We thank the Maharashtra Forest Department for permits and Suzlon for allowing us to work on their property. We appreciate the logistical support provided by the Bhosale family in Satara, D. Gholap, and the Primary Health Centre in Thoseghar. We also thank N. Dandekar, G. Gowande, D. Joshi and R. Kashid for help in the field, A.K. Nageshkumar for remote sensing analysis, J. Endler for MatLab script, A. Ghatage for help with colour analyses and V. Giri for continued support. The Environmental Science Department of Fergusson College, Pune, provided partial support to H.B. during some of the bird surveys. Funding was provided by the MOEF-CC, DST-FIST and DBT-IISc partnership programme. Finally, we thank S.L. Lima, A.T. Vanak, K. Shanker and A. Batabyal for valuable comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.