Nilutpal Mahanta¹, Nazrul Islam^2,, Rathin Barman², Sanatan Deka², Uditya Borkataki³, Tanisha Chhetri³, Sanswrang Basumatary⁴, Moklesur Rahman⁴

Birds play very essential ecological functions such as pest control, pollination, seed dispersal as well as nutrient dynamics and they are very good indicators of the ecosystem health in a landscape. Biodiversity inventory and their conservation including ecosystem restoration at landscape level has recently emerged as a global priority for effective management planning to ensure ecosystem stability and ecological functionality. This study aims to create a baseline database of avifaunal assemblages from the recently recognized Raimona National Park in the state of Assam, India. This new protected area is located in the Bhabar belt covering 422 km² area under the Kachugaon forest division of the state. The systematic grid-based line transect method was followed from November 2020 to April 2021 and confirmed the presence of total 227 avian species from the study area among which 7 species were globally threatened. The area also harbours the suitable habitat of critically endangered White-bellied heron (Ardea insignis Hume, 1878). Extensive research and long-term monitoring will be very crucial in the near future for the inventory of more avian fauna along with their conservation in the Raimona National Park.

bird status, ripu reserve forest, kachugaon sal forest, raimona, avian conservation