Diversity of Waterbirds in Lucknow District, Uttar Pradesh, India

For over a century, pioneering naturalists have determined the way in which waterbird conservation has evolved around the world and have been involved in the establishment of international organizations such as IUCN. The term, waterbird or aquatic bird is used to refer the birds that live on or around water bodies, they may be fresh water or marine. The enrichment of organic constituents accountable for the growth of aquatic weeds, phytoplankton and zooplankton therefore the wetlands are good habitat for availability of food stuff to various waterbirds in moderate proportion. This study presents diversity of water bird in Lucknow and adjacent areas where surveys have been conducted for two years (October 2012- September 2014) in different unprotected wetlands of Lucknow having N 26.84700 and E 80.94700 geographical coordinates. Total 71 Species of water bird representing 9 orders and 21 families were recorded from five different localities. Out of these 70 species, 25 species were residential, 14 species were residential/local migratory, 2 species were local migratory, 27 species were migratory while 2 species were residential/migratory. The study reveals that in Lucknow there are maximum populations of Migratory water birds followed by residential, residential/local migratory and residential/migratory species. The present study of wetlands helps to maintain a record of water bird to restore and maintain the present condition of wetland. The attempt of study is to provide the information about biodiversity of water birds to recognize these sites as globally important habitat for the conservation of water bird population because baseline information is a condition for planning and monitoring management actions for waterbirds and their habitats.