Sunderbans Bird Festival from Jan 17

Kolkata: The second edition of the Sunderbans Bird Festival will be held from January 17 to 20, 2024 at Sajnekhali to create a platform for knowledge sharing and discussion on the conservation of the birds in the Sunderbans and recording their occurrence, distribution and habitat preferences in the archipelago.

The poster for the event was released on Friday.

Participants will get an exclusive opportunity to be part of recording the occurrence of birds in the whole Indian Sunderban landscape and will get to learn a lot about the Sunderban ecology. The maiden edition of the festival held in February this year brought a lot of birders, wildlife enthusiasts and nature lovers from around the world to the Sundarbans.

It also substantially helped tourism in the area as it brands Sunderbans as a birding hotspot and not just the only mangrove tiger habitat. “The event is an important initiative to deliver the message of conservation of birds in the 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.

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.

Sundarban Tiger Reserve and South 24-Parganas Division under the guidance of the Wildlife Wing of the Forest Department of West Bengal are organising the festival.

Applications from interested participants are being invited in online mode after which selected candidates will get confirmation on payment of the participant fee.