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VOL. 3, ISSUE 3 (2021)
Activity pattern and time budget of little grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) at Kumbakonam region of Tamil Nadu
Authors
A Veeramani, M Ajithkumar
Abstract
The Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) or Dabchick (Order Podicipediformes; Family Podicipedidae) is one of the smallest grebes with body length of 25–29 cm and having a buoyant rounded body. Study on Little Grebe in the pond environment for their activity patterns and assess the time of various activities. The present study was conducted in a pond which is situated in the Government Arts College campus of Kumbakonam. During the study period, regular observations of diurnal activities were conducted following the focal and scan sampling methods. The Little Grebe spent most of the annual time-activity budget (87.79%) in only three activities, namely feeding by dives (43.10%), swimming (35.62%) and preening (9.07%). During the wintering (December 2020 to January 2021) and the breeding season (February 2021 to March 2021), swimming and feeding by dives were two dominant activities. Swimming (Mann–Whitney U-test, Z = −3.361, p < 0.001) and feeding by dives (Mann–Whitney U-test, Z = −3.361, p < 0.001) differed significantly between breeding and wintering seasons. The monitoring of the hourly time budget of the Little Grebe showed that feeding activity is dominated in all the hours, except between 11:00 am and 3:00 pm. To our knowledge, this is the first study that determines and analyses the dynamics of the time-activity budget of Podicipedidae in the study area. Further research could address the diet, habitat use, nest site selection and some breeding life history traits of the species in the study area and analyse to what extent of this species have overlapping niche requirements.
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Pages:10-14
How to cite this article:
A Veeramani, M Ajithkumar "Activity pattern and time budget of little grebe <em>(Tachybaptus ruficollis</em>) at Kumbakonam region of Tamil Nadu ". International Journal of Environmental and Ecology Research, Vol 3, Issue 3, 2021, Pages 10-14
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