'Flamingo Festival' in Navi Mumbai on May 14

To reinforce the status of Navi Mumbai as a ‘Flamingo City’, environment-focussed groups have joined hands to hold the first-ever Flamingo Festival in Mumbai’s satellite city.

The Flamingo Festival will coincide with the World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) on May 14.

WBMD is a twice-a-year awareness-raising global campaign held on the second weekends of May and October highlighting the need for the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats. It has an outreach and is an effective tool to help raise global awareness of the threats faced by migratory birds, their ecological importance, and the need for international cooperation to conserve them, the WMBD website said.

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The Navi Mumbai Flamingo Festival assumes added significance as the civic body has given the 'Flamingo City' tag to the city that attracts the country’s largest number of pink birds for an urban area.

A bird watching event will be held at DPS Lake and an exhibition on Flamingos at DPS (Delhi Public School) auditorium are part of the event for which entry is free. The show, listed as part of the WMBD global events, starts at 12.30 am and ends at 6 pm, B N Kumar, Director, NatConnect Foundation, who is one of the organisers, said.

“While we enjoy the pleasant sight of the various species of birds from across the world flying in, it is equally important for us to understand their regular destinations,” Kumar said. “It is just not for the love birds, but to check the fragile ecological balance that we need to focus on wetlands, mudflats and mangroves,” he pointed out.

Jyoti Nadkarni of Kharghar Wetlands and Hills forum said a photo exhibition, educational displays on mangroves and wetlands, flamingo dance and a craft event will be part of the fun-filled Navi Mumbai Flamingo Festival.

Apart from Delhi Public School, the 139-year-old nature research body BNHS, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), the State Mangrove Foundation and Godrej Mangrove Foundation have extended their support for the event.

BNHS has already identified several wetlands to be conserved as part of the Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary (TCFS)satellite wetland management plan to allow birds to take refuge in these places during the high tides.

Sunil Agrawal of Save Navi Mumbai Environment forum said the Flamingo Festival will also focus on the dwindling CRZ and constant threats to wetlands.