Keywords
Bird Checklist
Great Indian Bustard
Desert Avifauna.
How to Cite
Abstract
The Desert National Park (DNP) in Jaisalmer and Barmer districts of Rajasthan is a large protected area (PA) covering 3,162 sq. km. It is home to several desert floral and faunal species, despite large-scale ecological changes brought about by the Indira Gandhi Nahar Pariyojana (IGNP) and infrastructure development in the last 40 years outside the DNP. Notably, seepage wetlands created by the IGNP and large-scale tree plantation have attracted many bird species that were not found previously in the desert. Additionally, DNP has mostly retained its desert- and grassland-obligate avifauna. A total of 171 bird species have been identified in the Desert National Park. Their status in DNP and their distribution is described here. Five more species that were spotted by other observers have also been mentioned. As birds are a good indicator of environmental health, further long-term studies on the avifauna of DNP are recommended, given that many large birds outside DNP face the threat of collision with power lines that have come up in the Thar Desert.References
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