Urban Sky Roosts: The Unconventional Adaptation of Spot-billed Pelicans to Anthropogenic Structures

• Main Authors: Raul, E., Pattnayak, S. P., Jena, P., Prusty, B. A. K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Publishing House "Akademperiodyka" of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine 2024
• Online Access: https://ojs.akademperiodyka.org.ua/index.php/Zoodiversity/article/view/668

The expansion of urban areas has raised significant concerns about its impact on the bird community, particularly wetland-dependent species. The transformation of natural habitats into urban areas presents unique challenges and alternatives for these species, requiring a reassessment of conventional conservation paradigms. Among these species, the Spot-billed Pelican (classified as 'Near Threatened' by the IUCN and listed under schedule-IV of the IWPA) is a wetland-dependent bird indigenous to India. Instead of preferring natural habitats (wetlands), it now prefers urban habitats for roosting and nesting. The species has also been observed to prefer telecom towers for roosting and courtship during the breeding season. This observation is one of the first to lead to an understanding of the behavioural plasticity of wetland bird species towards adaptation in an anthropogenic setting. This suggests an early warning sign of habitat degradation in their historical breeding and feeding grounds in neighbouring states. The likely reason for the congregation's selection of these anthropogenic structures may be related to resource availability, adjacent feeding grounds and/or habitat suitability. Records of this type should open up avenues for addressing the problem and developing strategies for careful management of breeding sites in artificial structures.