FLORA AND FAUNA
South Western Ghats offers unusual rambling plants and lush green lands on hills. These are the most enzootic regions of birds on earth. Birding in Vagamon is really rewarding. The hills and dales have a variety of exotic birds that are a feast to the eye. Vagamon also has a wide variety of birds including the Malabar Grey Horn-bill, the Malabar Parakeet, the Spotted Dove, the Asian Paradise Flycatcher, the Ceylon Frog Mouth, the Great Horn-bill and the Hill Myna
Oriental White-eye
Zosterops palpebrosa nilgririensis
Habitat: Evergreen and moist deciduous forests, plantations, scrub, gardens.
Status: Resident. Fairly common locally.
Distribution: Mainly above 450m, but also encountered at lower altitudes.
Pied Bushchat
Saxicola caprata nilgiriensis
Habitat: Coastal wetlands, lateritic grassy scrub in the midlands and grassy hillsides up to 2000m.
Status: Resident. Common in the grasslands of the hills, fairly common in the regions of north Kerala.
Distribution: Sub-specific identification impossible.
Black Bulbul (Square tailed)
Hypsipetes ganeesa
Habitat: Evergreen forests, sholas from 600m, also descend to lower altitudes.
Status: Resident. Locally common.
Distribution: Reported from all protected areas in the Western Ghats.
White-browed Bulbul
Pycnonotus luteolus luteolus
Habitat: Dry deciduous, open scru b, bush and scrub jungle.
Status: Resident. Patchy and uncommon.
Jerdon’s Chloropsis
Chloropsis jerdoni
Habitat: Well-wooded homesteads, groves in villages. Also secondary jungle, scrub.
Status: Resident. Fairly common
Distribution: Found throughout the state.
Black-and-Orange Flycatcher
Musicapa nigrorufa
Habitat: High altitude sholas and evergreen forests, mainly in undergrowth. Usually above 900m.
Status: Resident, locally common. Endemic to the Western Ghats.
IUCN Red List category: Near Threatened.
Nilgiri Flycatcher
Eumyias albicaudatus
Habitat: Sholas, evergreen and moist deciduous forests, cardamom plantations above 900m, occasionally at lower altitudes.
Status: Resident, locally common. Endemic to the Western Ghats.
IUCN Red List Category: Near Threatened.
Common Kestrel
Falco tinnunculus objurgatus
Habitat: The race tinnunculus is a winter visitor affecting open dry and fallow fields in the coastal area, lateritic plains grass and scrub in midlands.
Status: Fairly common, locally.
Distribution: Present variably in the grassy slopes and cliffs in the hills.
Black Kite
Milvus migrans govinda
Habitat: Garbage dumps, fishing harbours and market places of villages and towns. Almost exclusively around human habitation.
Status: Resident. Common
Distribution: Generally found commonly in all towns and cities.
Scarlet Minivet
Peticrocotus flammeus flammeus
Habitat: Evergreen, moist deciduous forests, plantations and well-wooded groves
Status: Resident, fairly common
Distribution: Found in almost all forested areas of the State.
Small Minivet
Pericrocotus cinnamoneus malabaricus
Habitat: Well-wooded homesteads, plantations, semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forests.
Status: Resident, fairly common.
Distribution: Occurs throughout the State, at many places co-exists with Scarlet Minivet.
Nilgiri Pipit
Anthus nilgiriensis
Habitat: Singly or in pairs in grassy hill slopes above 1000m.
Status: Resident. Fairly common in high altitudes.
Distribution: Almost replaces Paddyfield Pipit in high altitude grasslands.
Blyth’s Reed-Warbler
Acrocephalus dumetorum
Habitat: Grasses in the wetlands, gardens and village groves, undergrowth and scrub in the forests and plantations, up to 2150m.
Status: Winter visitor. Common
Distribution: Widely distributed and commonest among the confusing set “chek”-calling warblers
White-bellied Shortwing
Brachypteryx major albiventris
Habitat: Dense undergrowth of evergreen sholas above 900m
Status: Resident, locally common. Endemic to the Western Ghats. IUCN Red List Category: Vulnerable
Distribution: Western Ghats south of Palghat Gap.
Rufous-backed Shrike
Lanius schach caniceps
Habitat: Forest clearings, grasslands with bushes; also around backwaters and mangroves, cultivation.
Status: Resident. Locally common
Purple Sunbird
Nectarinia asiatica asiatica
Habitat: Thin forest, gardens, villages, cashew and rubber plantations.
Status: Widespread resident, locally common.
Distribution: Though it avoids evergreen forests, it does occur in the available deciduous patches within evergreen vegetation.
House Swallow
Hirundo tahitica domicola
Habitat: High altitude grasslands, occasionally in the lower altitudes.
Status: Resident. Widespread in the hills. Fairly common locally.
Indian Edible- nest Swiftlet
Collocalia unicolor
Habitat: Forests
Status: Resident, locally common.
Distribution: Throughout Kerala in the forested areas.
Malabar Whistling-Thrush
Myiophonus horsfieldii horsfieldii
Habitat: In the neighbourhood of streams in the forest, even close to human habitation
Status: Resident, fairly common.
Distribution: Recorded from almost all the wildlife sanctuaries of the state.
Yellow-fronted Pied Woodpecker
Dendrocopos mahrattensis mahrattensis
Habitat: Comparatively drier forests than other woodpeckers.
Status: Resident, fairly common locally.
Distribution: Generally occurs in drier tracts.
Nilgiri Wood-Pigeon
Columba elphinstonii
Habitat: Evergreen forest typically above 900m.
Status: Uncommon in most locations. Endemic to the Western Ghats.
Distribution: Resident of the hill forests usually above 900m.
Painted Bush-Quail
Perdicula erythrorhyncha erythrorhyncha
Habitat: Grasslands at the edge of sholas and tea plantations, mostly above c.800m.
Status: Resident, locally common.
Distribution: Recorded from most of the protected areas with high altitude regions.
Grey Francolin
Francolinus pondicerianus pondicerianus
Habitat: Open scrub and fallow land sometimes close to villages.
Status: Resident, locally common.
Blue Rock-Thrush
Monticola solitarius pandoo
Habitat: Rocky hillsides, open country with rocks and boulders.
Status: Winter visitor, uncommon.
Distribution: Generally seen in singles or in small groups of two or three birds.
Grey-breasted Laughing thrush
Garrulax jerdoni fairbankii
Habitat: Undergrowth of high altitude grassland shola forest above 1050m.
Status: Resident. Locally common. Endemic to the Western Ghats. IUCN Red List
Category: Near Threatened.
Brahminy Starling
Sturnus pagodarun
Habitat: Open forests, scrub jungle, secondary growth, cultivation.
Status: Resident but patchy and local.
Distribution: Rare and patchily distributed.
Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
Dicrurus paradiseus paradiseus
Habitat: Evergreen and moist deciduous forests, adjacent plantations, well-wooded areas in the coastal plains and midlands.
Status: Resident. Fairly common.
Distribution: Equally at home in well-wooded villages as in forests.
Common Myna
Acridotheres tristis tristis
Habitat: Widespread resident in the coastal plains and midlands, occasionally at higher altitudes.
Status: Resident and common.
Distribution: Widespread except in evergreen forests.
Broad-tailed Grassbird
Schoenicola platyurus
Habitat: Endemic to the Western Ghats. Mostly found only on the higher altitude grassy hills where it usually skulks, except during the breeding season when males fly up into the air to sing in their display.
Status: Resident and common.
Distribution: Generally seen in small groups.
White-bellied Blue Robin
Myiomela albiventris
Habitat: Endemic to the the hills.
Status: Resident and common.
Distribution: S Kerala and W Tamil Nadu.
Red-whiskered bulbul
Pycnonotus jocosus
Habitat: Lightly wooded areas, more open country with bushes and shrubs, and farmland
Status: Resident and common.
Distribution: Tropical climate common in hill forest and urban gardens.
Southern Hill Myna
Gracula indica
Habitat: Tree-top on the edge of the forest. It hops sideways along the branch.
Status: Resident and common.
Distribution: Hill regions of south asia.
