Wildlife · Birds · Travel · 13 min read

Thattekkad: Salim Ali's Bird Sanctuary on the Periyar

Salim Ali called it the richest bird habitat in peninsular India. Kerala's first bird sanctuary is a small patch of lowland forest between the arms of the Periyar, home to frogmouths, trogons, hornbills and more than 300 kinds of birds, and to the remarkable people who have made it famous among birdwatchers around the world.

By GK Global, Adimali, Munnar · Trails & Tales by GK

At first light, the forest at Thattekkad is full of sound. A Malabar whistling thrush runs through its song by a stream. Hornbills cackle in the treetops. The liquid notes of a white-rumped shama drift out of the undergrowth, and from somewhere deep in the canopy comes the soft, hollow call of a Malabar trogon. On a low branch, perfectly still, sits a bird that looks like a piece of dead wood with eyes: a Sri Lanka frogmouth, the bird that draws birdwatchers from around the world to this corner of Kerala.

The Dr Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary at Thattekkad, in the Kothamangalam taluk of Ernakulam district, was the first bird sanctuary in Kerala. It is small, only about 25 square kilometres, but it has a reputation far beyond its size. India's greatest ornithologist called it the richest bird habitat in peninsular India.

A flat forest between two rivers

The name Thattekkad means "flat forest". The sanctuary lies in the foothills of the Western Ghats, where the Periyar, Kerala's longest river, leaves the hills and spreads out towards the plains. Part of the sanctuary lies between the river's branches, and much of its edge is formed by the water of the reservoir behind the Bhoothathankettu barrage, built for the Periyar Valley irrigation project.

Within this small area is a remarkable mix of habitats: tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen forest, moist deciduous forest, riverside forest, grassy patches and rocky outcrops, as well as old plantations of teak, mahogany and rosewood, and the farms and gardens of the villages on its edge. About a third of the sanctuary is plantation. It is this patchwork of habitats, at the meeting point of the plains and the hills, that makes Thattekkad so rich in birds: species of the lowland forests, of the hills, of rivers and of open country all occur within a short walk of each other.

The sanctuary is also connected to much larger forests to the east, including the forests of Idamalayar, Pooyamkutty and the Munnar Forest Division, so birds and animals of the higher hills often come down into it.

Salim Ali and the making of a sanctuary

In 1933, the young Salim Ali carried out a survey of the birds of the princely states of Travancore and Cochin, travelling through the forests and hills of what is now Kerala. His survey was published in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, and later in his book The Birds of Travancore and Cochin. The forests around Thattekkad made a deep impression on him; he described them as the richest bird habitat in peninsular India.

Half a century later, in 1983, Kerala declared the area a bird sanctuary, the first in the state, following the recommendation of Salim Ali. It was named after him. Salim Ali died in 1987.

The work at Thattekkad was continued by his student, the ornithologist Dr R. Sugathan, who spent many years with Salim Ali at the Bombay Natural History Society. Sugathan set up the interpretation centre at Thattekkad, trained local people as guides, ran nature camps and later revised Salim Ali's book on the birds of Kerala. The interpretation centre has a mural of Salim Ali.

The birds

Thattekkad's bird list includes a large share of the endemic birds of the Western Ghats and of the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, as well as many winter migrants from northern India and the Himalaya. Some of the most sought-after species are:

• Sri Lanka frogmouth: a nocturnal bird with a huge, wide mouth and cryptic plumage that makes it look like a broken branch. It roosts by day on low branches in dense forest. Thattekkad is perhaps the most reliable place in India to see it.
• Sri Lanka bay owl (often called the Ripley owl at Thattekkad): a small, chestnut-coloured owl with a heart-shaped face.
• Malabar trogon: a brilliant bird with a crimson belly, black head and finely barred wings, which sits motionless in the mid-canopy.
• Hornbills: the Malabar grey hornbill is common, the Malabar pied hornbill occurs along the river, and the great hornbill is seen occasionally. (Read our article on the hornbills of Kerala.)
• White-bellied treepie, Malabar parakeet, crimson-backed sunbird, Malabar barbet, yellow-browed bulbul and grey-headed bulbul: endemics of the Western Ghats or of the Ghats and Sri Lanka.
• Jerdon's nightjar, collared scops owl and other birds of the night.
• Rufous woodpecker, heart-spotted woodpecker and white-bellied woodpecker.
• Winter visitors such as the Indian pitta, which stays for about six months, the orange-headed thrush, the large-billed leaf warbler and many flycatchers.
• Birds of the water and the sky: oriental darter, cormorants, kingfishers, grey-headed fish eagle and, in the forests of Idamalayar, the Legge's hawk-eagle.

An area of the sanctuary is known among birdwatchers as "Cuckoo Paradise" for the many cuckoos found there, including the drongo cuckoo, common hawk-cuckoo and large hawk-cuckoo.

BirdLife International lists Thattekkad as an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area, noting its globally threatened and restricted-range species, among them the Nilgiri wood pigeon and the rare Wynaad laughingthrush.

Thattekkad is not only for birds. The forest holds elephants, leopards, sloth bears and smaller mammals such as the Travancore flying squirrel, endemic to the southern Western Ghats, as well as dozens of species of reptiles, amphibians, fish and butterflies.

The people of Thattekkad

Part of what makes Thattekkad special is its people. Inspired by Salim Ali and Dr Sugathan, a number of local people became expert bird guides, and Thattekkad became one of the first places in India where birdwatching provided a livelihood for village families.

The best known was K. V. Eldhose (1963–2022), who had no formal training but became one of the most celebrated bird guides in India over more than three decades. He showed that the Sri Lanka frogmouth, once thought to be rare, was common in the right habitat, found nests in unusual places, and could locate roosting bay owls at dawn. He helped the BBC film the rufous woodpecker for David Attenborough's series The Life of Birds, and Attenborough sent him a pair of binoculars in thanks.

Another is Sudhamma (Sudha Chandran), who began by selling tea and meals to visitors, learned about birds by listening to Dr Sugathan's lectures, and became a licensed bird guide, one of very few women in the role, later running a homestay where visiting scientists and birdwatchers stay. Families in the villages around the sanctuary run homestays and guiding services today.

Sorrow on the river

Thattekkad is also remembered for a tragedy. On the evening of 20 February 2007, an overloaded, unlicensed boat carrying schoolchildren and teachers on an excursion capsized in the reservoir near the sanctuary. Eighteen people died: fifteen children, two teachers and a staff member. The disaster led to an inquiry and to many recommendations for the safety of boats on Kerala's inland waters. It is remembered with sorrow in the area to this day.

Challenges

Like every protected area in Kerala, Thattekkad faces pressure from the people and settlements around it. BirdLife International lists grazing, firewood collection, the expansion of farms into forest, illegal felling and the growth of housing around Kuttampuzha as ongoing threats. The reservoir behind the Bhoothathankettu barrage destroyed much of the riverside forest along its banks.

The sanctuary's boundaries have also been controversial. Some areas inside the sanctuary are inhabited and farmed. In 2024, the Kerala government proposed to exclude about 897 hectares of inhabited land from the sanctuary and, in exchange, to add about 1,017 hectares of forest from the adjoining Munnar Forest Division. The Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife deferred the proposal and asked for a site inspection. The case is an example of the difficult balance between the needs of people and the protection of wildlife discussed in our article on human–wildlife conflict.

Visiting Thattekkad

Thattekkad shows what Salim Ali understood almost a century ago: that even a small forest, in the right place and properly protected, can hold an astonishing richness of life. It also shows how much protection depends on the people who live around it. (Read also our articles on the birds of Munnar and the Western Ghats and the hornbills of Kerala.)