RECENT OCCURRENCE OF THE BROWN-HEADED BARBET MEGALAIMA ZEYLANICA GMELIN 1788 AND OTHER DRY COUNTRY SPECIES IN PERIYAR TIGER RESERVE, KERALA, SOUTHERN INDIA - ARE THESE RELATED TO ECOLOGICAL CHANGE?

摘要

Periyar Tiger Reserve, a major part of the Cardamom Hill Reserve, is located on the wet zone of the Western Ghats in Kerala, southern India. The area harbours a rich bird fauna which has been studied periodically since the 1800s (Elwes 1870; Ali 1935-37; Berlioz 1940; Nichols 1944-45; Nair et a/. 1985; Robertson and Jackson 1992; Srivastavaef a/.1993; Santharam 1996; Veeramani et al. 2005; Elamon 2006; Sugathan 2008). The Brown-headed Barbet Megalaima zeylanica, which is endemic to the Indian subcontinent (Rasmussen and Anderton 2005), has not been previously reported from the Reserve. This note reports the occurrence of the Brown-headed Barbet and other dry country species sighted at about 700 m elevation in the Periyar Tiger Reserve in recent years.