Habitat selection by Black Headed Ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus) and Red Naped Ibis (Pseudibis papillosa) in the rural areas of district Jhajjar, Haryana, INDIA

Habitat selection by Black Headed Ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus) and Red Naped Ibis (Pseudibis papillosa) in the rural areas of district Jhajjar, Haryana, INDIA Anjali & Sarita Rana Department of Zoology, Institute of Integrated and Honours Studies, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana 136119, INDIA anjalisonijbb@gmail.com, saritarana20@gmail.com ABSTRACT: Habitat is an immense array of environment which provides food, water, space and shelter to a species. To fulfill these necessary requirements different bird species were found in the different types of habitats known as their preferred habitat and selection this preferred habitat in the birds vary seasonally depending upon their feeding guilds. The present study was conducted to investigate the most preferred habitat selected by Black Headed Ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus) and Red Naped Ibis (Pseudibis papillosa) in the rural areas of district Jhajjar, Haryana from october 2020 to march 2021. To know about the habitat selection of both the Ibis species, spatial and landscape sampling were done in the study sites. A total of 48 spottings were observed for both the Ibis species during the study period in the three different habitats namely wetland, open-dry land and agricultural land. Black Headed Ibis was found to be maximum in wetland (60.41%) followed by agricultural land (22.91%) and open-dry land (16.66%). However Red Naped Ibis was spotted maximum in the agricultural land area (50%) followed by open-dry land (41.66%) and wetland (8.33%). The findings of this study suggested that the as the most preferred habitat of Black Headed Ibis was found to be wetland areas, while of Red Naped Ibis is agricultural land areas as having the maximum amount of food present in these areas and by conserving their habitat; these species will also be conserved. Key words- Black Headed Ibis, Red Naped Ibis, Preferred habitat, Spatial sampling, Landscape sampling, Wetland, Agricultural land, Open-dry land. URL: https://www.ijbst.org/papers-published/ijbst-2021-volume-14-issue-