Bird ringing station to come up in Bihar; MoU inked in Gujarat

Bihar is set to have a bird ringing station, devoted to observation, monitoring and research on migratory birds -- the fourth such facility in the country and the first to be set up with the support of a state government -- a top official said on Monday.

Principal Secretary, Environment and Forests, Dipak Kumar Singh, said a Memorandum of Understanding was exchanged by representatives of the Bihar government and the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) at Gandhinagar in the presence of C K Mishra, secretary to the Union Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

"The MoU was exchanged on the sidelines of CMS-COP 13, or the 13th Conservation of Migratory Species-Conference of Parties, held at the Gujarat capital where delegates from 130 countries are participating in discussions on preservation of migratory species," Singh told PTI over phone.

"So far, there were three bird ringing stations - at Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Orissa. The Bihar government will spend Rs 5 crore for the new project. As per the MoU, which is for a period of five years, the new bird ringing station will be manned by trained scientists and other skilled manpower from BNHS," the principal secretary stated.

He said the MoU was signed by Pradeep Apte, Director BNHS, and Bihar's Chief Wildlife Warden Prabhat Kumar Gupta.

"This will be the first bird-ringing station in the country to be set up with support of a state government. Its main center will be at Bhagalpur, located close to the Ganges, and is known to be a favorite destination of migratory birds.

"In fact, it happens to be among the only three breeding places of Greater Adjutant across the world, the other two being in Assam and Cambodia," Singh added.

At these stations, rings are placed on legs of birds. The rings come with chips which help in tracking the origin of the birds and the route taken by these during migration.

In Bihar, migratory birds are also spotted in large numbers in Jamui, Begusarai, Darbhanga and Vaishali, he added.

"At the CMS-COP 13, we had put up a Bihar stall at the India pavilion, which was inspected by Babul Supriyo, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest and Climate Change. He was appreciative of the efforts made by Bihar in preserving wildlife. He was presented with a report on breeding of Greater Adjutant in Bhagalpur," Singh said.