A bird festival is to be organised at Mahananda wildlife Sanctuary in West Bengal. The festival is first of its kind set to be organised by Darjeeling Wildlife Division in Sukna on the outskirts of Siliguri from February 20. The Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary has been identified as an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area. According to forest officials, 50 bird enthusiasts will be shortlisted to attend the festivity.
The three-day long festivity is aimed to provide an opportunity for bird enthusiast to explore the forest of Mahananda and sight different birds.“Bird enthusiasts can apply from January 19 till February 2. From February 2 till February 5 short-listing will be done after which a list of around 50 enthusiasts will be finalized who can attend the bird festival with a nominal fee of Rs 5,000.
“The participants will be taken to popular bird-watching spots like Rongdong and Latpanchor in addition to trails within the forest. The participants would witness the diverse landscape of rivers, plains, forest and the hills throughout the festival from February 20 to February 23. The Mahananda wildlife sanctuary has elephants and leopards. Recently at three places black panthers were spotted. We have got three varieties of deer, 600 species of birds, mountain goats, And Himalayan Black Bear. I is one of the important corridors for the migration of elephants from Teesta river to Mechi river,” said forest officials.
