While many extensive bird surveys have been carried out in the Himalayas and the Western Ghats, for the first time, a detailed study of the rich and diverse avifauna (bird wealth) of the Eastern Ghats was taken up by a group of organizations recently.
The survey was organized by researchers from the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), a research institution in the areas of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development, based in Bengaluru.
In a short period of time spanning five days, more than 205 species of birds were documented across the northern Eastern Ghats. The survey was conducted between December 8 and 12 in locations around Narasipatnam, Lambasinghi, Chintapalle, Sileru, Donkarayi, Mothugudem, Chinturu, Pochavaram, Maredumilli and Araku.
One of the most abundantly found birds in the forests were the Plum-headed Parakeets and two species of Bulbuls.
“Barbets, and a few species of frugivorous birds were fairly common in most areas. All these species are predominantly fruit consuming birds that help immensely to disperse seeds of trees in the forests,” says Vikram Aditya, a researcher.
Interestingly, threatened bird species like the Malabar Pied Hornbills was also spotted in a couple of habitats in packed flocks that augurs well for their survival in the northern Eastern Ghats. Other relatively rarer species of birds that were found during the survey were Brook’s Flycatcher (an insect eating bird), Jerdon’s Baza Aviceda jerdoni (a kind of small predatory bird). “It is not just the endemic existence of a bird such as the Brook’s Flycatcher Cyornis poliogenys that can be intriguing, but the variable colour forms in which they occur and a possibility of hybridization with a much commoner flycatcher that can pose questions about its biology,” adds Aditya.
If these were the fruit eaters, the most commonly occurring birds, are the insectivorous birds across all locations. Many bird species present in this region are endemic birds, the ones that occur in the faraway Western Ghats, North-eastern forests and primarily seen in the forested hills.