Silent Valley National Park : Bird Survey
A comprehensive bird survey conducted in Silent Valley National Park documented 192 bird species.
- It is located along the southwest corner of the Nilgiris in South India, in Kerala.
- It is one of the last undisturbed tracts of tropical rainforest in India.
- It constitutes the centerpiece of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, sanctified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2012.
- It is nourished by the Kunthipuzha River.
- It has four types of vegetation “West Coast tropical evergreen forest, southern sub-tropical broad-leaved hill forest, montane wet temperature forest, and grasslands.
- The flora of the valley includes many species of flowering plants, orchids, ferns and fern allies, liverworts, lichens, and algae.
- Plants of high medicinal value as well as the towering Culinea trees are also found here.
- It is famous for its population of lion-tailed macaques, Nilgiri langur, Malabar giant squirrel, Indian elephant, tiger, leopard, and gaur (Indian bison).
