Bihar is planning its first ever migratory bird festival this year. This is a three-day festival to be organised in Bhagalpur District. It is to be jointly organised by Bhagalpur forest division, Bombay Natural History Society and the local Mandar Nature Club. The region houses a large number of migratory birds between November and March every year. The festival is intended to check cases of poaching in the region.

Background

The festival is being organissed mainly because the sixty-kilometre long Vikramshila Dolphin sanctuary between Kahalagon and Sultanganj has been a hub of migratory birds for a long time. The migratory birds come to the region mainly between March and November as they find the region favourable to spend the winter.

The main objective of holding the festival is to create awareness among the people about the importance of migratory birds.

What are the migratory birds arriving in the region?

The migratory birds arriving in the region are steppe eagle, Eurasian curlew, Ferrunginous duck, Eurasian coot, common greenshank, great crested grebe.

Migratory Flyways in India

India has three migratory flyways. They are the flight paths used by the birds. The flyways are Asian East Asian Flyway, Central Asian Flyway and East Asian Australasian Flyway. The estimates of the migratory species in India has increased from 44 to 46 after COP13. COP 13 was the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory species of Wild Animals. It was held in India in February 2020.

The East Asian Australasian Flyway extends from North America and Arctic Russia to the southern limits of New Zealand and Australia. The Central Asian Flyways covers 30 countries. It includes their breeding grounds in Russia to the southernmost non-breeding grounds in South and West Asia, India and Maldives.

The Asian East Asian Flyway extends from Arctic Russia to South Africa and Madagascar in Africa. It covers Himalayas and the Tibet plateau.