It was just the apt beginning for the Bird Festival organised by the UP Forest Department at Jarar in Agra. The State Forest Department made an endeavour to make a record with over 21,252 children sighting 2,39,625 birds at the same time from 7 am to 10 am on Friday. The birds were sighted by schoolchildren under local Divisional Forest Officers in all the districts at the start of the Fest.
Chief Conservator Forest Prashant Verma while confirming the above, said, “We are trying to register the largest number of bird watchers doing the Act across the State in one day in a given period of time,” he said.
Chief Conservator Forest and in-charge of the Control Room at the lucknow headquarters, Eva Sharma said, “This figure of 2.3 lakh is a very large number of people who have simultaneously carried out the exercise of watching the birds.”
At the State capital, she said that over 208 people participated in the sighting and nearly 1,554 birds were sighted. “These sightings were carried out at Musabagh, Kukrail and PGI. At Musabagh, the Rufous Treepie species were found in great numbers along with babblers and wobblers. At PGI, we spotted the Indian Eagle Owl which was encouraging, the comman kestrel and the Oriole,” she said.
Meanwhile, at Jarar, the venue of the Bird Festival which is at a distance of 13 kilometres from the Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary and lies between the Yamuna river in the North and the Chambal river in the south buzzed with a whole lot of activities related to the Bird Festival along with the chirping of the birds.
The Chambal Safari lodge at this point has the “Sarus Village” on one side and the Bird Festival activity on the other. The Sarus Village that has been created with 103 Swiss cottages to host the 50 national and the 25 international experts visiting the Festival.is shaded by Neem and Ficus trees and is surrounded by sprawling fields.
The exhibition which has been installed with the help of various NGO’s is like an Art Exhibition which gave a comprehensive input about the Birds in the state. The Festival activity saw several workshops and the technical sessions conducted on Birds.
Principal Chief Conservator Forest (PCCF) Umendra Sharma said that this was the first time that an event of such a magnitude was being held in the State of Uttar Pradesh. ‘It has been aptly titled as the Bird Festival because a number of activities will be carried out and there will be several stalls which will showcase things which are associated with the birds like bird feed and the like” he said. Sharma said that this was a way of sensitising people and making them aware that birds were useful.
DFO Chmabal Anil Patel said that the bird watchers will be divided into there groups. ‘These will be taken out for bird watching activities in the River Safari, Black Buck Safari and Etawah” he said. Forest Department officials said that the Festival will put Uttar Pradesh on the eco tourist tourist map. The Festival is being organised on the same pattern as that of the Bird Festival at Rutland. The State Government will sign an MOU with the Bird life International which organises this festival at the United Kingdom and they will support the Bird Festival every year in the State.
In the first phase, nine bird circuits have been identified under ecotourism some of which are: The Riverine Bird Circuit will include the National Chambal Bird Sanctuary, Nawabgunj Bird Sanctuary, Sandi Bird Sanctuary, Hardoi and lakh Bahausi Bird Sanctuary. In the Kannauj Bird Circuit, there will be Sur Sarovar Bird Sanctuary in Agra, Sarsai Nawar Bird Sanctuary in Etawah, Saman Bird Sanctuary, Mainpuri, Okhla Bird Sanctuary, Gautambuddh and Eta Bird Sanctuary. The Terai Tiger Circuit will see Katarniyaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, National Dudhwa Park and lakhimpur Kheri Bird Sanctuary.
The prominent birds which visit the sanctuaries in the State of Uttar Pradesh include Greater White Fronted Goose, Grey leg Goose, Bar Headed Goose, Red Crested Pochard, Northern Pin Tail, , Cooman Crane, Coot, Brown Headed Gull and Black Headed Gull. The activities at the Bird Festival will include Bird Watching, Seminar, Photography, Painting, Essay and Poetry competitions.