Fauna of Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary- Kerala

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Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary is situated on the banks of River Periyar, the longest river of Kerala This is the first and largest Bird Sanctuary in Kerala. It is situated in Kothamangalam Taluk of Ernakulam district in Kerala. Previously the area was part of Kuttampuzha Range in Malayattoor Forest Division. 3 Considering its ecological, faunal, floral, natural and zoological significance, the 25:16 km² of area lying on the northern bank of river Periyar was declared as Thanekkad Bird Sanctuary by the Govt of Kerala as 2 per notification No.35743-FM3/AD dated, 27.08.1983. The Sanctuary was re-named as Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary in 1997 in respect of Dr. Salim Ali, who had identified and recognized the importance of birds Thankkad. Thankkad Bird Sanctuary serves as a field laboratory for conservation education, research and monitoring. This sanctuary has an important position on the tourism map of Kerala, a large number of national as well as foreign tourists visit the sanctuary every year considering the ecological contiguity and diversity of life, Thanekkad Bird Sanctuary assumes significance in the PA network of the state of Kerala.

In the 19 century when the Britishers started various types of plantations, the Kannan Devan Hills was one of their main targets for tea plantations in Kerala. To support transport, a road was constructed connecting Kannan Devan Hills with Cochin through the western slopes of the Western Ghats. The actual Ghat Section of the road started from the right side of the bank of Periyar River. Along the road, many traveller bungalows were constructed. Thattekkad was the first traveller bungalow on the bank of the River Periyar the Britishers started large scale rubber plantations at Palamattom, very near to Thanekkad. In 1930, Dr. Salim Ali was travelling to the high ranges of the Western Ghats during the Ornithological Survey of Travancore and Cochin, he selected Thattekad as his bird collection centres, since it is the starting place of the Ghat. He observed that Thattekkad is one of the richest areas of bird diversity.

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