The Thattekad Bird Sanctuary

The Thattekad Bird Sanctuary, covering an area of hardly 25 km². and located about 60 km north-east of Cochin (Kerala state, India), is one of the important bird sanctuaries of India. Dr. Salim Ali, one of the best known ornithologist has described this sanctuary as “the richest bird habitat on penninsular India”. The literal meaning of Thattekad is flat forest, the region is an evergreen low-land forest and is located between the branches of Periyar River, the longesat river in Kerala.

The Thattekad Bird Sanctuary has a rich and varied birdlife. Several species of birds, both forest birds as well as the water birds, visit the sanctuaries, and the important ones include the following:

The Indian Pitta, which visits the sanctuary during winter and spends almost six months here.


 * Ground Thrush, an orange-headed bird.
 * Large-billed Warbler.
 * Jerdon’s Nightjar
 * Indian Cuckoo
 * Darters
 * Cormorants
 * Whiskered Terns
 * Collared Scops Owl
 * Frogmouths, which are nocturnal birds
 * Pompadour Green Pigeon
 * Yellow-browed Bulbuls

The sanctuary is a habitat for different varieties of Cuckoos and a region of the sanctuary popularly called Cuckoo Paradise is home to them, and they include the following:


 * Drongo Cuckoo, which may be easily mistaken for Drongo
 * Indian Hawk Cuckoo, which is highly vocal
 * Large Hawk Cuckoo, which looks relatively massive compared to other types of cuckoos, and is characterized by a dark grey and heavily streaked throat.

The Idamaliyar forest is located about 15 km from The Thattekad Bird Sanctuary. This is also an evergreen forest located above the idamaliyar River. The Mountain Hawk Eagles are found in this forest. Other birds in this forest include Dark-fronted Warbler, Brown-cheeked Fulvetta, Brown-backed and White-rumped Needletails, and Emerald Green Pigeons.