Birds of Osmanabad District of Maharashtra, India

The Marathwada region of Maharashtra has not yet been explored thoroughly with reference to its biodiversity, especially the avifauna. Through this paper we would like to draw attention towards the least known avifauna of the Osmanabad district in the North-eastern part of Maharashtra known as Marathwada. Surveys were carried out at various places such as Yedshi grassland, Terna lake and Masla village in the district. A total of 165 bird species were recorded which include 8 threatened species. Of the 165 species, 109 were resident, 15 local migratory and 41 migratory. Seasonal variation was observed in the species count at different habitats. We observed that the habitat from the study area is rapidly changing due to the ongoing lake linking programme of Godavari Marathwada Irrigation Development Corporation (GMIDC). Therefore we feel that this document will be helpful in the future systematic study of the population, habitat use, as well as the effect of this lake linking project on the avifauna of the district.