Abstract

Lateritic plateau habitats in Western Maharashtra are well known for rich and endemic biodiversity. Ratnagiri district has large number of lateritic plateaus which are locally known as Sada. Due to lack of continuous treecover and predominance of rocky surfaces, the sadas are treated as wastelands in government records. They are made available for infrastructure development without thorough impact assessments. Present study wasundertaken to document avifauna, as one indicator of ecosystem health. Eleven sites between 50-150m elevation were surveyed in the Ratnagiri and the Rajapur tehsils. A list of bird species along with their distribution patterns, feeding preferences, use of different vegetation types and conservation status was prepared. A total of 169 bird species belonging 59 families were recorded of which 3 species are endemic to the Western Ghats. One species is listed as Vulnerable and six as Near Threatened by the Red List and 131 are in the Wildlife Schedule I and II indicating conservation concern. Maximum number of species were seen using scrub vegetation. Some species showed preference for specific vegetation types for feeding and breeding behaviours. The avifauna showed wide diet spectrum with highest number of families including insects in their diet. Outcome of this study indicates that Ratnagiri sadas are important for avifaunal diversity which indicates good ecosystem health and they should not be treated as wastelands in future.