At the first Sundarban Bird Festival, the birders, wildlife enthusiasts, and forest officials got hold of sight of 145 different bird species. The Sundarban Tiger Reserve (STR) of the West Bengal Forest Department organized this festival. There were six different areas of Sundarban Biosphere Reserve.

As for the baseline data concerned in this first-ever Bird Festival, Justine Jones, Deputy Field Director of Sundarban Tiger Reserve. He said, “We can carry out the same exercise in the years to come and the baseline data would provide us with changes as far as bird species are concerned.”

During this bird festival, we spotted raptors, 42 species of waders, and 78 forest birds. This was a two-day exercise that ended with seven bird species and six species of waterfowl, 12 species of raptors. In this exercise, there were 5,065 birds spotted by the participants. Eurasian Curlew was an endangered species that was even spotted during this time.

According to Mr. Jones, it is simply a good sign to see 145 species on the first day. As per the Zoological Survey of India, (ZSI) in 2021 428 species of bird are found in Sundarban which is 1/3rd of the total avian species of the whole country.

9 types of Kingfisher were spotted during this time at Sundarban. As per the areas, the Malta 5 got 71 species, National Park West got 70 species, and inside the STR that is Kalash 2 got 98 species. These are not general and sometimes these birds are tagged as rare.

Despite these types of birds and other species still Sundarban face lots of illegal activities that are found in the chars (river islands) areas. Due to climate change and destructive fishing practices, you can see that birds are becoming lesser in number.

The Central Asian Flyway is considered part of the migratory routes and here in Sundarban, you can check out the bird-breeding habitats and winter-resting places. Thus, there should be a provision for some protection for these migratory birds, especially at critical locations for bird-breeding, especially in the non-forest regions creating small protected areas.

The Birds of Sundarban Biosphere Reserve, written by Amitava Majumdar. It is mentioned that about 428 species of birds are recorded. It is a unique documentation that is being presented by him as his avifauna experience.

These things are very rare and even though this whole expedition was done in boats there was still so much jolly participation along with the large flock of birds. These birds are simply offering a treat to the eyes of all the bird watchers. There were no such strict parameters to be a participant in this whole project.

Any person who wants this type of experience, again and again, can stay in touch with the upcoming news about the place and will get to all the future events that are offering a nice view to watch. All these are simply offering the development of the Sundarban area to the best. Stay tuned to more upcoming blogs.