Edition IV of Sunderban Bird Festival to be held from January 23 to 27, 2026

Kolkata: The 4th edition of the Sunderban Bird Festival that will be held from January 23 to 27, 2026 will offer bird lovers a chance to click the winged guests in the Sunderbans, which is famous for tigers and the crocodiles. The event, scheduled to be held at Sajnekhali, is meant to create a platform for knowledge sharing and discussion on the conservation of the birds in Sunderbans and recording their occurrence, distribution and habitat preferences in the archipelago.

“The event is a welcome and important initiative to deliver the message of conservation of birds in Sunderbans which holds a place of high significance as it lies along the junction of two major Avian Flyways (Central Asian and East Eurasian flyway) and plays a crucial role in the foraging and breeding habits in the winter migration of birds using these flyways,” a senior official of the state Forest department said.

The Central Asian Flyway is considered the second most important resting place for birds in the world. There are 20 birds which need special attention as per international convention and 10 of these are found here.

Sunderban Tiger Reserve and South 24-Parganas Forest Division under the guidance of Wildlife Wing of the Forest department of Bengal is organising the festival.

24 participants will be part of the festival. They will be split into smaller teams and travel on boats along different islands in the STR and the South-24-Parganas Forest Division with a central camping site at Sajnekhali.

The third edition of the Festival held in January 2025 led to the sighting of 31,927 birds belonging to a total of 154 species. The bird sightings included 13 species of threatened birds—Eurasian Curfew, Brown winged Kingfisher, Black Capped Kingfisher, Grey Plover, Lesser Sand Plover, Terek Sandpiper, Common Redshank, Brown headed gull, Black headed gull, Common tern, Lesser Adjutant, Great Knot and Osprey.

The bird festival is a boost to Sunderban tourism as it brands Sunderbans as a birding hotspot and not just the only mangrove tiger habitat.