Bird watching camp in West Bengal forests

COOCHBEHAR - A three-day bird watching camp is being set up in West Bengal’s Patlakahawa forests to educate birdwatchers about rare species of birds.

Organised by ‘The Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation’ (HNAF), a non-governmental organization, in association with the Coochbehar Forest Division from January 28 to 31 it aims to conserve and spread awareness about the endangered species of birds.

“Bird watching is a very popular hobby in the world. Besides, we come to know about the rare species of birds more, we would be able to tell others to conserve it. If some bird variety is on the verge of extinct and if we are not able recognise it how we will conserve it. Thus, it is very important to know about the birds,” said Sayak Roy, a bird watcher.

The migratory birds come during winter months from far off European countries.

V. K. Sood, the forest conservator, said the endeavour is to make people aware of the need to protect the bird population.

“We are trying to protect birds in our area because we are not allowing any picnic party in the wildlife areas. We are also raising awareness to common people so that they become aware of the bird population and what are the use of protecting them and how we can make aware future generation about this bird watching and protection of environment as a whole,” said Sood.

West Bengal accounts for 831 varieties of species that include some of the rare birds like Grey Lag Goose, Bronze Wing Jacana, Northern Shoveler, Cormorant, Rudi Shell Duck, Gadwall and etc. By Tarak Sarkar (ANI)