UP’s First Bird Festival Kick Starts In Chambal Sanctuary
04 December, Bah (Agra)
The much publicised Uttar Pradesh’s maiden Bird Festival was inagurated here today by state’s forest minister Tej Narain Pandey alias Pawan Pandey with an aim to create another world record for attracting the largest number of birdwatchers in the three days event at multiple locations in the state.
Earlier last month, UP government created a world record by planting highest samplings in the state in a day.
Though the three day event has been inaugurated this morning with bird watching session and a seminar on the preservation of rare birds attended by the state forest minister Mr Pandey, attendence of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav tomorrow will be the highlight of this programme.
According to officials here, Yadav would arrive here at 1100 hours tomorrow from Saifai and would attend a programme releasing a coffee table book called ‘Birds of UP’.
During his over 90 minutes stay at the venue, the CM will also interact with the eminent birdwatchers and international ornithologists including Tim Appleton. Around 150 experts including 40 from other countries are participating in this event.
Later, the CM will leave to visit Chambal Sanctuary from where he will return to Lucknow.
To make the event a success, a 26,000 sq.feet photo exhibition pandal has been erected here besides 100 swiss cottages and a 100 person capacity dinning hall would entertain the guests.
Meanwhile, officials said that a record could be set up as authorities in all districts having wetlands have been directed to bring people from all walks of life to the identified spots. “Places like zoos and other areas where birds arrive in large numbers are chosen by the respective districts.
The district administrations have also been asked to arrange binoculars and bird guides to inform birdwatchers about the species of birds they see,” officials said. As per the officials the event will be recorded through Google Maps. Around 10 lakh people are expected to watch birds at various locations across the state.
Mainpuri in Agra division will organise the bird festival at Sahan village in Karhal, Kinhawar village in Bhogaon, Saman bird sanctuary and Markandeya lake.
Earlier, the largest number of birdwatchers in India that had gathered to see the avian species across India was 5,000 on Big Bird Day.
Inspired by the UK Bird Fest, UP is holding India’s first bird festival in Chambal, which was home to dreaded dacoits earlier.
Close to 100 species of birds and some 80 migratory visitors are expected to be seen during the event. Birdwatching session have been scheduled between 0600 hrs to 1000 hrs every day.
Visitors will also be given guided tours of black buck safari, Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary and Etwah wetlands.Besides promoting eco-tourism, efforts would also be made to conserve and protect rare birds through this event. Many of them are on verge of extinction and events such as these will spread awareness. UP is home to nearly 330 species of resident and migratory birds.
The festival hosts 25 international wildlife experts and photographers, while 50 wildlife enthusiasts have been shortlisted to take part in the festival which will be organized on the lines of the British Bird Fair held in England every year in the third week of August.
Wildlife experts like Tim Inskipp, Carol Inskipp, Pamela Rasmussen, Tim Appleton, Per Alstrom, Bano Haralu, Paul Donald, Gopi Sundar, Jackie Garner and Pete Marshall, among others, are expected to take part in the event.
Last month, UP entered the Guinness Book Of World Records for planting the most number of saplings in one day. The state government had under a green drive planted 10 lakh saplings in 10 locations in a single day as part of its ‘Clean UP, Green UP’ initiative.