First breeding record of Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea Linnaeus, 1766) using Eichhornia crassipes Mart. vegetation: An important record for North Gujarat, India
1*Manjurmahammad H. Dedhrotiya and 1Chirag A. Acharya
1Shri U. P. Arts, Smt. M. G. Panchal Science and Shri V. L. Shah Commerce College, Hemchandracharya North Gujarat University, Patan - 384265 India *E-mail: manjur.zoology@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Purple heron breeding biology was studied in 2022 and 2023 during breeding season in Sabarkantha district of North Gujarat, India. We record Eichhornia crassipes vegetation used for breeding which was not previously recorded widely. We have monitored nesting, egg laying and fledging stages of chicks. The shapes of nest were oval and greater external and internal diameter, smaller external and internal diameter, height and depth of nests were studied. During these two years 46 eggs were monitored and hatched eggs number and chicks surviving to fledging were 80.43% and 76.09% respectively. In addition, average chicks reached to fledging per nest in this region was 2.91.