Passive acoustic monitoring of Red-wattled Lapwing (Vanellus indicus) and house crow (Corvus splendens) during breeding season in agricultural landscape of Punjab

Bioacoustic technology has shown immense potential for understanding the biological soundscape of our surroundings leading to better understanding of animal behaviors. It helps in assessing the current state of ecosystems as well as in creating a bio-acoustic archive. Bird calls have always been the choice of ornithologists to identify and study the birds. The present study deals with the study and analysis of acoustic signals of Red-wattled Lapwing (Vanellus indicus) and House Crow (Corvus splendens) during breeding season. Calls of the species were recorded by using Recforge II mobile app and were then analyzed in Raven Pro 1.5 software of Cornell University, New York. Red-wattled Lapwing was found to be vocally more active whereas House Crow was observed to be vocally less active during the breeding season. A total of six types of acoustic signaling were observed in case of Red-wattled Lapwing out of which five calls were during the breeding season where as in case of House Crow a total of five types of acoustic signaling were observed out of which only one type of call was recorded specifically while performing incubation activity and rest of the time House crow was mostly observed silent near the nests during the breeding season. Hence it is concluded that the analysis of acoustic signaling of avian species plays an important role in study the behavior of avian species during breeding seasons which will help in better understanding the behavioral complexities of these flying wonders.