The Hindu : Front Page : Forest department bird census in Feb.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 25, 2007
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Forest department bird census in Feb.

V.S. Palaniappan

Amateur bird watchers, botanists and wildlife photographers to take part

PROTECT THE SPECIES: The participants will record sighting of birds under the point count method.

Coimbatore: Forest department will conduct a bird census on February 10 and 11 to prepare a database on the bird species in the forest areas in Coimbatore division.

A similar exercise by the Kerala forest department is on the cards in the neighbouring Mannarkad region during the same period.

District Forest Officer, Coimbatore, I. Anwardeen told The Hindu that the department was planning to rope in the services of amateur bird watchers (who can identify birds by the name of the species), botanists and wildlife photographers in addition to the department personnel for the two-day exercise under the guidance of Conservator of Forests, Coimbatore Circle, P.C. Tyagi.

The census would categorise the birds into native and migrant species, besides also classifying them into rarely and easily sighted species. It would focus on recording the species endemic to Western Ghats besides recording the presence of Rare Endangered and Threatened Species known as RET in wildlife management parlance. Recently in Athikadavu forest area, the Himalayan migrant Rosy Finch and the endangered Malabar Pied Hornbill were spotted, giving an indication of the healthy habitat, Mr.Anwardeen said.

Database generated would not only be an indicator of the habitat health but also help the forest authorities in planning management interventions required to protect the species and in improving their habitat.

The bird census team would be located in as many as 15 camps to be established in the six ranges in Coimbatore division.

The participants would record the sighting of the species under the point count method (involving both direct and indirect count) by walking along the line transect for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evenings on both the days.

Birdcalls (chirping sound) would help the bird watchers to identify the species, he added.

The data would then be compiled and a final report prepared. The same method was used in conducting a census in Kanyakumari recently, Mr.Anwardeen said.

The team would also do the habitat wise sampling to identify those that had the least number of birds/species and those with abundant population and study the reasons for the same.

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