Altitudinal range and relative abundance of five species of tits in Machiara National Park, Muzaffarabad, Azad Kahsmir, Pakistan. - Awan M.N., Awan M.S. - Berkut. 16 (2). 2007. - P. 240-243.
The Machiara National Park is an Endemic Bird Area (128) of Western Himalayas, located at 34° 40´ N, 73° 10´ E. It has the area 13,532 ha (33,437 acres). Elevation of MNP ranges between 1200–3880 m a.s.l. Surveys were conducted in alternate months i.e. January, March May, July, September and November 2007 to gather information on the five species of Tits i.e. Great Tit (Parus major), Black-crested Tit (P. rufonuchalis), Crested Black Tit (P. melanolophus), Green-backed Tit (P. monticolus) and Yellow-checked Tit (P. xanthogenys) and their altitudnal range in Machiara National Park. All the five species were found between the range of 1180–3080 m. Great Tit is found to be the most abundant species with a relative abundance of 37.7 % among the five. Habitat destruction, use of the Park for summer pastures, continuously increasing collection of fodder, fuel wood and timber were found to the major threats to wildlife of the Park especially the avian diversity. [English].
Key words: Tits, Western Himalayas, distribution, altitude, abundance, threats.
Address: M.N. Awan, C/O Ammar General Store, Near Girls High School, Challa Bandi, Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir, 13100 Pakistan; e-mail: ajkwildlife@gmail.com.