Digboi College A Potential Place Birding Digboi College, a premiere institution of higher education in the district of Tinsukia, Assam,

, is imparting quality education in all the three streams (arts, science and commerce) since its inception in 1965. Located on a hillock near the Digboi-Duliajan Road, the college is surrounded by lush green forest, covering an area of about 75 bighas. A part of the college boundary is adjacent to the famous Dehing-Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary and this might be the reason behind the availability of such a diverse range of bird and mammal species. There are also two numbers of military bunkers located in the eastern part of the college that were constructed during the World War-II, which signifies the historical importance of the place during the war. In the year 2011, a track of about 500 meters passing through the forest falling within the College boundary was constructed that proved to be a potential route for photographing birds and other mammals. There are certain uplands that provide eye level view for taking better photographs. Bird calls are preferred but its uses should be limited only to the level of urgency, since, research has revealed that extensive use of bird calls may affect the breeding habitat of the species. Although, Digboi College is rich in its natural resources but still there are certain threats that needs to be tackled before it gets too late. One such threat is illegal chopping of trees and bamboos within the college boundary by certain section of the society due to the absence of a concrete boundary wall. Another matter of concern is the illegal poaching being carried out by certain localities. There are records that deer, mongooses, squirrels, birds, etc. were killed for their meat within the college boundary. Apart from this, the new tea garden that is being planted adjacent to the college boundary is posing a serious threat to the entire ecology. It is the high time to make people aware of the importance of conservation and motivate them to keep themselves away from activities that pose a threat to the entire biodiversity. The forest department along with the college teaching community can play a significant role in conducting programs intended towards educating public and creating awareness regarding the importance of conservation before it gets too late. Checklist of the bird species recorded within Digboi College Campus between January, 2011 and December2013:

Common Name 1. Grey throated babbler 2. Pin Striped Tit Babbler 3. Puff Throated Babbler 4. Pygmy Wren Babbler 5. White Hooded Babbler 6. Blue Throated Barbet 7. Coppersmith Barbet 8. Great barbet 9. Lineated Barbet 10. Blue Bearded Bee-Eater 11. Green Bee-Eater 12. Ashy Bulbul 13. Black Bulbul 14. Red Vented Bulbul 15. Red Whiskered Bulbul 16. Little Cormorant 17. Greater Coucal 18. House Crow 19. Eastern Jungle Crow 20. Chestnut Winged Cuckoo 21. Large Hawk Cuckoo 22. Black Winged Cuckooshrike 23. Large Cuckooshrike 24. Emerald dove 25. Oriental turtle dove 26. Spotted dove 27. Black Drongo 28. Ashy drongo 29. Bronzed drongo 30. Greater Racket tailed drongo

31. Lesser racket tailed drongo 32. Spangled Drongo 33. Crested Serpent Eagle 34. Cattle Egret 35. Intermediate Egret 36. White throated fantail 37. Scarlet backed flowerpecker 38. Grey headed canary flycatcher 39. Pale chinned flycatcher 40. Rufous gorgeted flycatcher 41. Slaty blue flycatcher 42. Verditer flycatcher 43. Red throated flycatcher 44. Black backed forktail 45. Common Hoopoe 46. Oriental Pied Hornbill 47. Common Iora 48. Common Kingfisher 49. White throated kingfisher 50. Chestnut Backed laughingthrush 51. Rufous necked laughingthrush 52. Greater necklaced laughingthrush 53. Lesser necklaced laughingthrush 54. Orange bellied leafbird 55. Common Green magpie 56. Green Billed Malkoha 57. Scarlet Minivet 58. Scaly breasted munia 59. White rumped munia 60. Common Myna 61. Jungle Myna

62. White vented myna 63. Common hill myna 64. Rufous bellied niltava 65. Small niltava 66. Black hooded oriole 67. Maroon oriole 68. Brown hawk owl 69. Asian barred owlet 70. Spotted owlet 71. Rose ringed parakeet 72. Kalij Pheasant 73. Speckled piculet 74. White browed piculet 75. Thick billed green pigeon 76. Yellow footed green pigeon 77. Olive backed pipit 78. Hodgsons redstart 79. Oriental magpie robin 80. White rumped shama 81. Rusty bellied shortwing 82. Grey backed shrike 83. Brown shrike 84. Eurasian tree sparrow 85. House sparrow 86. Asian pied starling 87. Chestnut tailed starling 88. Little spiderhunter 89. Streaked spiderhunter 90. Crimson sunbird 91. Mrs. Goulds sunbird 92. Ruby cheeked sunbird

93. Striated swallow 94. Barn swallow 95. Common tailorbird 96. Slaty bellied tesia 97. Blue whistling thrush 98. Great tit 99. Collared treepie 100. 101. 102. 103. 104. 105. 106. 107. 108. 109. 110. 111. 112. 113. 114. 115. 116. 117. 118. 119. Grey treepie Rufous treepie White wagtail Yellow wagtail Blyths leaf warbler Chestnut crowned warbler Golden spectacled warbler Grey cheeked warbler Greenish warbler Green crowned warbler Grey sided bush warbler Pale footed bush warbler Tickells leaf warbler White spectacled warbler Oriental white eye Large woodshrike Greater yellownape Lesser yellownape Grey headed woodpecker Greater goldenback