ATHIRAPPILLY (THRISSUR),
If you trek deep into the Athirappilly-Vazhachal
forests in the Southern Western Ghats, chances are that you may hear,
from up in the canopy of trees, a heavy whooshing sound – somewhat
similar to that of a jet airplane. If you are lucky, you will catch a
glimpse of a magnificent bird, the Great Hornbill. But if the 163-MW
Athirappilly hydroelectric project proposed by the Kerala State
Electricity Board comes through, these unique birds might vanish from
these forests.
The survival of the hornbills hangs
in the balance as the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Committee, led by
environmentalist Madhav Gadgil, is set to submit its report on the
environmental impact of the Athirappilly project by the end of March. If
the committee approves the project, it will lead to the submergence of
the hornbills' habitat.
The unique low-elevation (180
m MSL) riparian forest in the Athirappilly-Vazhachal area is the only
location where you can find all the four South Indian species of
hornbills — the Great Hornbill (the State Bird of Kerala), Malabar Pied
Hornbill, Malabar Grey Hornbill, and the Indian Grey Hornbill. Their
resonating ‘tock.tock.tock' calls and the whooshing sound of their wing
flaps have earned them the local name ‘Malamuzhakki' (the one that
creates an echo in the hillsides).
“The
Athirappilly-Vazhachal forests are the only available nesting location
for the threatened Malabar Pied Hornbills (Anthracoceros coronatus) in
Kerala. They are endemic to low elevation forests in limited locations
of South India and Sri Lanka,” says K.H. Amitha Bachan, a researcher and
consultant to Kerala Forest Department and the World Wildlife
Fund-India Ecological Monitoring Programme. The other location where
this species is found is the Dandeli area in Karnataka.
The
prime threat to the species, apart from increased poaching, is lack of
suitable nesting trees and feed. Mr. Bachan says that hornbills have an
umbilical relationship with the rain forests. Forests undisturbed by
humans are crucial for their survival. The natural hollows of
high-canopy trees serve as their nests. They are extremely sensitive to
disturbances. Though their long bills prevent binocular vision, their
sharp eyes and good hearing alert them to the slightest movement on the
forest floor. “During our surveys, we located as many as 57 nests in the
Vazhachal Forest Division. We found three Great Hornbill nests in a
two-kilometre stretch at a 200-metre altitude. This could be one of the
last remaining low altitude riparian evergreen forests in the Western
Ghats.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment