Birds of Goa

This Page has been designed for all those who are interested in the bird life of Goa and the Western Ghats.

Risk to Birdlife

• Today, only 20% of the original forest-cover remains in more or less pristine state. Forests have been converted to agricultural land for monoculture plantations of tea, coffee, rubber, oil palm, teak, eucalyptus, and wattle, and are also cleared for building reservoirs, roads, and railways.

• Encroachment into protected areas further reduces the extent of forests. Much of the remaining forest cover consists of timber plantations or disturbed secondary growth. Expanding cities and agriculture, mining for iron and manganese, and traffic in wildlife products pose the most serious environmental threats.

• Less than 15% of the WG is protected in 20 national parks and 68 sanctuaries. Considering IUCN categories I-IV, which offer a higher level of protection, the figure drops to around 11%, according to the World Database on Protected Areas.

• The avifauna of the Western Ghats is diverse, but endemism is not exceptional.

• There are more than 450 known bird species from the hotspot, of which about 35 are endemic.

• The Western Ghats is considered an Endemic Bird Area by BirdLife International. Of the 35 endemic species, 10 are considered threatened, including the Green-billed Coucal [ Centropus chlororhynchos], the Sri Lanka Whistling Thrush [ Myiophonus bligh] and Rufous-breasted Laughing Thrush [ Garrulax cachinnans]. The hotspot also holds several widespread threatened water bird species, including the Spot- billed Pelican [Pelecanus philippensis]) and the Lesser Adjutant [Leptoptilos javanicus]. Another threatened species, the Kashmir Flycatcher [Ficedula subrubra], breeds in the Himalayas and winters in the Western Ghats and in Sri Lanka

The has been taken from – http://www.birdsofgoa.org/

Photo Credits – Fabian Franco ( https://www.facebook.com/FabianFrancoPhotography )