A bird watching programme was organised by the Environment Management and Raw Materials Division of Tata Steel at the Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary. Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary located 10 km from the city of Jamshedpur, attracts varied strata of people right from the city dwellers, students to nature lovers. The height of hills ranges from 690 ft to 915 ft. from sea level. The forests here shed their leaves in the summer and attain full bloom at the onset of the monsoons. They fall under the category "Dry Peninsular Sal" and "Northern Dry Mixed Deciduous Forest".
It was in these picturesque settings that the programme was started this morning at 5:00 am and ended at 9:00 am. 70 wildlife enthusiasts participated in the programme including students from NML, Kerala Public School, Agrico, Adarsh Shiksha Niketan, Adityapur and Motilal Nehru Public School. A briefing session was done prior to the bird watching programme. Thereafter, the participants observed the birds by random tracking at the foothills in a range of 2 kms. All participants had to identify and record at least ten birds in their datasheet cum reference sheet provided to them, with the help of Volunteers assigned for the programme.
A total of 20 different species were identified during the sessions by the participants. Apart from the students, other groups which participated included Teachers, Scientists, Volunteers, and Forest guards from Jamshedpur Forest Division. The programme was led by Dr Hishmi Jamil Husain, head, environment & forest management, Tata Steel and Sanjay Kumar Mahto, Curator, Tata Zoo.