Species diversity, relative abundance and habitat use of the bird communities of Tehsil Chenani, District Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir, India

The present study dealt with the diversity, Resident/Migratory status, abundance, diversity indices and habitat used by the bird communities within four different habitats Cultivated Area (CA), Coniferous Forests (CF), Mixed Deciduous Forests (MDF) and scrubby areas (SA) of Tehsil Chenani which is located in Lesser Himalayas, J&K.Atotal of 3537 birds were counted belonging to 69 species, 11 orders and 29 families with annual abundance 946, 365, 1242 and 984 at CA, CF, DF and SH respectively. Deciduous forests were found to support maximum number of birds because of food and nesting sites availability. Order Passeriformes dominated the four bird communities with 39 species. Shannon weaver index, Marglef richness Index, Reciprocal Simpson Index and Pielos Evenness index were found maximum at Mixed Deciduous Forest. Simpson diversity index was found maximum at Cultivated areas. Deciduous forest and scrubby area were found more similar with highest value of Sorensonʹs Quotient of similarity (Q/S) (79.12%). The dominant species of mixed deciduous Forests and cultivated Area found were Jungle Crow and House Sparrow respective coniferous forests and scrubby area both was found to have White-cheeked Bulbul as dominant species.78.28%of species were resident, 4.38%were winter migrant and were summermigrant. Of the total 69 species reported, 49.27% were insectivorous, 11.59% carnivorous, 23.18% grainivorous, 8.69% omnivorous and 7.24% frugivorous.