Issues and Trends of Wildlife Conservation in Northeast India 2014 275 ISBN 978-81-924321-7-5 The peacock Island: An account of Avifaunal species in Pre-monsoon season Shah Nawaz Jelil 1,2 and Pranjal Mahananda 1 1 Animal Ecology and Wildlife Biology, Department of Zoology, Gauhati University, Guwahati-14, Assam, India 2 Kalpadroom Foundation, House No. 68, Happy Villa Road, Barowari, Uzanbazar, Guwahati-781003, Assam, India. Email: shahnawazjelil@gmail.com Abstract An avifaunal inventory in Umananda Island also known as the ‘Peacock Island’ was carried out from mid-Feb to mid-April, 2014, focusing to list and check the birds present in the pre-monsoon season. A total of 20 species of birds were found belonging to 17 families were recorded during the survey. The study recommends that the state government of Assam give special importance to this island for its proper preservation and conservation. The study urges the state government and the nature conservation organizations to take necessary steps towards the popularity of the island by arranging excursion and educational trips for school as well as college students. Also the role of the State Tourism Department, Assam is of special significance for the future well-being of the island. Keywords: Umananda, Peacock Island, Avifaunal inventory, Bird Diversity. Introduction Umananda, a river island of the Brahmaputra, is located near Guwahati and at about 27°45´ N and 91°4´ E with an area of 4.916 ha. Geologically, it is part of Shillong plateau and composed of granite and gneissic rocks 3 . Geomorphological evolution of the island is associated with the formation of the Brahmaputra flood plain. During the process of north-south migration of the Brahmaputra river channel, a part of the southern Shillong plateau detached from the main mass. The detached part of the plateau remained as rocky islands with the river channel. Umananda is one of these islands. Geomorphologically, these islands are known as ‘Inselburg’ or ‘Monolithic dome’. The elevation Umananda hillock is about 160 ft. above the Brahmaputra river level. The island is famous for harboring the endangered Golden langur (Chetry & Chetry, 2009). Also, only some years ago, this island was a good spot to observe another ‘endangered’ megafauna, the Ganges River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica gangetica), though the numbers have decreased drastically in only a few years time. In the stretch of Brahmaputra just beside the main road of Guwahati, no dolphins were sighted (Jelil, 2013). Although, being a small island, important ecological and evolutionary processes are going on in this island. There is actually an archipelago formed by a chain of three islands, Umananda, Urvashi and Karmanasha islands. Being only a few minutes away from Guwahati, this beautiful island attracts many people and Hindu devotees in particular, as it carries a long historical and mythological background. Yet no checklists and inventories of the natural species present exist. The present study aimed to inspect and record the bird species present in the pre-monsoon season in order to provide baseline data for future conservation and preservation plans. Materials and methods The inventory surveys mainly followed the line transect method (Bibby et al., 1992) in the study area. 8 X 40 binoculars were used at instances. With an addition to line transects, peripheral transects were followed on the island. Vessels from Kacharighat and Fancybazar were availed to