Sachin Kumar2017-02-202017-02-202013http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810001595Agricultural land use is an important driver of biodiversity loss in developing countries. It was found that farming is the current and likely to be the future threat to globally threatened and near threatened bird species. The Black Kite (Milvus migrans) is a medium sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. The present study deals with habitat, feeding and breeding biology of Black Kite (Milvus migrans) in agroecosystem of Punjab. It was undertaken from December 2010 to May 2012 in 12 transects having different type of vegetation. Observations were taken in morning and evening twice a week regarding their habitat, feeding and breeding biology. It was found that Black Kite uses different types of areas for different activities like feeding, foraging, roosting and breeding. The number of territorial pairs of Black Kites increased steadily during this study but it was difficult to say whether this was caused by a real population increase or a simple population fluctuation. Most of the time, they were found in areas near human habitation. Feeding was maximally observed on garbage dumps. The other types of feeding materials were earthworms, rodents, reptiles, flesh and small birds. Flocking was also observed throughout the study periods but the size of flock varied in different areas. Nesting was mainly observed on Silver Oak followed Sapt Parni and Eucalyptus trees. The average nesting height was observed to be between 14.95 meters to 16.60 meters. The incubation period was between 30 to 35 days. The numbers of young ones varied from 1 to 3 with most of the nests having 2 young ones. In conclusion it was found that Black Kite feed on refuse garbage dumps, breeds on comparatively tall trees and plays an important role in cleaning the environment.ennullThesis