Praveen Jayadevan

Nature Conservation Foundation

p>Following the first publication on vertebrates of India (Blanford 1888–1890), a huge wealth of information has been compiled on the vertebrate fauna of various biogeographic zones of the country, especially the Western Ghats. The state of Kerala comprising of a land area of 38,863km², 590km coastline, an intricate system of backwaters...

This paper presents a definitive Checklist of birds of India (‘the India Checklist’) in a modern taxonomy. We have reviewed all the past records of bird species from within the political boundaries of the Republic of India and have included only those species whose occurrence within the country is well corroborated. In this process, we follow ‘The...

With this taxonomic update, the total number of species reliably recorded from the South Asian region [comprising Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and the Chagos Archipelago] now stands at 1428, representing 26 orders, 116 families, and 503 genera. [See Table 1 for an annotated list of taxonomic updat...

Citizen-science driven exercises (e.g., bird surveys) and online platforms (e.g., eBird) provide voluminous data on bird occurrence but the data quality is often compromised. Bird atlases are based on standardized surveys and describe the distribution of bird species over a predefined region and have less biases, and thus are better suited for use...

We document a Spelaeornis species from the slopes of Mugaphi Peak in eastern Arunachal, India, with photographs and sonograms. We compared and analysed the birds in our photographs with museum specimens of the Grey-bellied Wren-Babbler S. reptatus and the Naga Wren-Babbler S. chocolatinus and found that most of the morphological features of the pho...

The Wood Snipe Gallinago nemoricola (Family Scolopacidae) is a Vulnerable species that has experienced a steep population decline over the past century (BirdLife International 2023). Once relatively uncommon in the 19th and early 20th centuries, records of this species have dwindled drastically, with only three photo-documented sightings in India o...

The Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus is a polytypic small plover with two subspecies breeding in South Asia – the nominate subspecies that breeds along the rivers of northern India and C.a. seebohmi, which breeds along the southeastern coast of India and in Sri Lanka (Ali and Ripley 1987; Rasmussen and Anderton 2012; Sangha 2021). Niroshan et...

Dutta (2009) described a new subspecies roonwali of Sri Lanka Frogmouth Batrachostomus moniliger from Karnataka based on specimens in the collections of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI). As this description has not found wide concurrence, we evaluated the specimens against the media available online as 800+ photographs as well as specimens in m...

Birds and their habitats are threatened with extinction around the world. Regional assessments of the ‘State of Birds’ are a vital means to prioritize data-driven conservation action by informing national and global policy. Such evaluations have traditionally relied on data derived from extensive, long-term, systematic surveys that require signific...

At NHM, Londnon, I came across several interesting specimens of national or state rarities whose existence was noted in standard references but remained largely inaccessible for most Indian audiences. This note highlights some of them, with the hope that it will be useful for future researchers. are available upon request for interested readers

We examine the type localities of four taxa described in Blyth (1847, 1849 and 1852) that were originally reported as the ‘range beyond Simla, near the snow line’ or just ‘north-west Himalaya’ and suggest a restriction to ‘Tyne Range, interpreted as a range in Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand, near Mussoorie’ based on an analysis of the data on lab...

Big birding events provide a valuable opportunity to develop datasets to supplement systematic bird monitoring. However, the contributions of these big datasets remain unclear. In this study, we examine two big birding events in Kerala, India (Great Backyard Bird Count and Onam Bird Count). Data submitted during these events between 2014 and 2022 w...

The type locality of Indian Thick-knee Burhinus indicus is currently restricted to the surroundings of Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India. We provide evidence for revising this to the environs of Sardhana, Uttar Pradesh, which is c.150 km south-southwest of Mussoorie.

This is the ninth annual taxonomic update after Praveen et al. (2016). Since our last update (Praveen & Jayapal 2023), there have been two revisions in IOC taxonomy (Gill et al. 2023, 2024) and one for eBird/Clements (Clements et al. 2023). The increasing influence of the Working Group Avian Checklists (hereinafter, WGAC) under the aegis of the Int...

Brown Booby Sula leucogaster is considered a casual visitor to the western coast of India (Ali and Ripley 1987; Rasmussen and Anderton 2012) and its inclusion into the checklist of birds of India is based on two historical specimens and two recent photographs (Praveen et al. 2013). One of the specimens is in the Natural History Museum (NHM), London...

Protected areas are the cornerstone of conservation and have been shown to support a high density of conservation-dependent species. Effectiveness of protected areas is conventionally measured in terms of species diversity, while the effects of protection on the functional diversity of species assemblages remain poorly explored. We utilised data fr...

Historically, White’s Thrush Zoothera aurea has been considered conspecific with the smaller Scaly Thrush Z. dauma (Ali & Ripley 1987), but it started getting recognised as an independent species from the 1990s, based mainly upon its vocal distinctiveness (Martens & Eck 1995; Rasmussen & Anderton 2012; Dickinson & Christidis 2014; del Hoyo et al. 2...

Abdulali (1964) described two forms of White-breasted Waterhen Amaurornis phoenicurus (Pennant, 1769) from the Nicobar Islands, which lie south of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, India. The first, Amaurornis p. leucocephalus Abdulali, 1964, was described from Car Nicobar Island, and later A. p. midnicobarica Abdulali, 1979 was described f...

The Oriental Cuckoo Cuculus optatus has, till recently, often been considered conspecific with the smaller Himalayan Cuckoo C. saturatus, until Dickison & Remsen (2013), following Payne (2005), recognised it as a full species. This has now been followed by the IOC (Gill et al. 2022), and eBird/Clements (Clements et al. 2022); but not by HBW & BirdL...

This is the eighth annual taxonomic update after Praveen et al. (2016). Since our last update (Praveen & Jayapal 2022), there were two revisions in IOC taxonomy (Gill et al. 2022, 2023) and one for eBird/Clements (Clements et al. 2022). However, these revisions in global taxonomy have minimal impacts on Indian birds owing to increased alignmen...

Species distribution models are popular statistical tools for inferring potential distribution range of species across space and time and are extensively used in conservation planning. Models based on presence-only data (e.g., MaxEnt) are widely used; however, these models assume perfect species detectability. Occupancy modelling is considered a be...

While cataloguing the specimens held in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India (hereinafter, ZSI), Kolkata, we came across a few interesting specimens that we document here. Some of these were known to earlier workers, but remained untraceable, while others were known, but, as we found, had been misidentified. They include Black-browed Re...

This article discusses current distribution, abundance, historical data and future predictions of 8 species of Pheasants found in Kerala namely, Indian Peafowl, Grey Junglefowl, Red Spurfowl, Painted Spurfowl, Rain Quail, Jungle Bush Quail, Painted Bush Quail, and Grey Francolin.

This is the seventh annual taxonomic update after Praveen et al. (2016). Since its last update (Praveen et al. 2021), there were two revisions in IOC taxonomy (Gill et al. 2021, 2022) and one for eBird/Clements (Clements et al. 2021). However, these revisions in global taxonomy have minimal impacts on Indian birds owing to increased alignment betwe...

Humans engage in observing birds in their natural surroundings for leisure, an activity known as ‘birdwatching’. In recent years, practice of birdwatching has gained popularity among Indians; thanks to India’s unparalleled avian biodiversity, eco-tourism facilities offering bird tours, and local birding communities. Besides these, availability of...

The article discusses the Kerala Bird Atlas (KBA), Asia's largest bird atlas, which systematically surveyed bird species distribution across the state of Kerala, India. The KBA dataset provides valuable information on bird occurrence, species richness, and conservation priorities, making it a valuable resource for ecological research and science-ba...

The Greater Flameback Chrysocolaptes guttacristatus is a woodland species that is distributed in the humid forests of the Oriental Region. We analysed the contact calls, flight calls, and drumrolls of three taxa—C. guttacristatus socialis of the Western Ghats, C. stricklandi of Sri Lanka, and C. guttacristatus sensu stricto of the Himalayas and Sou...

The vocalisations of the Lemon-rumped Phylloscopus chloronotus and the Sichuan P. forresti Leaf Warblers differ both, in song, and in principal call note. However, the occurrence of the Sichuan Leaf Warbler in north-eastern India has been contentious until recently, when more call recordings were made available on public sound repositories. We anal...

The Mountain Imperial Pigeon Ducula badia is a forest pigeon that occupies a wide range in the Oriental Region— from the Western Ghats in the west to south-eastern China and Borneo in the east (del Hoyo et al. 2020). It comprises four subspecies: the nominate occurs in southern Tenasserim, through Borneo and western Java; griseicapilla occurs from...

The Yellow Wagtail complex with its many strikingly plumaged subspecies has lent a vexing taxonomic problem to systematists. The species was not included in the current checklist of Birds of Kerala. This note describes a record of taivana subspecies of Eastern Yellow Wagtail from Thiruvananthapuram district and discusses the status in Kerala.

The Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus is a strongly migratory Old World leaf warbler that breeds in the Eurasian Palearctic. Post-breeding, it undertakes an over-land migration, between August and October; all populations winter in Africa. There are three subspecies - the nominate breeds in much of Europe; acredula breeds in Fenno-Scandinavia,...

There are no changes to the total number of species, or any other higher order rank in this taxonomic update (Table 1, Table 2). Eleven taxonomic changes are related to movement of genus, and two to species epithets. In addition, primary English names of 14 species are also changed.

The Atlas of Birds of Kerala is Asia’s largest bird atlas in terms of geographical extent, sampling effort and species coverage. The entire state of Kerala was systematically surveyed twice a year during 2015–2020 and over 0.3 million records of 380 species from 25,000 checklists were aggregated. The dataset was filtered and various metrics were es...

A species formerly known as Fork-tailed Swift (Apus pacificus complex) has been split into the following four species by Leader (2011) (range statements adapted from Chantler et al. 2015). Here we assess evidence and establish the existence of five definitive Pacific Swift specimens from India, while showing that there is no evidence for the presen...

Brood parasitism is an evolutionary adaptation in which certain species, known as brood parasites, have evolved to use other species, known as hosts, to rear their young. While a lot of work to identify host species from India and South Asia has been based on egg collections from the first half of the twentieth century, this has not been followed u...

When Praveen et al. (2016) published their checklist of the birds of India (hereinafter ‘India Checklist’) they used the country’s national boundaries, as defined by the Government of India, as the basis for inclusion of species. However, there are three areas within these national borders that are presently occupied by foreign powers, thereby nega...

Birds are in general decline around the world, but we know little about the status of India's birds and the threats they face. Status assessments of birds are often informed by data generated from repeated, long-term, structured surveys, but nationwide surveys are extremely volunteer intensive and have never been conducted in India. India, however,...

Praveen (2015) compiled a list of 500 species of birds occurring in the state of Kerala. Since then birdwatchers of the state have been actively documenting more bird species in the region. Here is an update on the additions and corrections to this list based on records made during the years 2015–2019 with some older records that were confirmed ret...

The checklists of birds of India, the Indian Subcontinent, and South Asia (www.indianbirds.in/checklists) have been updated with the recent taxonomic changes and 14 additional columns have been added to the India Checklist. Of the 36 species that went through taxonomic updates, 30 involved change of genera, three had their specific epithets changed...

eBird is a global online checklist programme launched in the USA in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, and worldwide in 2012, that gathers information on bird distribution and abundance. eBird’s goal is to maximise the usability and accessibility of the vast numbers of bird observations made each year by birdwa...

T he first definitive checklist of the birds of India (Praveen et al. 2016)—now in its fourth version (Praveen et al. 2017a)—and later that of the Indian Subcontinent (Praveen et al. 2017c), were drawn from a master database built upon a putative list of birds of the South Asian region (Praveen et al. 2017b). All these checklists and their subseque...

The Indian Subcontinent, comprising seven countries, namely, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, is often recognised as a distinct biogeographic unit (e.g., Karanth 2003). A definitive checklist for India was recently published (Praveen et al. 2016a), with subsequent periodic online updates (www.indianbirds.in/i...

A checklist is the first metric of the biodiversity of an area. Here, we present a checklist of the birds of Karnataka State (India; hereinafter Karnataka). All references that deal with the collection of specimens, and all online and published sources that deal with photographs, have been collated as supporting evidence. Karnataka has 531 species...

p>A checklist of birds of Kerala State is presented in this paper. Accepted English names, scientific binomen, prevalent vernacular names in Malayalam, IUCN conservation status, endemism, Wildlife (Protection) Act schedules, and the appendices in the CITES, pertaining to the birds of Kerala are also given. The State of Kerala has 500 species of bir...

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Lord Derby’s Parakeet or Derbyan Parakeet Psittacula derbiana is primarily a Tibetan species that occurs in a narrow strip of north-eastern Arunachal Pradesh in the upper Lohit Valley, possibly as a summer visitor from April to September (Ali & Ripley 1987). Though Grimmett et al. (1998), and Kazmierczak (2000) considered it a breeding visitor/resi...

This is the first concerted effort to survey birds across several parts of the Munnar Hills apart from Eravikulam NP. The survey provided information on the continuity of habitat in the High Ranges. Together with the Grass Hills in the north and the Palani Hills in the east, the Munnar Hills form the core of the high altitude habitat south of the P...

Since 1987, the waterbirds of Kerala are being monitored every year in the month of January as part of the Asian Waterbird Census. We have made an attempt to analyze and summarize the results of these census being carried out in the different wetlands of Kerala. The population trends on the different species of waterbirds between 1987 to 2014 have...

Interest in Pelagic birding in India is on the rise and there have been more and more off-shore trips since my last update in Sea Swallow 62. Trips undertaken in 2013 from the southern coastal states, with Maharashtra joining in this time, are summarised in Table 1. Kerala has now the distinction of being the first state to have done at least one p...

Himalayan Vulture Gyps himalayensis is considered a resident of the mountains of Central Asia, the Himalayas from northern Pakistan till Bhutan, southern and eastern Tibet, and China. Post breeding, the adults remain for most of the year in the breeding grounds while juveniles wander, in winter, into the plains of South-, and Southeast- Asia (Naoro...

Cory's Shearwater Calonectris borealis is a large seabird that breeds on islands and cliffs in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as in the Atlantic Ocean in the Canary Islands (Spain), and Berlengas Islands and the Azores (Portugal). After breeding, birds from the Atlantic colonies predominantly winter off the coast of South America and southern Afric...

Mascarene Petrel Pseudobulweria aterrima is a little-known seabird breeding only on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. It is frequently mis-identified in the field and there exist only a handful of specimens in the museums across the world—seven as per Attié et al. (1997), though re-cent additions in Muséum de La Réunion have occurred (Vincent Bre...

India has a long history of ornithological endeavours, starting from the times of Sykes, Hodgson and Jerdon in middle of the 19th Century through the age of Hume, Oates, Blanford, Whistler and Ticehurst into the era of Salim Ali, Koelz, Ripley and Abdulali, who finally heralded the age of field ornithology in the 1970s (Shyamal 2007). However, one...