Avifauna of saurashtra university campus, Rajkot, Gujarat, India

Abstract

We examined the avifauna of Saurashtra University Campus (SUC), Rajkot, Gujarat from July to December 2017. The study area was divided into four sections: North (N), East (E), South (S) and West (W) and surveyed over 18 visits (four line transects/visit). We recorded a total of 82 bird species from 67 genera, 40 families and 16 orders. Of these 57 species were terrestrial and 25 aquatic. By population size the most abundant birds were members of Columbidae (28%), Sturnidae (13%), and Charadridae (8%). Seventy per cent of birds observed (n=7665) were classed as very common and 2% (n=261) as very rare. Species density (S/N = 3.39) and population density (n/N = 196) were at their maximum in December. Ecological indices on temporal base reveal high species richness and Simpson diversity (1/D =17.0 and 1-D= 0.942) in August and November and Shannon diversity was high (H'=3.275) in November during study period.