Avifaunal diversity study of Banabitan, Bidhanagar, 2018

The Avifaunal diversity study of Banabitan, Bidhanagar, 2018 is published by Nature Mates Nature Club. Banabitan is an urbanized park located in the centre of Salt Lake City, is the second largest park in Kolkata. It is maintained under the Urban Recreation Forestry Division, Directorate of Forest, Government of West Bengal. It covers an area of about 100 acres.
Urban ecosystems depend on land usage and other multiple factors. With the increase in urbanization parks, gardens inside the city play a very important role in maintaing natural vegetation and sustainig its biodiversity. Large areas covered with trees are a good habitat for avian diversity. For this reason Banabitan (Central Park) which is surronded by large trees and diverse species of herbs and shrubs along with a water body situated at the centre of the park which is partially covered with Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), acts as a home not only to many resident birds but also to many migratory birds.
We are thankful to the forest department for giving us the opportunity to work at Banabitan since long. The respected CF, and DFO sirs of Urban Recreation Forestry Division are specially mentioned here for their unconditional support and guidance.

The study was carried out for 12 months starting from January 2018 to December 2018. All the species are identified up to genus or species level. A total of 72 species of birds belonging to 34 families and 15 orders were recorded.
This dataset also includes life stage, habitat, activity of birds along with its season when it is observed, which is divided as Summer(March-Jul), Monsoon(July-October), Winter(November-February).
Most of the birds recorded were residential, few were winter migrant and only one summer migrant Plaintive Cuckoo, Cacomantis merulinus (Scopoli, 1786)