Terrestrial avifauna of St.John’s College campus, Tirunelveli District, Tamilnadu, India.

This study was carried out to prepare proper checklist of terrestrial birds of St. John’s College campus, Tirunelveli. As a result of one year (January 2014 to December 2014) observation, 28 bird species were recorded belonging to 10 orders and 18 families. 12 species of birds belonged to the order Passeriformes; 3 species each to Falconiformes, Coraciiformes and Cuculiformes; 2 species to Columbiformes and one species each to Ciconiiformes, Psittaciformes, Strigiformes, Apodiformes and Piciformes. Based on the frequency of sighting, 7 species of birds were very common, 6 species of birds each to common and very rare, 5 species of birds were occasional, and 4 species of birds were rare. The birds present in the campus have a diverse food habits, where the insectivorous birds is at maximum with 10 species, which is followed by omnivorous with 8 species, carnivorous, frugivorous and granivorous with 3 species each and 1 species to nectarivorus. Of the 28 terrestrial birds species, 15 were not-breeding and 13 were breeding in SJC campus. SJC campus are green in the urban environment, they provide food and shelter for the urban terrestrial birds community.