Birds of the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History Campus , Anaikatty Hills , southern India

Acknowledgements: Authors are thankful to Dr. P.A. Azeez, Director, SACON, for his immense support and allowing us to conduct this study. We grateful to Drs. Rajah Jayapal and P. Balasubramanian, Principal Scientists, SACON, for their valid comments and suggestions to improve the manuscript. Birds are common dwellers of ecosystems and have been considered as environmental bio-indicators of inhabited areas (Blair 1999). There are approximately 9,990 bird species recorded in our planet and, the Indian subcontinent is home to 1,313 bird species (Grimmett et al. 2011). Tamil Nadu is known for its rich diversity of avifauna with more than 450 species including several endemic and conservation prioritised species (Islam & Rahmani 2004). Previously, Nirmala (2002) documented the birds of the Anaikatty area of the Western Ghats. The present study attempts to prepare a checklist of birds in and around the campus of the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) situated in the Anaikatty Hills (11005’30.9”N & 76047’36.2”E), 30km northwest of Coimbatore City, on the border of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR), Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu Western Ghats Special Series

Birds are common dwellers of ecosystems and have been considered as environmental bio-indicators of inhabited areas (Blair 1999). There are approximately 9,990 bird species recorded in our planet and, the Indian subcontinent is home to 1,313 bird species (Grimmett et al. 2011). Tamil Nadu is known for its rich diversity of avifauna with more than 450 species including several endemic and conservation prioritised species (Islam & Rahmani 2004). Previously, Nirmala (2002) documented the birds of the Anaikatty area of the Western Ghats. The present study attempts to prepare a checklist of birds in and around the campus of the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) situated in the Anaikatty Hills (11 0 05'30.9"N & 76 0 47'36.2"E), 30km northwest of Coimbatore City, on the border of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR), Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu

Western Ghats Special Series
The publication of this article is supported by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), a joint initiative of l'Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the European Commission, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank. (Fig. 1). Being located on the eastern slope (~ 600 elevation), the climate is semi-arid with temperature soaring up to 41 0 C during summer and the annual rainfall hardly exceeds 700mm.
The SACON campus was established during early 1994 in 55 acres of degraded land.
Tree planting initiatives (in 2000) and protection measures against livestock grazing enhanced the vegetation growth inside the campus which became a source of attraction for many bird species. The campus' vegetation is predominantly scrub forest type, with a small Eucalyptus plantation. The campus harbours 200 species of plants that includes 60 tree species (Balasubramanian et al. 2012). Common woody species of the campus include Premna tomentosa, Albizia amara and Chloroxylon swietenia and tall shrubs include Lantana camara and Chromolaena odorata. Based on rainfall and temperature the study area experiences four distinct seasons, namely, southwest monsoon (June-August), northeast monsoon (September-November), winter (December-February) and summer (March-May).
Regular fortnightly surveys between January 2012 and May 2013 were done by walk on fixed routes in and around the campus including the banks of a nonperennial stream located on the western side of the campus. Surveys were usually made in the morning (07:00-10:00 hr) and evening (16:00-18:00 hr), and also sometimes in the night for owls and nightjars. The identification of birds in the field was based on Ali (2002) and Grimmett et al. (2011), while Manakadan & Pittie (2001)

was referred to for binomial names and
Depending on movement and seasonality of found throughout the year), winter migrant (species migrates from outside India during winter) and local chick(s) recorded) in the study area.
the Accipitridae (12 species) has the most species, Forty species were recorded breeding in and around the SACON campus (Appendix 1). Of these, 23 species were seen to be nesting while the remaining 17 species were observed with their juveniles. Most of the species started their breeding activities at the end of the northeast monsoon. Nirmala (2002) reported 187 species of birds from a larger area in the Anaikatty Hills of Western Ghats. The present study which focussed on a subset area of the earlier study, reports 19 additional species (Appendix 1) that were not reported by Nirmala (2002). However, there were 61 species which are found in the earlier checklist that could not be observed during the present study, because the study was carried out in relatively smaller and selected areas only. We hope that this updated checklist of birds would serve as a guide to the bird-watching community especially to students and research scholars and those who visit the SACON campus.  -Species recorded only along the stream; * -Additional sightings. These birds were sighted during the current study and were not reported by Nirmala (2002)