THRISSUR: Making a debut in the country, the compilation of a bird atlas , enumerating the population and distribution of various birds in the State, has been mooted for Kerala.
With the passage of years and the rise in urbanisation, several birds in the State have slowly moved into the endangered zone, as aptly remarked in the red data book maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
According to Atlas Survey Project Coordinator Dr PO Nameer, the endangered species have turned out to be the last anyone ever thought of or considered. "Vultures, which were once very commonly seen in India, have now become almost extinct. In the same way, the Spot Billed Pelican, commonly seen in Thrissur Kole Farms, the Nilgiri Blue Robin and the White Backed Vultures are now considered endangered species in Kerala," said Dr PO Nameer.
The Atlas Survey Project would be implemented over a period of five years and would provide accurate trends for bird presence in the State. “There are no mechanisms as of now to study the growth trends or distribution of the birds over a certain period of time. The bird atlas, once implemented, will be very helpful in providing accurate trends of the bird population distribution and to know if there has been a decline for a certain species. The first leg of the project would involve Thrissur and Alappuzha districts," Nameer added.
The bird atlas would divide the State into 39,000 grids of one square km and this would provide an easy reference for any possible changes in population distribution along the State. The project will be done in cooperation with the State Forest Department.
