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Thattekad Bird Sanctuary

Located between the branches of the Periyar River, Thattekad is an ever-green low-land forest on the foothills of the western Ghats mountain ranges. This helped Thattekad to become one of the richest bio-diversity areas in India. Thattekad bird sanctuary and adjoining forests are home to varied flora and fauna which includes 34 species of mammals,280 species of birds, 30 species of reptiles, amphibians 15, and fishes 47 species.

Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary is famous for many endemic and rare birds like Ceylon Frogmouth, Black Bazza, Oriental dwarf kingfisher, Bay owl, etc which makes this place a must-visit location in every bird watcher’s list.

Thattekad Bird Watching
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Contact Number – +91 8547680759

Dr. Salim Ali and Thattekad Bird Sanctuary.

Mr. Salim Moizuddin Abdul Ali, popularly known as Dr. Salim Ali was an Indian ornithologist and naturalist. He is also referred to as “the bird man of India” as he was the first Indian to conduct scientific avian surveys across India. He also wrote several books about birds that popularized ornithology in India. Dr.Salim Ali was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1958, the third highest civilian honor in India, and Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honor in 1976.

In 1933 Salim Ali conducted bird surveys in the princely states of Travancore and Cochin in Kerala. It was during this survey that he recommended creating a bird sanctuary at Thattekad because of its bird diversity. This led to the constitution of the first bird sanctuary in Kerala at Thattekad in 1983 which was named Dr. Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary Thattekad in honor of the bird man of India.

Mr. Ali’s wife Tehmina was also with him throughout the survey. He conducted this survey as part of an initiative by the Bombay Natural History Society aimed at studying and documenting avian diversity in different parts of India. Ali published his autobiography ‘The Fall of a Sparrow’ in 1985, in which he wrote: “Of all my regional bird surveys between the years 1930 and 1950, which I regard as the most productive period of my career, perhaps the one that gave me both as to the fieldwork and writing up its result was the ornithological survey of Travancore-Cochin”.

  • The Book of Indian Birds by Salim Ali is a landmark in Indian ornithology study.
  • ‘Hand Book of Birds of India and Pakistan’, a 10-volume book which he co-authored with S Dillon Ripley is considered as Salim Ali’s most important work.
  • Awarded Padma Bhushan in 1958 and Padma Vibhushan in 1976.
  • Mr. became the first non-British citizen to receive the Gold Medal of the British Ornithologist’s Union in 1967.
  • Received honorary doctorates from Aligarh Muslim University, University of Delhi, and Andhra University.
  • Indian postal department released two postal stamps in his honor on his 100th birth anniversary.

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