Bhagalpur: Bird festival to showcase winged guests, explore tourism potential

BHAGALPUR: The historic ‘Silk City’ of Bhagalpur on the banks of Ganga is all set to host a three-day ‘Bird Festival’ from December 11 to 13, which will showcase hundreds of species of migratory birds that make the riverine diaras their temporary home during the winters.
The festival is being jointly organised by the state forest department, the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), a wildlife research organization promoting the cause of nature conservation across the country, and the Mandar Nature Club, a Bhagalpur-based conservation organization.
The organisers claimed that the bird festival is aimed at extensive study of birds and birdlife, their natural habitat and taking steps for their conservation. The focus will also be on exploring the potential of the region as a destination for bird tourism.
Arvind Mishra, environmentalist and founder of Mandar Nature Club told this newspaper on Friday that the three-day bird festival would include identification of different species of birds, threatened species, natural habitat, ecology, and their conservation and rescue.
“There will be a public discussion on conservation of birds, bird- watching by five to seven groups of environmentalists, including river front monitoring staff, Garud Saviours, NCC cadets, Ganga Prahrees, college students and ornithologists. A digital show on regional and migratory birds and postal stamp exhibition on birds will also be organised during the event,” Mishra said.
He added, “Bird watching by environmentalists and experts will be held at different sites, including Jagatpur lake, Ganga river course, especially the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary, the 50 kilometers stretch of river Ganga from Sultanganj to Kahalgaon, Kadwa Kosi diara, Sundervan (forest area in Bhagalpur), Jaiprakash Udyan and university areas.”
Mishra further claimed that the region has a vast potential to promote bird tourism as it is becoming ideal habitat for several migratory birds due to water-bodies, green vegetation and clean environment of Gangetic diara areas.