297 bird species make Dang their home

Surat: Forests in South Gujarat — from Surat to Dang — is a bird paradise where varied avian species have made the lush green forests of the northernmost part of Western Ghats their abode.
This was confirmed by a recent study on avian diversity titled, ‘Birds of Surat-Dang: A consolidated checklist of 75 years (1944–2020)’ published in Journal of Threatened Taxa.
The study has special emphasis on noteworthy bird records and hotspots from northern side of Western Ghats of Gujarat.
The paper has been co-authored by Nikunj Jambu from Division of Avian Biology and Wildlife Biology, Department of Zoology, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda along with Kaushal Patel from Wildlife Conservation Society (Bengaluru).

“Total 297 species belonging to 21 orders and 70 families has been recorded from the Surat-Dang landscape representing 51.03% of the avifauna recorded from the Gujarat and 22.85% of India’s bird species. Both the protected areas — Purna Wildlife Sanctuary (PWS) and Vansda National Park (VNP) — are home to 77.44 % (PWS) and 65.32 % (VNP) of the 297 species recorded from the landscape. The high diversity could be due to intense alterations in habitat fidelity over the past 125 years (1897–2020),” researchers said.
Talking to TOI, Kaushal said, “We have reported a total of 297 bird species belonging to 70 families and 21 orders including the first record of Nilgiri Wood-Pigeon in Gujarat as well as PWS. We have re-reported Red Spurfowl, Jungle Bush Quail, White-spoted Fantail and Indian Yellow Tit, which were suspected to be locally extinct from PWS.”

Authors say that 19 species fall under various categories as per the IUCN Red List. Seven each were categorized under near threatened and vulnerable categories, two each in critically endangered and endangered categories, while one as data deficient.

Record of Western Ghat endemic Nilgiri Wood Pigeon from Surat-Dang is an addition to the bird list of the state.

“Despite being a part of an endemic bird area and global biodiversity hotspot, avifaunal diversity has been less documented in PWS and VNP, the designated landscape. A handful of studies on birds have been conducted after Dr Salim Ali’s collection in 1944–48,” the researchers said.

The duo surveyed both protected and non-protected areas in 2012–13 and 2015–2018 for documentation and presented a consolidated checklist of birds from the surveys as primary data.