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STUDY ON ECOLOGICAL AND BREEDING BEHAVIOUR OF AN INDIAN EAGLE OWL BUBO BENGALENSIS (A CASE STUDY OF INDIAN EAGLE OWL IN CAMPUS TREE PLANTATION OF BJ CAMPUS IUB)

. Fasih Ur Rehman, Tanveer Hussain, Amjad Saeed, Shahid Hafeez, Junaid Naseer & Muhammad Atif Latif


Abstract

Owls, as nocturnal avian predators, are important in maintaining ecosystem balance by controlling their populations. Pakistan being an agricultural country,  rural population in large number possess small landholdings. But a considerable part of their agricultural produce is lost annually to vertebrate pest that can be solved by using owls. But due to anthropogenic activities, the habitat of owls is losing and their population is decreasing day by day. To conserve and manage their population for getting agricultural benefits,  the study of Indian eagle owl in campus tree plantation of Bj campus was conducted. Six sites (DVA, Staff colony, CIDS, OAE, HEF, FMT) was selected to investigate the ecological, breeding parameters and feeding parameters of Indian eagle owl. The duration of the study was about seven months, in which sites were visited to monitor their activity pattern, vegetation covers around all selected sites and habitat preference of the Indian eagle owl was observed. After intervals of two weeks, sites were visited to monitor their nesting characteristics, courtship behaviour, clutch size, and fledging success. Their feeding behaviour was monitored by collecting their pellets and prey preferences were examined. All these observations were made through binocular cameras and were documented. The vegetation cover was observed by the vegetation survey method.Significant variations were observed between all parameters across different sites. All data was collected, measured and recorded on MS Excel and their average of parameters in comparison to six sites with their standard error was documented. Results revealed that in sites (IAE, DVA, and staff colony ) near human associations and dense vegetative area, their feeding behaviour was found maximum as compared to other sites. While sites (CIDS, HEF and FMT) near dense vegetative areas, desert shrublands, and out of human reach, their breeding behavior was found maximum as compared to other sites.

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