painted Stork and Spot-billed Pelican show a trajectory of increase and then a more recent decline of 2-4% per year to record levels. But the Eurasian
Spoonbill has declined by more than 50% over the long term and by more than 6% annually since 2015.
Sarus Crane has fallen rapidly over the long term and continues to do so.

Of the 11 woodpecker species for which clear long-term trends could be obtained, seven appear stable, two are declining, and two are in rapid decline. The yellow-crowned woodpecker, which inhabits extensive thorny forests and scrub, has declined by more than 70% in the past three decades.

While half of all bustards in the world are threatened, the three species that breed in India – the Indian bustard, lesser bustard and Bengali florican – have been found to be the most vulnerable.