An analysis of the State of India’s Birds (SOIB) 2023 report shows nearly 110 species of birds recorded in Tamil Nadu are currently facing a state of decline nationwide.
As many as 86 species found in Tamil Nadu, including birds such garganey, northern shoveler, common sandpiper, and common teal, are under “rapid decline”. This has been highlighted by the Salem Ornithological Foundation (SOF) in a Tamil Nadu-specific report using the data in the SOIB 2023 report.
What elicited surprise among researchers, according to S.V. Ganeshwar, founder-director of SOF, is that species “taken for granted” by the birding community have been categorised as declining. “Indian rollers are very casually seen everywhere in the open fields. But their population is declining nationwide,” he says.
