Project Report On Indian Birds.docx

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT :

I, MRIDUL KEJRIWAL, owe a great many thanks to a great many people who helped and supported me during the writing of this project. My deepest thanks to our EVS Lecturer Miss Ananya Kundu Dey, the guide of the project for guiding and correcting various documents of mine with attention and care. She has take pain to go through the project and take necessary correction as and when needed. I express my thanks to Head of department Mr. and our respected Principal miss Mrs. for extending her support. My deep sense of gratitude to my friends for their support and guidance. I would also thanks my institution and my faculty members without whom this project would have been a distant reality. I also thanks my heartful thanks to my family and my well wishers for their encouragement and cooperation.

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CONTENT :

Serial No.

Topic Name

Page No.

1

ABSTRACT

3

2

BIRDS AND THEIR ORIGIN

4-5

3

ANATOMY AND PHISOLOGY OF BIRD

6-9

4

ASPECTS OF BIRD’S BEHAVIOUR

10-12

5

RELATIONSHIP WITH HUMAN

13

6

BIRD’S OF INDIA

14-16

7

EXTINCTION OF BIRD’S

17

8

STUDY AREA WITH LOCATION

18

9

METHODOLOGY

19

10

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

20

11

CONCLUSION

21

12

REFRECES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

22

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ABSTRACT :

There are birds around us everywhere, some living in parks and gardens near our houses and some are sharing space with us in the heart of the city. It’s just takes a little curiosity to identify a little more about these direct decendents of the dinosaurs and develop a green hobby that can give us a lifetime of pleasure for free. Birds of India’s helps us to grip with our feathered neighbours to city dwelling birds of India. Some of our birds are well adapted to life around human settlements and indeed many can be found only around habitation. All the birds share one thing in common they are very adaptive and can cope with varied climatic conditions, food sources and nesting sites. There is a list of the bird species recorded in India, the avifauna of India includes around 1314 species, of which 42 are endemic, One has been introduced by humans and 25 are rare or accidental. Two species have been extirpated in India and 82 species are globally Threatened. The Indian Peacock is the National Bird of India. The book of Indian Birds by Samir Ali is a landmark book on Indian Ornithology, which helped spark popular intrest in the Birds of India. Indian Subcontinent is a bird watcher paradise. There are large number of residents birds in India, some native and some introduced. However all of them today beautifully reflects the rich natural life of the country. Numerous bird sanctuaries have been set up in the country to provide birds with a natural habitat and augment their population.

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BIRDS :

Birds are a group of endothermic vertebrates, characterised by feathers, a beak with no teeth, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a light weight but strong skeleton. Birds are social, communicating with visual signals, calls, and bird songs, and participating in such social behaviours as cooperative breeding. Birds have a very strong heart and an efficient way of breathing, necessary for birds to fly. Birds have more or less developed wings. Bird wings, which evolved from forelimbs, enabled birds the ability of bird flight. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight, although further speciation has led to some flightless birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species of birds. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly the aforementioned flightless penguins, and also members of the duck family, have also evolved for swimming. Birds, specifically Darwin's finches, played an important part in theory of evolution by natural selection. Many species of birds are economically important. Domesticated and undomesticated birds are important sources of eggs, meat, and feathers. Songbirds, parrots, and other species are popular as pets. Birds prominently figure throughout human culture. About 120– 130 species have become extinct due to human activity since the 17th century, and hundreds more before then. Human activity threatens about 1,200 bird species with extinction, though efforts are underway to protect them.

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ORIGIN :

Birds arose from the most evolvable dinosaurs, say researchers. Dinosaurs first emerged about 245 million ago. They were the largest animal ever to walk across the surface of earth. Their reign came to an end with a cosmic impact from an asteroid or comet. However, not all dinosaurs were killed by this impact they became birds that are now found on every continent of earth. Birds evolved from carnivores dinosaurs known as Theropods, which include giant predators such as Thyrannosaurus Rex and Talcon-footed raptors. The researchers discovered that the branch of theropods that gave rise to modern birds consisted of the theropodsthat kept shrinking. In the linage that led directly to birds, body size decreased during the course of atleast 12 diffrent stages over 50 million years or so, from tetanurans to archaeopterys. Scientist also discovered that birds precursors evolved new adaptations such as wings, enlarged brains, smaller teeths, and larger eyes, about four times faster than othe dinosaurs. Rapidly evolving anatomically adaptations provided them with new ecological oppurtunities such as to fly, climb and glide. Ultimately, birds out shrank and out evolved their dinasaurian ancestors, surviving where their larger less-evolvable, relatives could not.

FIG 1: FOSSIL MUDDIES THE ORIGIN OF BIRD

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ANATOMY :

Bird anatomy, or the physiological structure of birds bodies, shows many unique adaptations, mostly aiding flight. Birds have a light skeletal system and light but powerful musculature which, along with circulatory and respiratory systems capable of very high metabolic rates and oxygen supply, permit the bird to fly. Birds have a totally different internal anatomy. Though they have some of the parts common to us their functioning and arrangement are completely different from us. When talking about the internal anatomy the first thing that comes into your body is about the muscles and the skeleton system. Both these parts are specially designed to help the bird to adapt to its flight. In fig it shows the internal anatomy of a bird.

FIG 2: ANATOMY OF A BIRD BRAIN : Brain is the part of the central nervous system that encloses the cranium. The brain is divided into three main sections. They are hindbrain, midbrain and the forebrain. Medulla oblongata, spinal cord, and cerebellum is located in the hindbrain, and the mid brain contains the pendunles and cortex. SPINAL COLUMN : Like all the other living things in the world the spinal column of the bird runs throughout its body length and it consists of the spinal cord. Spinal cord is also the part of the nervous system and it also 6|Page

act as the messenger sending messages to the brain from all other parts of the body TRACHEA : Trachea is the long tube that is found from the throat of the bird to the its lungs and it helps in the transport of fresh air helping the birds to breathe. ESOPHAGUS : Esophagus is a narrow tube used to transport the food swallowed by the bird to the crop where it is stored till the food gets digested. LUNG : The lungs serves the same purpose as in other human beings. Lungs carry the oxygen through out the body through the blood streams. In addition the birds have a air sacs which allow the air to flow through the lungs in only one direction. GIZZARD : Gizzard is used to grind the food and pass it to the intestine. So it is tough muscle that contains roughage that is useful for grinding the food. KIDNEY : The liquid that the bird intakes are passed to the kidney which then filters the waste that has to be expelled later. HEART : Birds have four chambered heart that pumps oxygen rich in blood content through out the body. Since birds are small creatures they have higher fast beats then any other animals in the earth. LIVER : The main function of the Liver is to eliminate any toxins from the body. So its acts like a large filters.

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PHYSIOLOGY : Birds are physiologically different from any other creature on the face of the earth. While they need to eat, drink, and breathe the same as we do, the parts of their bodies that carry out these functions differ drastically from our own. In fig it shows the external physiology of a bird.

FIG 3: PHYSIOLOGY OF A BIRD Beak : A bird's beak serves many purposes such as eating, grooming, and of course, singing. The beak is an extension of the bird's jaw bone, and is covered in keratin, the same substance that makes up our fingernails. EYE : Birds have extraordinarily accurate vision. The eye holds scores of receptor cells, called rods and cones, that translate whatever the bird looks at to the image that it sees. To give an idea of how sharp their sight is, humans typically have around 200,000 of these cells per millimetre inside of their eyes. WINGS : A bird's wings are constructed of a series of small thin bones similar to miniature versions of the bones in human arms. Externally, the wings are home to several different kinds of feathers : the Primary Flight Feathers, the Secondary, the Main and Lesser Coverts, the Tertials, and the Alula. 8|Page

FOOT : The feet and legs of birds vary greatly depending on the species. Generally the legs, feet, and claws are structured to allow a bird to take off, land, climb, and grasp with them. Since birds spend most of their lives perching, the feet and legs are covered with a tougher skin than the skin on the rest of the bird's body. TAIL : During flight, a bird's tail acts much like the tail of an airplane it's used like a rudder to help the bird steer. The muscles of the tail also aid in helping the bird expand its lungs to take in extra air when needed.

ANUS : The anus is the external opening through which the bird passes waste.

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ASPECTS BEHAVIOUR : DIET & FEEDING : Birds' diets are varied and often include nectar, fruit, plants, seeds, carrion, and various small animals, including other birds. Because birds have no teeth, their digestive system is adapted to process un-masticated food items that are swallowed whole. Birds that employ many strategies to obtain food or feed on a variety of food items are called generalists, while others that concentrate time and effort on specific food items or have a single strategy to obtain food are considered specialists. DRINKING : Like all animals, birds need water to survive. Though they can extract some moisture from their food, most birds drink water every day. Different birds need different amounts of water in their diet. Birds that have evolved in moist, humid, tropical conditions generally need to drink more, while birds that have evolved in drier, more arid habitats are better able to survive without as much water.

FIG 4: BIRD DRINKING WATER BATHING : Birds use water for bathing, to clean their feathers and remove parasites. Bathing includes a sequence of behavioural components. Firstly, the bird pecks and scratches the potential dust bathing place, and then sits on a spot and starts to gather loose substrate particles around its body. Bathing removes external parasites and improves feather conditions, similar to feather preening and may be considered a natural behaviour. It is also a social behaviour, because birds commonly express this behaviour in groups.

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MIGRATION : Many bird species migrate to take advantage of global differences of seasonal temperatures, therefore optimising availability of food sources and breeding habitat. These migrations vary among the different groups. Many land birds, shorebirds, and water birds undertake annual long distance migrations, usually triggered by the length of daylight as well as weather conditions. These birds are characterised by a breeding season spent in the temperate or polar regions and a nonbreeding season in the tropical regions or opposite hemisphere COMMUNICATION : Bird communication using sound includes singing, calls, squeaks, squawks, gurgles, warbles, trills, rattles, gulps, pops, whines, clicks, croaks, drums, whistles, howls, tremolos, thumps, honks and many other sorts of sounds. Bird communication also happens through visual displays. These are often a combination of behaviour and the feathers on the bird’s body. NESTING : Nest building requires demanding activity of birds, as well it should be. Nest provides birds with support and insulation, concealment from predators, and shelter from rain. Nest can be on bare ground, in trees, in marshes, or on cliffs, and may hold from only a single egg to more than a dozen.

FIG 5: BIRD’S NEST REPRODUCTION : Reproductive behaviour any activity directed toward perpetuation of a species. The enormous range of animal reproductive modes is matched by the variety of reproductive behaviour. Reproductive behaviour in birds includes all the events and actions that are directly involved in the process by which an organism generates at least one replacement of itself.

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INCUBATION : Incubation refers to the process by which certain birds hatch their eggs and to the development of the embryo within the egg. The most vital factor of incubation is the constant temperature required for its development over a specific period. The act of sitting on egg to incubate them is called brooding. PARENTAL BEHAVIOUR : Male-female giving food, shelter and protection to their offspring are parental behaviour. Birds show biparental care. Father Bird not only look after babies but provide food to their wife.

FIG 6: PARENTAL BEHAVIOUR OF A BIRD

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RELATIONSHIP WITH HUMAN :

The relationship between birds and human has ranged from simple curiosity and interested observations to outright exploitation. Birds can be fun, bothersome, intriguing, exasperating, beautiful, or sometimes even scary. Domesticated birds raise for meat and eggs, called poultry, are the largest source of animal protein eaten by humans; Other commercially valuable products from birds include feathers, which are used as insulation in clothing and bedding, and seabird faces, which is a valuable source of phosphorus and nitrogen. Birds have been domesticated by humans both as pets and for practical purposes. Colourful birds, such as parrots and myna are bred incaptivity or kept as pets, a practice that has led to the illegal trafficking of some endangered species. Birds play prominent and diverse roles in folklore, religion, and popular culture. In religion, birds may serve as either messengers or priests and leaders for a deity.

FIG 7: RELATIONSHIP WITH HUMAN

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BIRDS OF INDIA : BLACK BITTERN (IXOBRYCHUS FLAVICOLLIS) : Black Bittern is a bird belonging to the Ardeidae family of herons. Almost all the subspecies of Bitterns have a short neck and tend to be more secretive than the other members of the family. The black bittern species measures 55 to 65 cm in length and weighs 200 to 400 grams. The wingspan is 75 to 80 cm. These bittern species prefer wetland habitats with dense fringe vegetations. They are found in reed beds along water bodies. These bittern species is distributed in Indian subcontinent, China, Southeast Asia, Australia and Indonesia. CRESTED SERPENT EAGLE (SPILORNIS CHEELA) : The Crested Serpent Eagle is a medium-sized bird of prey. The face is bare and yellow joining up with the ceres while the powerful feet are un feathered and heavily scaled. They fly over the forest canopy on broad wings and tail have wide white and black bars. They call often with a loud, piercing and familiar three or two-note call. They often feed on snakes. It is found in forest habitats across tropical Asia within its widespread range across the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia and East Asia

FIG 8: CRESTED SERPENT EAGLE GREY FRANCOLIN (FRANCOLINUS PONDICERIANUS) : The francolin is barred throughout and the face is pale with a thin black border to the pale throat. They are weak fliers and fly short distances, escaping into undergrowth. The grey francolin is normally found foraging on bare or low grass covered ground in scrub. 14 | P a g e

COMMON WOODSHRIKE (TEPHRODORNIS PONDICERIANUS) : The Common Woodshrike is a species of bird found in Asia . It is small and ashy brown with a dark cheek patch and a broad white brow. They have a broad creamy brow above a dark cheek patch and white outer tail feathers contrasting with their dark tail. They feed on insects and berries in mainly in vegetation but sometimes descending to the ground. It is found across Asia mainly in the thin forest and scrub habitats. INDIAN PEAFOWL (PAVO CRISTATUS) : The Indian peafowl, a large and brightly coloured bird . The male peacock is predominantly blue with a fan-like crest of spatula-tipped wire-like feathers and is best known for the long train made up of elongated upper-tail covert feathers which bear colourful eyespots. The Indian peafowl is a resident breeder across the Indian subcontinent and is found in the drier lowland areas of Sri Lanka.

FIG 9: INDIAN PEOFOWL BROWN WOOD OWL (STRIX LEPTOGRAMMICA) : The Brown Wood Owl is medium large, with upperparts uniformly dark brown, with faint white spotting on the shoulders. The under parts are buff with brown streaking. The facial disc is brown, edged with white and without concentric barring, and the eyes are dark brown. It feeds mainly on small mammals birds and reptiles. It nests in a hole in a tree or on a forked trunk, laying two eggs. It is an owl which is a resident breeder in south Asia from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka east to Western Indonesia and South China. 15 | P a g e

HIMALAYAN BULBUL (PYCNONOTUS LEUCOGENYS) : The Himalayan Bulbul is a species of songbird. If they are mixed with humans from a young age, they will become friendly to humans. Bird's head, throat, and crest are black and white . The back side, and a lengthy tail are brown, the underside and pale yellow. It is found in the northern regions of the Indian Subcontinent as well as some adjoining areas. It is found in Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Nepal. BESRA (ACCIPITER VIRGATUS) : Besra is a medium-sized raptor with short broad wings and a long tail, both adaptations to fast manoeuvring. This species is like a darker version of the widespread shikra, but all plumages have a dark vertical throat stripe. The besra has dark blue-grey upperparts, and is white, barred reddish below. It is a widespread resident breeder in dense forests throughout southern Asia, ranging from the Indian subcontinent eastwards across Southeast Asia and into East Asia. ASIAN KOEL (EUDYNAMYS SCOLOPACEUS) : The Asian Koel is a member of the cuckoo birds. The Asian koel is a brood parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of crows and other hosts, who raise its young. They are unusual among the cuckoos in being largely frugivorous as adults. The Asian koel is a large, long tailed. The koel is glossy bluish-black, with a pale greenish grey bill, the iris is crimson, and it has grey legs and feet. It is a mainly resident breeder in tropical Southern Asia from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to South China and the Greater Sundas.

FIG 10: ASIAN KOEL 16 | P a g e

EXTINCTION OF BIRDS : EXTINCTION is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms, normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost.Some of these extinct birds are as follow : HIMALAYAN QUAIL (OPHRYSIA SUPERCILIOSA) : The Himalayan quail is considered extinct by many groups, although the IUCN lists it as critically endangered. They were only ever found in two locations Mussoorie and Nainital. It's suspected they were over-hunted and possibly forced to higher elevations due to environmental changes. These birds lived in long grasses, rarely flying.

FIG 11: HIMALAYAN QUAIL RED HEADED VULTURE (SARCOGYPS CALVUS) : The Red-headed Vulture is also known as Indian Black Vulture is one of the species of Old World vultures found in the Indian Subcontinent. Indian Vulture, Slender-Billed Vulture and White Rumped Vulture are the few more species of vultures found in India and falls in the category of critically endangered species of birds.

FIG 12: RED-HEADED VULTURE 17 | P a g e

STUDY AREA :

Jammu Kashmir Grus nigricollis

Himachal Pradesh

Trag opan melanocephalus

H a rya n a Francolinus Francolinus

Great hornbill

Coracias benghalensis

Bihar Jharkhand Phoenicopterus roseus

Eudynamys scolopaceus Gracula religiosa peninsularis

Gujarat

Chattisghar ANDHRA PRADESH

Pycnonotus flaviventris Coracias benghalensis

Indian States with their respective Birds

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METHODOLOGY : ORNITHOLOGY is one of the method to study Bird’s. Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. A wide range of tools and techniques are used in ornithology, both inside the laboratory and out in the field, and innovations are constantly made. The science of ornithology has a long history and studies on birds have helped develop several key concepts in evolution, behaviour and ecology such as the definition of species, the process of speciation instinct, learning, ecological niches, guilds, island biogeography, and conservation. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds. The ornithology largely reflects the trends in the history of biology, as well as many other scientific disciplines, including ecology, anatomy, physiology, and more recently molecular biology. The former deals with the structure and classification of birds, their synonymies and technical descriptions. The latter treats of their habits, songs, nesting, and other facts pertaining to their life histories.

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RESULT & DISCUSSION :

Year/Category

Present

Rare

Extinct

Threaten

2015

4

2

2

2

2014

2

4

2

3

2013

3

1

3

2

2012

4

2

5

4

2011

1

2

8

5

2010

2

6

4

1

2009

5

4

6

4

2008

9

5

2

6

2007

8

8

5

4

2006

7

7

2

3

CHART 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

PRESENT RARE EXTINCT VULNERABLE

2009

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2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

CONCLUSION : Bird conservation is a field in the science of conservation biology related to threatened birds. Birds are one of the most populous life forms on the planet, and that biodiversity leads to a richness of life and beauty. The incredible numbers of bird species demonstrate amazing evolutionary adaptations, and by learning how birds are able to adapt throughout the world we can begin to adapt our own behaviors to live in our world, rather than to force our world into an artificial and unsustainable mold. Bird conservation can also highlight the diversity of different habitats. All birds cannot live in the same habitats, and understanding the needs and requirements of different species can lead us to have more compassionate tolerance for different peoples and cultures. One of the simplest pleasures we get from bird and wildlife conservation is a genuine appreciation for our natural world.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY : The books/sources that I consulted for making EVS project are:

1) Academia.edu 2) Wikipedia.org 3) Book about Birds 4) Forestryindia.org 5) Britannica.com 6) Projectbeak.com 7) Birds of Southern India By- Richard Grimmett & Tim Inskipp 8) Birdlife.org 9) Bto.org 10) Birding.about.com

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