Avifauna Species Diversity and their Abundance in Tilyar Lake, Rohtak, Haryana (India)

The species diversity, density and status of avifauna in Tilyar Lake (28o 52’ 52.77” N and 76o 38’ 12.05” E), Rohtak, Haryana (India) was investigated to determine the current ecological status and establish bird species checklist. Following the identification of three stations in the lake, census of avifauna was conducted for one year (July 2008 to June 2009) adopting point count method. A total of 3448 bird individuals were recorded belonging to 34 bird species of 24 families. On the basis of relative abundance, 68.65% individuals with 13 species were common, 26.16% with 15 species were fairly common, 4.87% with 5 species were occasional and 0.32% with single specie was reported in scarce condition. Maximum Shannon index (3.337), Simpson’s index (0.9597) and Margalef’s index (4.503) with 34 bird species was observed at station 3 while minimum Shannon index (3.095), Simpson’s index (0.9490) and Margalef’s index (3.725) having 26 bird species at station 1. Anthropogenic disturbances were presumed to be responsible for decreasing species richness and diversity, increasing density and favoring dominance by human commensals bird species.