Diversity and Conservation Status of Wetland Birds in Nagzira Navegaon Tiger Corridor, Eastern Maharashtra, India

The forest corridor in between Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary and Navegaon National Park situated in Gondia district of Maharashtra State provides an excellent habitat for birds in the form of water bodies with marshy plant growth, terrestrial platforms having thick as well as scattered trees and bushy vegetation. The wild animals widely use this corridor for their movement between Nagzira and Navegaon. The wetlands situated in the corridor fulfill the water requirement of wild animals during their movement and lean season. The Nagzira Navegaon (NN) corridor has number of wetlands and other pocket of water bodies distributed in the whole study area, but water bodies have been decreasing continuously in the corridor. The study revealed that a total of 87 species of birds belonging to 38 families from Putli (N 21.093127° and E 80.284214°), Naktya (N 21.162392° and E 80.339668°), Umarzari (N 21.171802° and E 80.255765°), Rengepar (N 21.117159° and E 80.209932°) and Chulbandh Lake (N 21.223740° and E 80.214837°) in the NN corridor. The analysis of data on residential status revealed that out of 87 bird species, 69 bird species were resident, 13 bird species were winter migrant, 3 bird species were local migrant and summer migrant with 2 bird species. Majority of the birds i.e. 95.4% of the total number of species were classed as least concern followed by 3.4 % were near threatened and 2.3% vulnerable as per the IUCN red list status. This study documents diversity and conservation status of wetland birds of the most important forest connectivity in Central Indian landscape. The study reveals that, if the present ecological condition of these wetlands degradation continue, it would greatly affect the wetland avian diversity in the region. Awareness programmes regarding the importance of wetland avifauna to the wetland dependent community, management practitioners and amateur birdwatchers will help the conservation of wetland biodiversity in this landscape.