Bird census wins acclaim

KOCHI: In less than a couple years of its commencement, the Thattekad Bird Sanctuary’s unique bird census has won acclaims from experts and international universities. The census called ‘Continuous Monitoring of Avifauna’ aims at conducting weekly walks through the sanctuary’s three major routes and preparing databases based on bird counts. The three routes covering a distance of 18 kms is designed in such a manner that they pass through all the six habitats in the sanctuary. Thus birds belonging to every route can be traced during the walks. Another unique feature of the walk is that the counting is done  based on direct sightings and also hearing the calls of the bird. The calls and sightings are noted separately in the database.The data would be tracked down and statistically analysed after five years. But the reports prepared every month based on the counting  have been  serving as an effective managerial tool. For instance, soon after the planting of certain banyan trees in the sanctuary, the spotting of the Great Indian Hornbill which was reduced to nil was found to have increased  4 to 5 times thus confirming the success of the planting. Similarly, the impact of human interventions like increase in the number of tourists and cutting down of trees on the bird population can be regularly monitored.When there is a regular tracking of birds, we will be able to detect trends in population of the birds accurately. In most of the animal and bird censuses that are carried out in the country, the counting is done only once or twice a year. This can be inaccurate on many counts. "For instance, changes that affect the birds due to short-term changes cannot be tracked. Also the migratory birds that visit particular areas for a few weeks or days cannot be tracked. Moreover certain birds which visit an area by chance owing to some specific environmental reason may be mistakenly identified as the bird of the area." "Such mistakes can be avoided if there is a regular checking,” says Dr R Sugathan, ornithologist at the sanctuary. Sugathan, who designed the project is a student of legendary ornithologist Dr Salim Ali.