Speakers call for efforts to protect birds at Telangana’s Kawal Bird Festival

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Suvarna underlined the need to conduct comprehensive research on birds known for uniqueness in the environment

Mancherial: Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (CAMPA) Suvarna said carrying out a comprehensive study on birds was the need of the hour. She was addressing the two-day-long national-level Kawal Bird Festival at the Integrated District Officers Complex here on Saturday, which was jointly hosted by the Forest department and World Wildlife Fund.

Suvarna underlined the need to conduct comprehensive research on birds known for uniqueness in the environment. She stated that various species would migrate to places far away from their habitats, crossing continents. There was a need to study the bird species and to protect them, she opined.

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Earlier, Umesh Srinivasan elaborated on the adverse impact of climate change on the birds. Prof Mahesh Sankaran from National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) delved into the open natural ecosystem and to protect the birds. He observed that biodiversity would be affected if birds become extinct from the ecology.

Dr Rabin Vijayan, a renowned scientist from Tamil Nadu and Dr Sathiya Selvam of Bombay Natural History Society also spoke.

District Forest Officer Shiva Aasheesh Singh said 201 bird species were identified in Godavari basin with the help of WWF in the last two years alone. Kumram Bheem Asifabad DFO Neeraj Kumar Tebriwal also spoke.

Meanwhile, the PCCG along with Kawal Tiger Reserve field director Shantaram and other officials visited an irrigation tank at Venkatraopet village in Luxettipet mandal which was attracting thousands of birds. Field visits were conducted at Gandhari Khilla by experts from WWF and forest officials for school children. The experts gave tips to watch, identify birds and record their calls.