Status, guild and diversity of avian fauna from a wetland site and surroundings, in Krishnagar, a City beside tropic of cancer, West Bengal, India

A total of 98 taxa of avifauna belonging to 46 families has been recorded in a survey carried out from November 2012 to March 2016 at a wetland site (Sadhanpara Beel) and surroundings located in Krishnagar Block II, West Bengal, beside tropic of cancer. This is the first report of the avian diversity from the area. The site provided habitat to 59 species of resident, 16 species of winter migratory, 15 species of local migratory and 8 species of summer migratory bird. Among the feeding guilds, insectivores dominate in species strength (31.63%) closely followed by carnivores (25.51%), omnivores (19.38%), frugivore and grainivore (8.16%), piscivore (5.10%) and nectarivores (2.04%). Survey shows that the landscape is visited by one Near threatened (Black headed Ibis), one Vulnerable (Lesser Adjutant stork) and one Critically endangered (Indian vulture) occasionally. The results of relative diversity (RD) index showed that Accipitridae (RD value = 7.14) was the dominant family in the area. This is the first report of avifaunal diversity from the area. The present check list will provide baseline information for the bird diversity in and around the area.