DOI: 10.5061/dryad.0gb5mkm3n
title: Data on rainforest birds from line transect surveys in the Kalakad - Mundathurai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India

description: This dataset contains data on rainforest bird communities collected along
 line transects in Kalakad - Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India,
 as part of doctoral research leading up to the following thesis:Raman, T.
 R. S. 2001. Community ecology and conservation of mid-elevation tropical
 rainforest bird communities in the southern Western Ghats, India. PhD
 thesis, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.Part of the data (from
 transects T2 and T3, in particular) was used in the following
 publication:Raman, T. R. S. 2003. Assessment of census techniques for
 inter-specific comparisons of tropical rainforest bird densities. Ibis
 145: 9-21. http://doi.org/10.1046/j.1474-919X.2003.00105.xThe Raman (2003)
 publication also uses bird point count data (from T2 and T3) available in
 a related dataset:  Raman, T. R. S.,  Mudappa, D.,
 Jeganathan, P., Joshi, N. V., Sukumar, R. 2022. Data on bird communities
 and vegetation in relation to altitude and habitat alteration in the
 Kalakad - Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India. Dryad, Dataset,
 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.41ns1rngj GEOGRAPHICAL AREA:
 Kalakad-Mundathurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR), 895 km² sanctuary located
 between 8°25′ to 8°53′ N and 77°10′ to 77°35′ E in Tamil Nadu state in the
 Western Ghats mountain range of India. TAXONOMIC SCOPE: Birds, mammals
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: I am grateful to P. Pavithra for help with data entry and
 compilation.
description: Bird data are from 600 m long line transect surveys surveyed
 typically in about 60 min duration in the early morning hours. The methods
 for bird sampling are as described in Raman (2003) and in this doctoral
 thesis: Raman, T. R. S. 2001. Community ecology and
 conservation of mid-elevation tropical rainforest bird communities in the
 southern Western Ghats, India. PhD thesis, Indian Institute of Science,
 Bangalore. All transects were censused during the first
 3 h after sunrise when bird activity was highest in the area (unpublished
 data). The 600-m-long transect was walked in about 1 h, at a slow, uniform
 pace. All birds seen (perched or flying under the canopy) or heard were
 recorded as to species, number (wherever possible) and perpendicular
 distance in the following metre classes: 0–5, 5–10, 10–15, 15–20, 20–30,
 30–50 and 50–100. The further distance classes were wider to minimize
 errors in distance estimation (verified using a range finder whenever
 possible).
description: Besides the README.TXT file, this dataset contains the following
 3 comma-delimited text files with data in columns as explained
 below.<br><br><strong>01_transectlocations.csv</strong><br>This file contains details of transect in mature rainforests and plantations and plantation-forest edges<br>Transect: Unique ID number or name of a 600 m long line transect<br>LatitudeN: Approximate latitude in decimal degrees North of the midpoint of the transect<br>LongitudeE: Approximate longitude in decimal degrees East of the midpoint of the transect<br>LocationDetails: Description of location<br><br><strong>02_transectbirds.csv</strong><br>This file contains the data on birds from 5 minute variable radius point count surveys<br>Transect: Unique ID number or name of a 600 m long line transect<br>Date: Date of survey of the specified line transect<br>StartTime: Start time of the transect (transects were supposed to be of 60 min duration in morning hours)<br>EndTime: End time of the transect (transects were supposed to be of 60 min duration in morning hours)<br>Startweather: Weather at the start of the transect<br>Endweather: Weather at the end of the transect<br>Time: Specific time of observation<br>Species_old: Old common name of the bird species<br>Species: English common name (India) of the bird species as used in the Ebird India portal in 2022 <br>BirdMamm: Category indicating Bird or Mammal<br>Flock: Category indicating whether the observation of that species was of a detection (1 or more birds detected as indicated in the next column) or a flock of birds (a flock of more than 1 individual was present but could not be counted and is just recorded as 1 in the next column)<br>Number: Number of individuals detected<br>PD: Perpendicular distance of the detected bird from the transect line in the following distance classes in metres: 0-5; 5-10, 10-15, 15-20; 20-30; 30-40; 40-50; 50-100; Note that for mammals the following distance classes in metres were also used: 0-10 and 10-20; NA = not available <br>HSF: Code indicating H = heard; S = seen; F = flying under the canopy (UC) or less than 5 m over the canopy (OC)<br>Location: 25 m segment location within transect line. Most transects started at A1 and had points marked every 25 m in 100 m chunks: A1...A4, B1...B4, ... upto F1...F4, after which it ended with X at the 600 m point. Alphabet codes varied on longer trails or where transects did not begin at A1.<br>LR: Portion within 25 m segment and side of transect where bird was observed. L = left; R = right; BL = bottom left; BR = bottom right; ML = mid left; MR = mid right; TL = top left; TR = top right  <br>Remarks: notes and remarks; (includes some codes: *: in mixed species flock; T: total count of number of individuals;  diff/DIFF/DF: different detection from conspecific; detected on the same point; GP: flock; CC: counter-calling individuals) <br>MHP: Whether the bird was in a mixed hunting party or mixed species flock (Y = yes; N = no)<br><br><strong>03_birdnames.csv</strong><br>This file contains bird species codes and matching common and scientific names<br>Species_old: Old common name used for the bird species<br>Species: English common name (India) of the bird species as used in the Ebird India portal in 2022.<br>ScientificName: Scientific name of bird species (following the Clements classification) as used in the Ebird India portal (https://ebird.org/india)