J. Env. Bio-Sci., 2016: Vol.

30 (1):117-122
(117) ISSN 0973-6913 (Print), ISSN 0976-3384 (On Line)

DIVERSITY INDICES OF PASSERINE BIRDS OF DISTRICT SIRSA, HARYANA, INDIA

Vivek Goyal-1, Vijay Singh-1 and Vinay Malik-2
1-
Govt. N. College, Sirsa-125055, Haryana, India
2-
Department of Zoology, M. D. University, Rohtak124001, Haryana, India
[Corresponding author E-mail: **vinaymalik71@gmail.com]

Received: 21-01-2016 Accepted: 17-05-2016

The diversity indices of passerine birds were measured from January 2015 to December 2015 in the district Sirsa of Western
Haryana, India. Birds were counted by point count and opportunistic sightings for data collection and were analyzed. In total 12,626
birds belonging to 21 families and 71 species were recorded. According to relative abundance data of species Red Rumped
Swallow (Hirundo daurica Linn.) (6.77), Common Swallow (Hirundo rustica Linn.) (5.15), House sparrow (Passer domesticus Linn.)
(4.28), Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis Linn.) (4.28), Plain Martin (Riparia paludicola Vieillot)(4.20) and Common Babbler
(Turdoides caudatus Dumont) (3.48) were the most dominant species. Family Motacillidae and Turdinae with 10 species each were
most dominant in terms of percent occurrence, while Hirundinidae (19.48) had maximum relative abundance among 21 families.
The biodiversity indices in terms of species richness calculated by Menhinick's Index was 0.63 and from Margalef's Index was
7.40. Evenness of passerine bird species was 0.88 while species richness was 71. Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index and Simpson's
Index of Diversity (1-D) were 3.79 and 0.97, respectively. Various indices indicated both species abundance and richness of
passerine birds, which necessitate protection and conservation of natural habitats of Sirsa.

India with wide range of ecosystems like desert, mountains,
forests, plains, rivers and diverse wetlands is known for rich
avian fauna. There are about 1,300 species in India accounting
13% of the world species1-2. Evaluation of bird species is an
important parameter for detecting biodiversity richness of any
area. Birds due to their attracting colour, voice and ability to
fly can be seen easily. Their presence besides adding aesthetic
value tells the biodiversity richness of the area3-4. Among birds
the "perching birds" belonging to order Passeriformes comprises
some 5,712 species in 45 families exhibits a broad range of
ecosystems due to their rapid evolution and trophic adaptation.
That's why this order accounts for more than half of all known
avian species5-7. These small to medium body sized omnivore
birds with elaborate nesting ability represent most of terrestrial
biomes. Their ability to explore complex habitats lead to
increase in species diversity. This diversity incorporates both
richness as well as evenness of the species. Haryana due to
its strategic geographical location comes in the route of many
migratory birds and provides a congenial habitat for birds.
District Sirsa of Western Haryana was not explored till date
for the Passeriformes avian diversity. The aim of present study
was to measure Passeriformes avian diversity by measuring
the species abundance, richness, evenness, Simpson index
and Shannon Weiner diversity index.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Study Area: District Sirsa of Western Haryana, India
(29°32'0.9348'' N 75°1'3.7308'' E) was selected as study area.
The temperature here ranges from as low as 40C in winters to
a high of 480C in summers making it geographically rich area
for different species of birds. The area of Sirsa is 4,277 km2
where as the total area of Haryana is 44212 km2. There are
three main seasons viz summer, winter and monsoon in a
year. The annual rain fall of the area is approximately 325- 400
mm. The vegetation here is mostly xerophytic type because
of less rain. The predominating vegetation is Eucalyptus spp,
Acacia tortelis, Azardirachta indica, Zizyphus jujuba, Ficus
benghalensis, Ficus religiosa, and Dalbergia sissoo. Water
hyacinth is the main aquatic plant.
Surveys were done fortnightly at different routes in the study
area from January to December in the year 2015. Visits were
generally made during morning 7am-10am and evening 4pm-8
pm in summer months and from 9 am to 4 pm in winter months.
The birds were observed during daytime using 8X40 Olympus
binocular. Photographs were taken using Canon 1100 D and
Sigma 120-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 Zoom lens. Identification of birds
was done using field guides1,8. Birds were then identified and
recorded along with their habitat, season and time of the year.
The checklist was prepared using standard common and

NAAS Rating (2016)-4.20

 DIVERSITY INDICES OF PASSERINE BIRDS OF DISTRICT SIRSA
scientific names of the birds following Manakadan and Pittie9.
Bird count method: Birds were counted once at a location
during the study period following- Point count method - birds
were counted along transect (a straight line through the site).
Birds were identified either visually, or by their calls. This
method involved identifying all the birds you see or hear while
standing at a series of points along a transect10. Opportunistic
bird sightings - birds were identified opportunistically either by
their call or by their appearance while travelling to and from
survey sites, or outside standard survey times or survey sites.
Species abundance, percent occurrence, richness, evenness
and diversity indices as Shannon-Weiner and Simpson Index
were used by following formulas for calculating the bird species
diversity:-
Relative Abundance = No. of individuals of the species X 100
No. of individuals of all species
Percent Occurrence = No. of species of each family X 100
Total no. of different species
Species Richness (r): Species richness is a measure of the
number of species found in an area. The more species present
in a sample, the richer the area, Basavarajappa11.
Menhinick's Index (DMn): This index is based on the ratio of
number of species (S) and the square root of the total number
of individuals (N). This particular measure of species richness
is known as DMn, the Menhinick's index.
DMn = S/ N
Margalefs Index (DMg): This index relates the number of species
to the number of individuals. (S) is number of species and (N)
is total number of individuals, Marglef12.
DMg= (S - 1 )/ln N
Species Evenness (E): Evenness measures the relative
abundance and hence the richness of different species of an
area. Evenness is one of the many parameters of diversity
indices13-14.
E= H'/ H max
Where, E is evenness, H' is Shannon-Weiner Index, Hmax is
maximum diversity equals to In (N) in which N is the total
number of all species.
(118)
Simpson's Diversity Index (1-D): It measures the probability
of any two individuals randomly selected from a sample will
belong to the same species. The value of this index ranges
between 0 to1, where greater the value, greater the sample
diversity15-16. It has been measured by the given formula:
D = 1-{ ∑ n (n-1) /N (N -1)}
where n= the total number of individuals of a particular species,
N= the total number of individuals of all species
Shannon-Weiner Index (H´): Shannon-Weiner Index is a
measure of the diversity of a community and assumes that
individuals are randomly sampled from an independent large
population and all the species are represented in the sample,
Shannon and Weaver17. It was calculated in order to know the
species diversity based on the abundance of the species by
the following formula:
H´ = - [ ∑ Pi ln Pi]
where, H´ = Diversity Index; Pi = proportion of each species in
the sample;
ln Pi = natural logarithm of this proportion
The presence of one individual of a species is not necessarily
indicative of the species being present in a large number. The
value of Shannon Weiner Diversity Index usually falls between
1.5 and 3.5, only rarely it surpasses 4.5. A value near 4.6
would indicate that the numbers of individuals are evenly
distributed between all the species18.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The birds of order Passeriformes were studied in the district
Sirsa of Western Haryana, India, which is dominated by
agricultural land. Different locations were studied every
fortnightly for the estimation of number and types of individuals
of order Passeriformes. Among species of all orders
Passeriformes was represented by maximum number of
species. Dominance of Passerine birds species in India is
evidenced by many earlier studies such as Singh et al.,19
Maharashtra. In Haryana Gupta and Kaushik24 reported 54
species from Damdamma Jheel, Gurgaon, Haryana. Detailed
(119) GOYAL, SINGH AND MALIK

Table-1. Family wise species distribution of birds of Passeriformes, Sirsa, Haryana.

Sr No of Relative
Family Common Name Zoological Name
No individuals abundance
1 Ashy Crowned Sparrow Lark Eremopterix grisea (Scopoli, 1786) 16 0.13
2 Common Crested Lark Galerida cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) 54 0.43
Alaudidae
3 Red Winged Bush Lark Mirafra erythroptera Blyth, 1845 5 0.04
4 Indian Short Toed Lark Calandrella raytal (Blyth, 1845) 4 0.03
5 Common Woodshrike Tephrodornis pondicerianus (Gmelin, 1789) 32 0.25
Campephagidae
6 Small Minivet Pericrocotus cinnamomeus 7 0.06
7 House Crow Corvus splendens Vieillot, 1817 172 1.36
Corvidae
8 Indian Treepie Dendrocitta vagabunda (Latham, 1790) 89 0.70
9 Dicruridae Black Drongo Dicrurus macrocercus Vieillot, 1817 270 2.14
10 Emberizinae Red Headed Bunting Emberiza bruniceps Brandt, 1841 8 0.06
11 White Throated Silverbill Lonchura malabarica (Linnaeus, 1758) 210 1.66
Estrildidae
12 Spotted Munia Lonchura punctulata (Linnaeus, 1758) 123 0.97
13 Fringillidae Common Rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus (Pallas, 1770) 12 0.10
14 Common Swallow Hirundo rustica Linnaeus, 1758 650 5.15
15 Plain Martin Riparia paludicola (Vieillot, 1817) 530 4.20
Hirundinidae
16 Red Rumped Swallow Hirundo daurica Linnaeus, 1771 855 6.77
17 Wiretailed Swallow Hirudino smithii Leach, 1818 425 3.37
18 Bay Backed Shrike Lanius vittatus Valenciennes, 1826 45 0.36
19 Rufous backed shrike Lanius schach Linnaeus, 1758 54 0.43
Laniidae
20 Rufous Tailed Shrike Lanius isabellinus Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 35 0.28
1833
21 Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis Temminck, 1820 39 0.31
22 Citrine Wagtail Motacilla citreola Pallas, 1776 260 2.06
23 Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea Tunstall, 1771 290 2.30
24 Brown Rock Pipit Anthus similis Jerdon, 1840 320 2.53
25 Oriental Backed Pipit Anthus hodgsoni Richmond, 1907 54 0.43
27 Paddyfield Pipit Anthus rufulus Vieillot, 1818 47 0.37
Motacillidae
27 Tawny Pipit Anthus campestris (Linnaeus, 1758) 25 0.20
28 Eurasian Tree Pipit Anthus trivialis (Linnaeus, 1758) 18 0.14
29 Large Pied Wagtail Motacilla maderaspatensis Gmelin, 1789 310 2.46
30 White Wagtail Motacilla alba Linnaeus, 1758 285 2.26
31 Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava Linnaeus, 1758 198 1.57
32 Muscicapinae Red Throated Flycatcher Ficedula parva (Bechstein, 1792) 10 0.08
33 Nectariniidae Purple Sunbird Nectarinia asiatica (Latham, 1790) 354 2.80
34 Oriolidae Eurasian Golden Oriole Oriolus oriolus (Linnaeus, 1758) 8 0.06
35 Baya Weaver Ploceus philippinus (Linnaeus, 1758) 155 1.23
Ploceidae
36 Black Breasted Weaver Ploceus benghalensis (Linnaeus, 1758) 85 0.67
37 Yellow Throated Petronia Petronia xanthocollis (Burton, 1838) 2 0.02
38 House Sparrow Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) 540 4.28
Passeridae
39 Spanish Sparrow Passer hispaniolensis (Temminck,1820) 58 0.46
40 Sind Sparrow Passer pyrrhonotus Blyth, 1844 6 0.05
41 Red Vented Bulbul Pycnonotus cafer (Linnaeus,1766) 340 2.69
Pycnonotidae
42 White Eared Bulbul Pycnonotus leucotis (Gould, 1836) 290 2.30
43 Asian Pied Starling Sturnus contra Linnaeus, 1758 126 1.00
44 Bank Myna Acridotheres ginginianus (Latham, 1790) 430 3.41
45 Brahminy Starling Sturnus pagodarum (Gmelin, 1789) 260 2.06
Sturnidae
46 Common Myna Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) 540 4.28
47 Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 245 1.94
48 Rosy Starling Sturnus roseus (Linnaeus, 1758) 300 2.38
 DIVERSITY INDICES OF PASSERINE BIRDS OF DISTRICT SIRSA (120)

Table-1. Contt.

Table-2. Passerine avifauna representation in families.

(121) GOYAL, SINGH AND MALIK
Table-3. Passerine bird species diversity indices of
Sirsa.
study was carried out to ascertain the number of individuals of
each species of order Passeriformes in the area. In which a
total of 12,626 individuals belonging to 21 families and 71
species were recorded in their respective seasons by sighting
from January to December in the year 2015 (Table-1).
Analyses of relative abundance data revealed that Red Rumped
Swallow Red Rumped Swallow (Hirundo daurica Linn.) (6.77),
Common Swallow (Hirundo rustica Linn.) (5.15), House sparrow
(Passer domesticus Linn.) (4.28), Common Myna
(Acridotheres tristis Linn.) (4.28), Plain Martin (Riparia
paludicola Vieillot) (4.20) and Common Babbler (Turdoides
caudatus Dumont) (3.48) were the most dominant species,
whereas Yellow Throated Petronia (Petronia xanthocollis
Burton) (0.02), Indian Short Toed Lark (Calandrella raytal
Blyth)(0.03), Red Winged Bush Lark (Mirafra erythroptera Blyth)
(0.04), Sind Sparrow (Passer pyrrhonotus Blyth) (0.05), Blyth's
Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus dumetorum Blyth) (0.05), Small
Minivet (Pericrocotus cinnamomeus) (0.06), Eurasian Golden
Oriole (Oriolus oriolus Linn.) (0.06) were having the least relative
abundance (Table-1). Differences in relative abundance of
different species might be due to differential availability of food,
habitat and breeding chances.
Among all, family Motacillidae (10 species) was relatively
dominant with percent occurrence of 14.8, representing 14.31%
of the total number of passerine bird species. Family Turdinae
(10 species) was also equally dominant with same percent
occurrence of 14.8, representing 12.77% of the total individuals.
Family Sylviinae with 11.27 and Sturnidae with 8.45 followed
the above two in percent occurrence, whereas Dicruridae,
Emberizinae, Fringillidae, Muscicapinae, Nectariniidae,
Oriolidae and Zosteropidae all these seven families were
represented by only one species with 1.41 percent occurrence
(Table-2). Though in terms of relative abundance of families,
Hirundinidae (19.48) and Sturnidae (15.06) were the most
dominating while Emberizinae and Oriolidae were least
abundant both having relative abundance of 0.06% (Table-2).
Evenness of passerine bird species was 0.88 while species
richness was 71 (Table-3). The biodiversity indices in terms of
species richness as calculated by Menhinick's Index was 0.63
and from Margalef's Index was 7.40 (Table-3) indicating high
pure richness of passerine bird species in district Sirsa, the
semiarid region of Western Haryana. Shannon-Wiener Diversity
Index and Simpson's Index of Diversity were calculated as
3.79 and 0.97 respectively (Table-3). The higher side value of
both indices indicates species abundance as well as richness
of passerine birds in Sirsa. A comparison of Shannon-Wiener
Diversity Index (H'=3.79) to maximum diversity (Hmax=4.26)
shows that number of individuals of all species were evenly
distributed in the study area. The 0.97 value of Simpson's
Index of Diversity (1-D) suggests well adaptability of passerine
birds in diverse habitats of Sirsa district. It was observed that
most species of all 21 families showed human commensalism,
feeding of all types of food and elaborate nesting behaviour
lead to high number of population.
The present study concludes with updated information, indices
and data reporting rich avian diversity of passerine birds of
Sirsa. But for healthy biodiversity, the species richness and
composition should be conserved, which in turn will lead to a
stable ecosystem. Therefore to preserve and protect the
passerine and all other avian fauna of Sirsa the anthropogenic
activities should be minimized and regular monitoring of natural
bodies should be practised.
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