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Study of Habitat and Foraging Behaviour in Grey francolin (Francolinus pondicerianus) in Shekhawati Region of
Rajasthan, India
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Paper Id :
19547 Submission Date :
2024-12-08 Acceptance Date :
2024-12-22 Publication Date :
2024-12-25
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Anil Kumar Dadhich
Assistant Professor
Zoology Department
S.K. Government Girls College
Sikar ,Rajasthan, India
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| Abstract
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Grey francolin (francolinus pondicerianus) is widely distributed bird in India except in
high Himalaya and in north east.
Shekhawati region of Rajasthan is the north east part of Rajasthan
and has 30, 490 km2 total geographical area and most of area Semiarid zone.
Grey francolin can seen in groups or pair or solely during morning and evening
for foraging. Preferred habitat of grey francolin is bushy area, agricultural
boundaries, land boundries and sand dunes with Bushes. Seansonal variations in
population dencity of this bird mainly due to availability of
food.Poaching of grey francolin mainly
for it meat results in declins of its population.
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| Keywords
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Grey Francolins, Shekhawati Region, Variation in Population, Habitat Preference. |
| Introduction
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Birds are bipedal, feathered and warm blooded animals. The Indian
subcontinent has about 13% of the world's avian species, 1340 bird species
reported from India (Ali and Ripley 1987).
Rajasthan is the largest state, located in the north western part
of India and Shekhawati region of Rajasthan located in the North-western part,
in Transitional plains of inland drainage climatic zone of state with
average rain fall of 300-400 mm. The fauna of this area are includes various
orders of avifauna, out of which order galliformes includes heavy bodies ground
feeding birds and this order includes shout 290 species.
Grey francolins (francolinus pondicerianus) is the member of family
phasianidae of order galliformes, its local name is Teetur or Bhoora.
It is larger than quails with stronger bills and feet. It is ground nesting
omnivorous and non-migratory bird, shows worldwide distribution except Sahara
desert, the arctic and colder area (fuller etal. 2000), in India it
shows wide distribution except in high Himalaya and in north-east (India
biodiversity portal 2021), francolins is small game bird which inhabited in
open cultivated area as well as scrub forest. It is highly sedentary bird,
seldom moving far from where they hatch. When disturbed it prefers to run
instead of fly but will fly short distance if necessary. Francolins are
gregarious and are diurnal but usually forage at dawn and dusk. It has average
size 30-35 cm, with grey neck and chest feathers and rusty red head. It has
short round wing and small bill, Wings and tail feathers are brown, rust
whitening grey. Both sexes are almost similar but males are larger than females
having dark brown U shaped patch on their belly and sharp spur (Islam 1999).
Diet of this birds mostly seeds, from wide variety of plants such as grasses,
seeds, leaves and insects (termites and ants), insect eggs and their larvae. It
said to be omnivorous nature (hussain etal. 2012).
Monogamous grey francolins forms pair before the breeding season.
Nesting occurs mostly in spring, eggs are laid in march-april, however a few
pairs also nest in September and October after monsoon (Roberts1991).
Both parents attend the young chicks after hatching (Roberts1991).
Population decline of grey francolin has been well documented due
to habitat destruction and increased use of pesticides (Roberts 1991).
Grey francolin has under gone an overall 79% decline in last a decade but is
listed as least concern in IUCN red list (IUCN 2015) due to its
wide distribution range, only a few research study have been carried out in
Rajasthan and no research have been carried out in Shekhawati. So there is need
to study with specific objective of gathering information on (1) Ecology (2)
Breeding behavior (3) Nest structure (4) Clutch size (5) Incubation period and
(6) hatching success of grey francolin in the natural habitat in Shekhawati
region of Rajasthan.
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| Objective of study
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Grey francolin is a omnivorous and it also play a role of
biological controller in nature, the occurrence, ecology and ethology of this
bird is not studied vastly in Shekhawati region so proposed research work will
increase knowledge about the status of this bird in Shekhawati region.
Grey francolin is a popular game bird and decline in population of
this bird has well documented but it is listed as least concern in red data of IUCN
due to its wide distribution, insufficient data exist about its population
decline. There may several reasons for this population decline as habitat loss,
Indiscriminate hunting by human for it meat, predation and indiscriminate use
of pesticide in this area in cultivation / agricultural land. All these reasons
will be studied and observation and conclusion will help us to understand about
the species and its conservational strategies.
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| Review of Literature
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The estimation about total no. of birds have been made by Mayer
(1946), he estimated total 8600 bird species in world, according to him
there are 146 families and 230 orders. Presently 8600-9016 species are found in
world (anon 2004). Indian subcontinent contains 1300 species of birds
which is the 13% of total species (Grimmette 1998), 48 birds families
are present in subcontinent. According to Ali and Repely (1987)
176 species of birds are endemic (local) to the Indian subcontinent according
to Grimmettet (1998) Indian peninsula is the home of many bird families.
Ali. S. (1945) observed ecology and ethology of grey francolins. Bump
and Bump (1964) made study and review about grey and black
francolins Choudhry and Bhatti (1992) studied biology of grey
francolins in central Punjab plains. Five species of francolins are reported
from India India (Ali and Ripely 1983, Grimmette 2011; Rasmuesen and
Andersion2012), Hilaluddin and Kaul. R (2007) observed reasons behind
galliformes hunting.
Hussain I, Nisa and Khalil S (2012) observed
population, ecology and ethology of grey francolins. Kalsi R S (2005)
observed that habitat destruction and pesticide use impacts on population of
grey francolins. Kalsi R S (2007) observed state, distribution and
management of galliformes in arid and semi arid zones in India. Kalsi R.S.
and Rana (2004)observed habitat prefers of breeding grey francolin in
agricultural land scope. Khalil and Anwar M (2016) reported
parameters about habitat preference in grey francolin. Devesh gadhvi (2020)
observed seasonal variation in the grey francolins in habitat preference.
Rajasthan has 40% of the Indian avifauna. due to wide variety of
habitats and geographical status state has 510species of birds (Grimmette
and inskipp 2003) Devarshi (2004) reported total 496 bird species in
state, which is about 40% of Indian avifauna (1254 species) In state 17 endemic
species are present (Ali and Ripley 1987) The Shekhawati region
is the north-eastern part of Rajasthan and has 30490 km2 total geographical
area3 districts namely Churu (31%), Jhunjhunu (29%) and Sikar
(40%) shares this area and climatic conditions of this area is mostly semi
arid. Variety of bird species founds in this region (Rahmani 1987), various
efforts made by researcher to study about avi fauna that can be cited in
following paragraphs. Ojha A. etal. (2008) observed data about ecology
and conservation of Indian peafowl in Jhunjhunu district. Dubey-S. (2008)
observed data about bird in sewage wetland of Jhunjhunu city. Sheoran (2009)
reported total of 130 species belonging to 33 families and 15 orders in
Jhunjhunu district. D. Keshar (2010) observed population data and
ecology about indian peafowl in Shekhawati region. Singh S. etal. (2015)
observed parakeet diversity and its impact on ber (Ziziphus moritiana).
They also made study about reproductive behavior of rose ringed parakeet (Psittacula
krameri) Singh S. etal. (2020) observed a good growth in the number
of peafowl in Shekhawati region of Rajasthan.Dadhich (2024) studied general occurrence of grey francolins in
Shekhawati region of Rajasthan.
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| Methodology |
The Study area included semiarid zone of Shekhawati region of
Rajasthan, which located in the north western Rajasthan in transitional plains
of inland drainage climatic zone of state. Geographical Extension of this
region from 26°26" to 29° 20" N latitude and 74°44" to 76°34'E
longitude on the map. This region includes whole of Jhunjhunu and
Sikar district along with a small part of Churu and negligible part of
Nagour districts.
The survey was conducted by random sampling method in which direct call of
birds and sighting were recorded with the help of binocolar, Nikon D7500 Game
DSLR Camera and voice recorder.
Data were also collecoted from local farmer, bird watcher and
local tribal peoples popularly known as "Banbawaria", Inhabited near
forest.Line transect method was applied for collection of population data.
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| Analysis
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The collected datas were analysed and general assumption were
made, which can be described as follows
(1) Habitat Study :
(A)Preferred Habitat
Majority of grey francoline observed in bushy area, Agricultural
land boundaries and sand dunes with bushes. The preferred habitat helps in
protection from predators as they can run and hide themselves in these area.
The grey colour of grey francoline is similar to surrounding area so bird can
Comuflage themselves with surrounding back grounds to Escape predation and
hunting.on the basis of data collected from agricultural lands as well as from
scurb forest suggest that number of grey francolin are more numerous than scurb
forest probably due to more availablity of food in agricultural lands because
during summer these numbers declines due to scarcity of food.Grasses and bushes
provides facility to build their nests, grasses and bushes convers their nests
from predators and temperature variations. 
Fig. 1 – Hided male under shrubs 
Fig. 2 – Group of Grey francolins in grassland area
(B)
Roosting Behaviour:
Roosting in birds define as
rest or sleep usually at night in a safe place. Safety parameters are
protection from predators and changing environmental factors.
Roosting in grey francolins in shekhawati region of rajasthan can
be described as follows
(i) Roosting
place: As shekhawati region is the semi arid zone,most of vegetation
includes small trees, shrubs and bushes.Grey francolins prefers these
vegetation, they also roosts on ground in grassland area. Group of grey
francolin can be seen on khejri tree so they can escape from predators During
roosting grey francolins perchs in group and remains connected with each other.
(ii) Roosting
time: Roosting time is before sunset and they leave roosting before
sunrise. Average time of roosting is 8 to 10 hours according to season.
(iii) Roosting
strategy:Grey francolin roost in group or in pairs. Mothers roosts with
their chicks.
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Fig. 3 –
Roosting group of Grey francolins in noon
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Fig. 4 –
Roosting group of Grey francolins under Khejri
tree
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Fig. 5 –
Roosting group of chicks of Grey francolin.
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(2) Foraging Behaviour:
(A) Diet Composition
Grey francolin is omnivorous in nature it diet includes creals,
seeds from wide variety of plants ,grit,insects, insect eggs and their
larvae.Habitat prefered by bird fulfills dietary requirement also. Since
semiarid area are rich in succulant plants so bird can fulfill their requirment
of food as well as water also.
(B)Foraging Time: Maximum foraging activities can
be seen during morning and evening.....
(C) Foraging strategy
They forages in groups. or solely or in pairs. During foraging they walks actively and
restricted their movements in area rich of crops, weeds, graine and
seeds.Generally grey francolin forages separately from other bird species.
(D) Interaction with others
No fighting were observed with own species members during
Foraging.Chicks are active feeders and forages in group with or without their
parents. During noon no activity can be seen, they hides in bushes or rest
under shrubs.
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Fig. 6 – Male
searching for food
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Fig. 7 –
Foraging behaviour
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(E)Seasonal Fluctuations in Foraging Population
: Due to shy nature of to grey francolin it rarely se Can not, seen
easily, grey color of body is similar to surrounding enviroment 80 it is
deficult to abserve this bird easily. Make so in this circumstances Calling of
this bird is key feature to observe it preference.
Calling of this bird are of two types mainly Teu - Teu - Tea"
and "Patila - Patila - Patila"
On the basis of data of recorded calling and direct observation it is assumed
that the grey francolin Show Seasonal variations in its population.
In march-april and post monsoon season maximum population density
can seen.
This seasonal variation is due to availability of food water and
shelter
March-april and post monsoon season is breeding season of grey
francolin this also impacts on seasonal variation of densit of population
(F) Foraging Behaviour in
Chicks- Chicks are dark grey in
colour and feeds actively in grasses area. A female with chicks can seen easily
during foraging –
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Fig. 8 –
Foraging activity of chicks of Grey francolins
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| Conclusion
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on the basis of various data collected it can be assumed that grey francolin present in large numbers in Shekhawati region because this area is semi arid in nature, unique geographical structure with grasses, bushes and and sand dunes provides shelter and wide variety of Grasses and bushes increases in size during monsoon and availability of food also increases during this season. Both of these two things affects the numbers of grey francolin. Increased grasses and bushes provides shelter from predators and provides space for nest building and increased food reduces competition among conspecific members. Following three factors affects population of grey francolin: - Destruction of habitat
- Hunting for meat . they can fly less so are poached easily
- Increased use of pesticides also responsible for declining the number of grey francolin,as these chemicals enters the body through seeds and insects they eat.However more investigation is needed.
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