AVIAN BIODIVERSITY OF BAJWAT WETLAND, DISTRICT SIALKOT. PAKISTAN - M. A. Bhinder; M. Iqbal; M. Shahbaz; M. Y. Zahoor; W. Shehzad (Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, 2015)
Bajwat, an internationally important wetland is located in Sialkot district of Pakistan. During one year study the area was regularly visited with supporting materials such as camera, binocular and bird identification books. We have recorded 110 avian species belonging to 73 genera, 39 families and 15 orders. Passeriformes has highest number of species (39) and genera (23) of which the most abundant number of species are from Motacillidae family. Among non-Passeriformes Anatidae family has maximum number of species. We are reporting for the first time the assemblage of eight Aythya ferina swimming in a line at midday in a male-female-male-female fashion being still in running water. Most of the resident birds were found to be common or abundant while most of the summer visitors were rare and scarce. Control of pollution and habitat destruction is needful. This is the first report of avifauna of the area showing the richness of biodiversity. Two canals, Upper Chenab and Marala-Ravi link canal,
Keywords: journal article; Avian fauna; Wetland; Biodiversity; Aythya ferina; Ramsar site; Marala Headworks