Avifaunal Diversity in Urban Coastal Wetland of Colombo Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is an island nation, exhibiting remarkable biological diversity in spite of its small size; Country has rich ecosystem diversity because of its topographic and climatic heterogeneity as well as its coastal influence. The wetland ecosystems in Sri Lanka have been internationally recognized for their outstanding biological prosperity and their conservation status. Sri Lanka’s wetlands are also diverse, comprised of 103 major rivers and associated marshes, and about 12,000 irrigation tanks harboring wetland species including inland and coastal wetland ecosystems which are even coming under Ramsar Wetland Sites. One such coastal wetland ecosystem in Sri Lanka is Crow Island coastal ecosystem. The Crow Island Beach Park is a public park located in Colombo—15 (6°58'24.1"N, 79°52'09.9"E). The land extent of this park is 7 ha. The beach park consists of rich avifaunal diversity since it is a coastal wetland. Sri Lanka has been recognized as a country with “important Bird areas”, a “key Asian region for threatened birds” and an “Endemic Bird Area”. The main objective of the present study was to document the avifaunal diversity of the coastal wetland of the beach park. Multiple surveys were conducted through random visits in the area for a period of two months from July to August 2020. Their status was evaluated from the National Red List. Diurnal and nocturnal observations were made through the unaided eye and using a binocular via multiple random walks and point counting method. A total of 28 bird species were recorded belonging to 14 orders and 22 families representing 5.69% of the birds recorded in Sri Lanka (492). Of the reported bird families, nine families represented Order Passeriformes while four species of birds found in the park represented family Ardeidae. This park is not only significant for biodiversity conservation but also for its value as a coastal wetland. The local community of the area is constantly interacting with the area for their living and for leisure. Consequently, these habitats are threatened by irresponsible human activities, such as garbage dumping, noise pollution, lighting fires for garbage burning, clearing of natural vegetation in and around wetlands. However, detailed survey has to be carried out to study the abundance, seasonal variation to recommend the conservation and management measures.