Abstract

Every living organism requires a space for shelter, water and food to successfully complete their life history processes. Changes in foraging and roosting habitats have an impact on Grus nigricollis interaction with the ecosystem in which they live. The choice of habitats by these birds is mostly influenced by the availability of a variety of food sources and the security of the environment. Habitat alteration has endangered the food sources of cranes, leading to a decline in their population. For better action-based conservation management of cranes' habitat, it is critical to understand the population and its basis for nutritional composition. To study the dietary preferences of cranes, fecal samples were collected from their foraging and roosting sites, and the content of the feces was examined. Results revealed that paddy fields were the primary foraging areas and the fecal samples contained 79 identical species from domestic crops, herbaceous plants, and invertebrates. The dietary composition had no significant variation across months and sites, but differs significantly in three of the seven compared localities of roosting and foraging sites with small effect size. Similarly, fecal dried weight exhibited significant differences from December-February versus March, suggesting a decline in rice intake and an increase in invertebrate consumption leading to lower fecal weight. Dried content in rice feces decreased from December to March. The presence of domestic food grains after harvest, herbaceous plants, and invertebrates are crucial components of the habitat structure of cranes. The presence of domestic food grains after harvest, herbaceous plants and invertebrates forms critical food structure of cranes. Amongst arthropods, coleopteran appears to be an important nutritional food source. Agricultural practices by communities can have a significant impact on the availability of food sources which must be promoted those specific grains preferred by cranes.