The document provides an overview of the Kasaragod Bird Atlas project conducted from 2017-2018. It summarizes the goals of documenting the distribution and abundance of bird species in Kasaragod district through systematic field surveys. Over 237 species were recorded during the wet and dry seasons with help from local birders and support from the Kerala Forest Department. The data collected helps improve understanding of bird habitat use and movement patterns in the region. The success of the atlas effort was due to participation of volunteers and collaboration with local conservation groups.

1. Kasaragod Bird Atlas: Overview
2017-2018
Maxim Rodrigues K and Prashantha Krishna M C

3. The dream.. The Beginning…
• It was the Kannur atlas survey experience that made
Maxim to take up the Tough task of Kasaragod Bird
atlas.
• Great challenge was to connect with all birders and
bird photographers from Kasaragod.
• Contacted DFO and ACF regarding bird survey and
asked them to extend their support.
• Press release about bird survey.
• Proto atlas survey was done during GBBC-17-20 Feb
2017.
• Total cells allotted 46, completed cells 24 with the help
of almost 10 birders, 99 species reported.

5. Initiation..
• The real challenge of Bird atlas work was
accepted on the Kerala Bird monitoring meet-
2017.
• Idea was to complete Bird atlas in 3 years with
the target of 40,40 and 20 percentage for each
year.
• The first Atlas meeting was held on 15 July
2017 where DC officially inaugurated the
survey.

6. Thrissur 2017 Planning

7. Meetings
Season Meetings conducted Dates
Proto Atlas First atlas get together 10 Feb 2017
Wet season
Inaugural meet 15 July 2017
Wet season Review meet,
Dry season planning
20 Jan 2018
Dry season Final review meet 07 May 2018

10. The discussion during meetings..
• For beginners Explained the use of eBird.
• Importance and relevance of bird atlas was discussed
explaining the methodology and protocol.
• Explained about: 187 subcells- 176(non-forest) & 11(forest)
and the use of kml files and apps like GPX viewer.
• 12 clusters were formed and birders voluntarily chose the
clusters for survey and also subcells.
• During wet season survey, decided to survey the forest
subcells at the end.
• No Special planning was done during Dry season survey.

11. On the go..
• A dedicated WhatsApp group- Budding
birder’s of Kasaragod, where birders discussed
about survey planning, confusing IDs etc.
• A PDF of common birds- ‘Birds of Kasragod’
was formed and circulated among birders.
• A common account was created in eBird, the
uploaded survey checklists were shared to this
account
*Kasaragod_bird_atlas

13. Support from Kerala Forest Dept.
• All the meetings were hosted by the Social Forestry division
of the Kerala Forest and wildlife Dept., with the presence of
DFO or ACF and other staffs.
• Accommodation facility was provided in various parts of
the districts during atlas survey.
• Extensive support was extended for completing forest cells.
• During wet season survey, vehicle facility was provided for
doing one cell.
• Agreed to provide Petrol allowances & food allowances. We
are following up with them for this one at least for non
employees/students. (not received)
• ID cards were provided by the KFD for cluster owners.

15. Planning
• Total- 187 sub cells
• Out of state cells- 3
• Forest cells- 5
• Cells already done by Kannur
team-7
• Non forest subcells to cover-
182

16. Planning..
• Cluster leader and his team has to complete the cluster
within specified time adhering to the protocol.
• The farthest non forest cells were the first targets.
• Employees can survey the allotted subcells mostly
during weekends.
• Teachers in the group can do the survey in the early
morning hours before the school starts & they can take
their students into the field which can expose them for
new world of birding.
• During wet season, forest cells were kept for surveying
at the end; while during dry season Forest cells were
targeted first as they can be done only with the help of
forest officials. (They will be busy otherwise).

17. Concerns raised during wet season
survey & the solutions for them..
• Visiting unfamiliar places created some issues.
- ID cards were provided by Forest Dept.
• Lack of Enthusiastic birders
- News paper reports were given to publicise the
event, uploaded the info on Facebook and other
social medias for contacting new birders. All the
active eBirders from the region were also
contacted.
• Mis-Idying in the field as most of the birders were
beginners in birding and few were wildlife
photographers( not exactly the birders).

18. - Told them to refer the PDF already provided.
- Their clicks, call recordings from the field were
discussed for the ID’s in Whatsapp group.
- Whenever there was nature camps conducted by
various organizations, requested all the birders to
participate in them so that they can increase their
field knowledge.
• Usage of GPX viewer was explained time and
again for properly identifying the cells for
surveying.

19. During the survey..
• Few cluster owners did not turn up during the survey. So all the
subcell falling under that clusters came into the shoulders of
coordinators.
• Many birders were busy during the survey days so that they could
not complete the allotted cells, that cells too were added up for the
coordinators.
• Some of the best habitats but less experienced birders at that place
for doing the survey, at that time experienced birders from other
parts went there to help them.
• For most of the birders, completing their cells was only a big
challenge. So we could not ask their help to complete other
unattended cells.
• Surprisingly there was no interest in doing birding even in forest
cells. So they were completely done by coordinators.
• Many of the people who were there during wet season survey was
not there during Dry season survey.

21. The team..
• Raju Kidoor, Rayan Pradeep, Glan and students of
Raju Kidoor helped in completing many cells.
• CUK Periya campus students tried their level best
for completing few subcells.
• The enthusiastic team of Kasaragod based wildlife
Photographers completed their target of Periya
cluster.
• Few Birders from neighbouring districts were also
actively participated in the survey.
• Most of the farthest cells and ‘tough’ cells were
done by coordinators as a team.

22. The Forest subcells and other ‘tough’
cells..
• There were 3 cells which were completely
inside Deep forest.
• Those 3 cells were done with the help of
Forest Watcher who had the idea about
terrain of surveying area and bird abundance
there.
• There were few subcells with cashew
plantations which required long tiresome trek
to reach to their boundary.

23. • We could not find route for one of the forest cell, at
that time Praveen J helped with finding the routes
through topographical data.

24. Adherence to the protocol..
• During Wet season survey there were no single
observer checklists, but during dry season survey due
to lack of birders few cells were done by single
observer.
• Adherence to the time mentioned in protocol was a
real challenge as birders were less and many areas
were very far from the place of the people who were
doing the survey there.
• Instructions were regularly given for all the participants
to note down valuable Information like presence of
water bodies, Invasive plants and Fruiting figs.

25. Updating works..
• The uploaded lists were shared with the username
Kasaragod_bird_atlas.
• The district coordinators reviewed the lists and updated the
Google spread sheet regularly.
• The information regarding Pending checklists and the
mistakes in the checklists were informed to the observers
through Whatsapp group.
• The Dashboard showing the surveyed subcells was posted
in the group periodically.
• The information about completed subcells and unattended
subcells were represented by graphs.
• After each season the checklists were scrutinized by state
coordinator and mistakes/problems were identified which
were attended by district coordinators.

28. Results

30. Results in detail..
• Total number of species : 237
- No. of species observed during wet season-159
• Raptors:15 ,Cuckoos : 8 , Woodpeckers: 8 Bulbuls:7
• Pigeons:7 , Owls: 5

31. First sightings from Kasaragod:
• Olive-backed Pipit (Anthus hodgsoni)- Ranipuram
Barodi
• Taiga flycatcher (Ficedula albicilla)- Kottancheri
• Indian Tit (Machlolophus xanthogenys)-
Ranipuram (*)
• Thick-billed Warbler (Arundinax aedon)- Iriyanni
(*)
• Savanna Nightjar (Caprimulgus affinis)- Madikkai
(*)
• Rufous-bellied Eagle (Lophotriorchis kienerii) (*)

32. Forest birds recorded in several
nonforest subcells
• Malabar trogon, Black- throated munia, Grey
headed bulbul, Flame-throated bulbul,
Rufous-bellied Eagle etc.

33. Threatened Birds
• Grey-headed Bulbul (Brachypodius
priocephalus)
• Oriental Darter (Anhinga melanogaster)
• Black-headed Ibis (Threskiornis
melanocephalus)

34. Birds endemic to Western Ghats:
1. Grey- fronted Green Pigeon (Treron pompadora)
2. Malabar Parakeet (Psittacula columboides)
3. Malabar Barbet (Psilopogon malabaricus)
4. Malabar Grey Hornbill (Ocyceros griseus)
5. Grey-headed Bulbul (Brachypodius priocephalus)
6. Rufous Babbler (Argya subrufa)
7. White-bellied Blue-Flycatcher (Cyornis pallidipes)
8. Crimson-backed Sunbird (Leptocoma minima)
9. White-bellied Treepie (Dendrocitta leucogastra)

35. Blue-beared Bee-eater

36. Crimson-backed Sunbird

37. Tickle’s Blue Flycatcher

38. Black-throated Munia

39. Black Kite

40. Indian Peafowl

41. Grey-headed Bulbul

42. Pale billed and Nilgiri Flowerpecker

43. Green Greenish Warbler

44. Crested Goshawk Shikra

45. Achievements of Kasaragod Bird atlas..
• Kasaragod is the least studied area in terms of Flora and
fauna. So anything related to study of biodiversity adds up
to the knowledge.
• Created a platform where we could meet nature loving
people, specially the bird lovers from different areas of the
district.
• We could build a team of enthusiastic birdwatchers who
will also work for nature conservation in future.
• Many students were involved during the survey, which
ended up in seeding the hobby of bird watching in them.
• The book ‘Kasaragod Bird Atlas’ is now under preparation
and is scheduled to be released in October 2018.

46. Dry Season from the field

48. Summary
• The distribution of common birds in Kasaragod district
is obtained by Survey data analysis which in turn gives
the idea of abundance of bird in different habitats.
• Got an overview of movement of the birds during
different seasons which were hypothetical till now.
• This base level data will definitely help in conservation
of the species and also in future, if this survey is
repeated we can compare the abundance of the
different species and the threat they are facing.

49. Acknowledgements
• Thanks to all the participants of Kasaragod bird atlas survey for this grand
success.
• Kerala Forest & Wildlife Department, Social Forestry Division, Kasaragod
for all the supports they provided.
• Many thanks to Praveen J, C. Sashikumar , Roshnath R., Ramit Singal and
all the other birding community members for encouraging us.
• Thanks to the eBird platform which was used for updating the data and
also for analysis.
• Thanks to the NGO’s MARC, MNHS, FON
• Thanks again to Praveen J, George Tom, Abhinand Reddy,Suhel Quader, PO
Nameer for the guidance in analysing the data and visualizations.
• Thanks to all the press reporters who helped in publishing the reports
regarding the survey.

51. Thank You