Winged beauties a feast for birdwatchers at bird fest

"In birdwatching, Karnataka stands at third place in the country," said Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G Sankar.

He was addressing a gathering after inaugurating the bird festival, organised as part of the Winter Festival-2018, at Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens, here, on Friday.

"It is important to understand nature, loss of habitats and climate change. The bird festival is organised to create awareness and to evoke interest about birds, nature and to keep a count on the endangered species. The bird festival was organised in a short span of time. But, it got a good response from bird enthusiasts. In our country, citizen science is not growing like in countries such as the US and Europe. Birdwatching will also help to grow citizen science," he said.

He said, if the programme becomes a success, next year also the district administration will plan a similar festival, facilitating more number of bird enthusiasts.

A bird enthusiast himself, Sankar said birdwatching can be conducted in gardens, parks, forest, deserts, wetlands, cultivated lands, mangroves, open seas, grassland, scrub, coastal, and garbage dump. He conducted a session on 'Introduction to birdwatching and ethical birdwatching'.

The DC informed that he has recorded the bird 'Large cuckooshrike' through a photograph in Mysuru. "Large cuckooshrike is a rare species. I have also cited a Grey Wagtail in the district," he said.

"A birdwatcher should practice recording birds. A birdwatcher should always follow that he should not give stress to any bird by approaching it closely if they are vulnerable like a nesting or feeding bird, chicks and dependent juveniles. A birdwatcher should avoid revealing the nest or the bird's habitat to dangers," Abhiram said.

A Shivaprakash of Mysore Natures informed that Mysuru has a history of birdwatching. Nearly 99 bird enthusiasts participated in the event. They were divided into six teams and were sent for birdwatching at Kukkarahalli Lake, Lingambudhi Lake, Hebbal Lake, Karanji Lake, Varakodu Scrub and Giribettada Kere over two days.