....Declining AvifaunA...

Seventy-five years after Salim Ali conducted his famous Travancore-Cochin bird survey, researchers who did a similar count, following the same route and corresponding dates, identified 337 bird species. The latest survey reveals the “extent of ecological damage that took place over a period of seven decades since 1933,”

Migratory birds

“There is a tremendous change in the pattern of migratory birds. More dry land/open area species started wintering in various parts of Kerala. Resident low country birds started moving up to the highlands causing severe competition for endemic forms. The future is bleak … ,” the report cautions comparing the status of various species.

he blue-winged parakeet, the small sunbird, the Indian rufuos babbler and the white-bellied treepie have a healthy population. However, the habitats of the grey-breasted laughing thrush, the black-and-orange flycatcher, the white-bellied shortwing and the Nilgiri flycatcher found in high-altitude shola forests are under threat. The large-scale decline of the Nilgiri wood pigeon, an IUCN Red List category bird, causes concern.

Tourism in high-altitude areas is a major threat to endemic species.The annual forest fires in the higher altitude grasslands threaten the ecosystem and birds such as the Nilgiri and the brown rock pipit and the broad-tailed grass warbler. The lesser fish eagle, a globally threatened species, is a significant addition to the avian fauna of the State.