Faunal Heritage of Rajasthan, India pp 347-356 | Cite as
Distribution, Status and Conservation of Lesser Florican Sypheotides indicus in Rajasthan
Abstract
This chapter aptly describes the ecology, habitat and potential threats to the grassland bird, Lesser Florican, based on surveys conducted by the author during 1994–1996 in various districts of Rajasthan. Lesser Florican belongs to family Otididae of bustards, and all the three endemic bustard species of India are endangered. Eleven per cent of the land area of Rajasthan provides grassland and cropland as the most suitable habitat for this bird. The Lesser Florican is a monsoon visitor to central and southern Rajasthan inhabiting the districts of Nagour, Ajmer, Tonk, Bhilwara and Chittourgarh. In the south–east Rajasthan, it has been reported from Kota, Baran and Jhalawar districts. Sawai Madhopur district has also been shown as an ideal habitat. The post-breeding movement of Lesser Florican is not very well understood. In the name of sport, this graceful bird was shot in large numbers all over its distributional range. Its innocent habit of performing an aerial display to achieve conjugal bliss by attracting future mate has been its undoing despite its protected status. In Rajasthan, the annual cycle of sheep migration from west to east and back takes a heavy toll on the grassland ecosystem. According to Birdlife International, the estimated number of Lesser Florican in India was as low as 2206 in 1994, and since then, very little work has been done to assess its status. This chapter also mentions about grassland management practices in Rajasthan. The protection of government-owned and private grasslands has been recommended by the author to improve the fate of this endangered bird which in turn helps the rural population dependent solely on the domestic livestock for livelihood.
Keywords
Grassland Management Grassland Bird Great Bustard Endangered Bird Houbara BustardNotes
Acknowledgements
(RV) I dedicate this note to the memory of my friend and foremost florican expert in India, Dr Ravi Sankaran. He left us for his heavenly abode on 17 January 2009. The note is a product of many hours of discussions with him and long field surveys in Rajasthan about a decade back. He rose to the position of the Director of Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Coimbatore, at a very young age. The loss of this young scientist is irreparable, and the best homage to his memory is to carry on his work honestly and earnestly. I am thankful to many naturalists, who have given encouragement and suggestions from time to time. I put on records my gratitude to Shri Bharat Singh, Minister for Panchayati Raj and Rural development, Government of Rajasthan; Late Shri Shantanu Kumar, DGP (retd.); Shri P. M. Lad, CWLW (retd.); Dr A. R. Rahmani, Director, Bombay Natural History Society; and Dr G. S. Bhardwaj, Rajasthan Forest & Wildlife Department. I am especially thankful to Shri P. M. Lad for photographs. I am thankful to the members of Hadoti Naturalists’ Society for being a part of surveys and workshops on Lesser Florican at Kota.
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