A chronological assessment of foraging activities of the Cotton Pigmy Goose, Nettapus coromandelianus Gmelin, 1789 at Dulahara pond, Ratanpur, Chhattisgarh, India

ABSTRACT

This study was planned to assess the foraging activity of ecological important avian species the N. coromandelianus at Dulahara pond of Ratanpur, Chhattisgarh. In present work we observed the effect of “time of the day” and “photoperiod” on daytime foraging activities of N. coromandelianus. The most applied foraging skills of N. coromandelianus were documented for two repetitive days each for the period of long days (March and April 2015) and short days (December 2015 and January 2016). One-way ANOVA (by SPSS 16.0) was employed to observe the effects of “photoperiod” and “time of the day” on daytime foraging pattern in order to the frequency of foraging techniques. The rhythms in daytime foraging movement were estimated by means of Cosinor rhythmometry at 24 h and 12 h. The current study clarified that the N. coromandelianus mostly applied three main techniques viz., head and neck dipping, diving and striking on which both the diving and striking were the most employed technique while the head and neck dipping was less employed technique during foraging. Moreover, the N. coromandelianus maximally involved for foraging activities during the short day than long day.

KEYWORDS:

• Dulahara pond
• Ratanpur
• Cotton Pigmy Goose
• foraging techniques
• short and long day

Acknowledgements

The authors are profusely thankful to Dr A. K. Pati (Vice Chancellor, Gangadhar Meher University, Sambalpur), and Professor Arti Parganiha, School of Life Sciences, Pt Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur for planning, encouraging and providing necessary facilities for this work. The authors are also thankful to Dr A. K. Roy Mahato, Senior Scientist & Head, Terrestrial Ecology Division, Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology, for identifying the bird species.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.