House Sparrow Population in the City Shows a Chequered Pattern

Travancore Nature History Society (TNHS), the city-based NGO, striving to protect the environment  and create an awareness for up-keeping the rich bio-diversity of southern Western Ghats and its penumbral regions, has been engaged in taking counts of the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) seen in and around Thiruvananthapuram city, ever since March 20 has come to be observed as World Sparrow Day (WSD) in 2010. This year also, during the run up to the Day, members of the Society scouted the nook and corner of the city, noting down the numbers of the birds. A general trend observed in 2020 was a marginal to significant fall in the number of sparrows over last couple of years in known sparrow hubs like Connemara market, Chalai and Vettucaud regions. Whereas in pockets such as Sulaiman Street and Beemapallly,  there were sharp increase in its numbers.

Munnar Survey adds 13 new Birds and 7 new Butterflies to the high-range landscape

A scientific survey of the Munnar Wildlife Division conducted last week came out with interesting results. A total of 13 new bird records and 8 new butterflies were recorded for the landscape. These include those species that were not recorded previously in the Management Plans of the regions National Parks and Sanctuaries. The 4-day exercise was conducted by the Munnar Wildlife Division in association with the Travancore Nature History Society (TNHS), Trivandrum.

About 100 volunteers participated in the survey done in all the Protected areas of the Munnar Landscape, namely Eravikulam National Park, Mathikettan Shola National Park, Anamudi Shola National Park, Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kurinjimala Sanctuary and Pampadum Shola National Park.