Delight for avian watchers as bird festival kicks off in Dalma

Jamshedpur: The second edition of the Jharkhand bird festival commenced at the Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary on Monday.Centred around avian ecology, the three-day event will hold a series of bird-watching sessions, dialogues and photography competitions, besides presentations by the participating birders on the concluding day. Organised by the department of forest, environment and climate change, the festival witnessed participation from 100 bird enthusiasts from 6 states.Apart from college students, working professionals, scholars and bloggers, ornithologists and common birdwatchers are attending the festival, officials at Dalma, which is hosting the event, said. Nature lovers will be able to spot and capture common, rare and migratory birds on their cameras during the field visit, and on the same evening they will get an informed lesson on the subject matter from avifauna experts."Participants will be informed about endangered species, besides sessions will be organised on exploring plans for a sustainable model for the conservation of the ecology," said divisional forest officer (DFO) of Dalma, Saba Alam Ansari.The forester said that "responsible tourism" is also an important subject of the congregation.An audio-video session on responsible tourism will be held simultaneously with the session on the main subject.Earlier in the day, principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife), Rajiv Ranjan Singh, inaugurated the event in the presence of senior officials of the Kolhan forest division.In the inaugural edition held in 2025, the birders identified 150 species of birds, including migratory birds which travelled to the Dalma hills from far-off South Asian and European countries.Eurasian kestrel, Indian nightjar, black-hooded oriole, blue-capped rock thrush, and black-rumped flameback woodpecker, among others, were spotted by birders during the first edition.