Abstract
Black Drongo is an insectivorous bird native to Pakistan. The present study focused on its feeding preferences, behaviour, ecology and habitat relationships. The study was carried out from first week of December, 2019 to the second week of April, 2020 in the two villages of Rawalpindi named as Daultala (Location-I) and Nata Gujarmall (Location-II). Observations were made by point count method on foot using line transect method. Air (52.27%) was the most commonly used feeding substrate. Aerial feeding mode (52.27%) is preferred over plant or tree gleaning (n=58) and ground feeding (n=47). Most common perching site was man made obstacle, wire (37.72%). Thirteen indigenous tree species and two exotic trees including Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) and Bottle brush (Callistemon citrinus) were used as perching site by Black Drongo throughout the study. Black Drongo remained solitary (36.36%) during feeding rituals and shared (63.63%) its intimate habitat with other birds. At Location-I and Location-II, habitat was shared with 12 and 16 bird species, respectively. The mean time of prey capturing attempt was lower at Location-I (1.93±0.17 min) than Location-II (2.16±0.16 min). The time range of prey capturing attempt was (0.1±0.16 min) to (11.5±0.17 min). Black Drongo captured prey successfully by first attempt (59.54%), maximum attempts noted were 6. After preying attempts Black Drongo came back to same perch site (67.27%); which is a representative of resource abundance.
Highlights
Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus: family Dicruridae) is an insectivorous bird, found in South Asia and the Indian subcontinent (Grimmett et al, 2009)
It is native to Pakistan, present in farms and open grasslands in Sindh and Punjab (Grimmett et al, 2009; BirdLife International, 2020)
Two workers walked (Jhonson, n.d.) on foot from 06:30 to 10:30 a.m. and from 14:30 to 18:30 p.m. (Verner, 1985) twice a week between November 2019 and April 2020 actively searching Black Drongo until observations on foraging behaviour, perch site, perch height, time of recurrent attack to capture prey, second perch site and number of attempts for a successful capture were recorded in the field on data sheet
Summary
Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus: family Dicruridae) is an insectivorous bird, found in South Asia and the Indian subcontinent (Grimmett et al, 2009). It is native to Pakistan, present in farms and open grasslands in Sindh and Punjab (Grimmett et al, 2009; BirdLife International, 2020). It is major constituent of agricultural ecosystem and check the build-up of harmful insects of agriculture crops (Kaur and Kler, 2018). Present study sought out to find foraging behaviour, perch site, perch height, inter and intraspecific behaviour, time of recurrent attack to capture prey, number of attempts for successful capture and second perch site (after attack) of Black Drongo in agriculture landscapes of Pothohar plateau (Punjab, Pakistan)
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