Kanpur :
For the first time a bird watching festival was organised by Kanpur zoo on Friday wherein the birders, nature lovers and the visitors were given a unqiue experience of witnessing the zoo lake and its catchment area. The idea behind the festival was to enable the people to see a number of migratory birds nesting on the trees in the lake area. The unique festival had been organised by Kanpur zoo under the aegis of Social Forestry department on the instructions of the chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.
The visitors to the zoo were an amazed lot to see colonies of a number of birds on the tree tops. A total of 741 birds were spotted in the lake area which belonged to 44 different species. The different bird kind included Pied Kingfisher, orange headed thrush, painted storks, little egret, great cormorant, open bill stork, black headed ibis, waterhen, whistling teal, grey hornbill to name a few.
Chief Conservator of Forest, Kanpur division, KR Yadav on the occasion said that Kanpur zoo is a natural place with a distinguished lake which attracts a number of migratory birds each year. He said that the way pollution is rising in the city there is no place left for these birds here except the lush green and natural look alike jungle area in Kanpur zoo which attract birds towards it every year.
Kanpur zoo director, Deepak Kumar said that a total of 741 birds were spotted belonging to 44 different species which in itself is a record. He said that not only the number of the birds spotted was huge but also their varieties were witnessed in a big number.
On this occasion, a number of school children participated and they saw the birds chirping and making sound. The children were guided to the lake area and shown the entire lake. The two watching towers on this purpose were used to witnessing and capturing birds. The bird lovers made use of their high-tech cameras to capture the birds and each of their little activities. The children also had the best of their time as they picnicked in the woods and close to the lake in the presence of their teachers and the forest officers.
District Forest Officer Ram Kumar on the occasion said that the children had been given the access in the Safari area which has lake to make them aware about the birds and their species.
Zoo vets Dr RK Singh, Dr UC Srivastava, Dr Mohd Nasir were present who guided the students and explained them about the birds.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kanpur / by Abhinav Malhotra, TNN / December 04th, 2015