Records of Avifauna of Wetlands around Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, India

Keoladeo National Park (KNP) is one of the six natural World Heritage Sites in India inscribed by UNESCO. KNP is famous for its rich avifaunal diversity, resulting from its location in a semi-arid landscape on the Central Asian Flyway. Several species of migratory bird of this wetland also move to nearby satellite wetlands for foraging whenever the water in KNP is inadequate. In this context, ecological surveys were carried out during 2009–2011 as part of a long-term monitoring exercise to develop a database of the migratory birds that use KNP and its satellite wetlands. The objective of developing the database was to prepare a comprehensive landscape-level management plan. Twelve satellite wetlands within a 100 km radius of KNP were surveyed. The data set lists distribution data of the avifauna, including the status and taxonomic information, descriptions of the wetlands (with localities, county and geographic coordinates) and sampling details (collector and sampling dates). The data set includes 33,238 records corresponding, with 15 families involved. This data record is a significant contribution to the knowledge management system of the avifauna of this region. It will be useful for future studies on birds and their habitats and conservation.