IN a rare tribute to Salim Ali, a group of ornithologists recently ‘re-enacted’ the `year-long bird survey of the Travancore- Cochin forest patches’, carried out by the legendary bird-watcher in 1933, says Jose Kurian.
The group travelled through the same route taken by Ali, covering all the regions surveyed by him, thus evaluating even the minute damages to the ecosystem, identifying the birds that have vanished since, bird species under threat, habitats under stress and registering climatic shifts.
* It may be recalled that Salim Ali came to Kerala as an invitee of the Maharajas of Travancore and Cochin to prepare an ornithology registry of the region.
* The year-long research had led to the publication of a series of reports in the journal, Bombay Natural History Society.
* The initiative was conceptualised by principal chief conservator of forests T M Manoharan and the team that covered the `Salim Ali Trail’ included ornithologists C Sasikumar, C K Vishnudas, S Raju, P A Vinayan, and S Kannan.
* The journey, organised by the Forest Department and designed on the basis of the ‘survey diary’ of Ali, started on January 3, 2009, at Marayoor in Idukki district and ended in the Kariarkutti forests on December 31.
* The team identified more than 360 bird species during the survey, whereas the total number of bird species registered in the State is just around 500.
“ An alarming finding of the survey was the increased presence of crows in many of the interior forest patches, where crows were absent during Ali’s Survey,” says C Sasikumar, who headed the team. “The presences of crows indicate increased human intervention in the area and habitat degradation,” he says and adds that there would not be even a single crow in a healthy eco-system.
Another disturbing finding was the absence of vultures in the forests, which were abundant during the Ali days.
Experts hope that against the backdrop of phenomena like global warming and climate change, the survey would help provide a baseline data for future generations on the avian population of the state.
* The number of persons who took part in the survey was comparatively high and the techniques used were different.
“We used jeeps to reach out to many remote forest patches on the same day and it is a wonder that Ali covered all these areas by foot,” said C K Vishnudas.
* A detailed report will be published in June after a proper analysis of the data.