100 school kids from city to monitor, identify winged species, to be part of birding event

THANE: Around 100 junior amateur birding enthusiasts from across 15 schools in the city are all set to participate in an exclusive two-day birding event and competition for students, scheduled to be held over the next weekend.

From monitoring, identifying various species of the winged beauties to participating in an array of competitions, including curating paintings of their favourite birds, the Class V to VIII students seem to be up on their toes, preparing for the event. Ravindra Sathaye, an environmentalist, who is one of coordinators for the programme, said, “There are two parts to this competition. In the first phase there are three events, which will be conducted on Saturday at Dr Bedekar Vidyamandir in Naupada. There, the students in a team of two will have to prepare a five-minute power point presentation on any aspect of a bird’s life; it can be related to nest building,

bird

calls, etc., after which there will be a question-answer session.”

“The other two events are fun and creative. Students have to select their favourite bird and draw a picture of it. We have named the last event as ‘Be a bird’ competition wherein children will have to dress up like the bird of their choice and even act like it. We will select winners in each of the competitions,” added Sathe.

After an interactive discussion and a lecture on basic introduction to birds and bird-watching with renowned ornithologists in the city, the winners of the competition will be taken for a bird-watching trail on Sunday at

Sanjay Gandhi National Park

with around 15 avifauna experts. The free of cost event is being organized by four local environmental NGOs — Paryavaran Dakshata Mandal, HOPE,

FERN

, Urban Biodiversity Conservation Group along with the city-based Jidnyasa trust, all of whom have been collectively preparing the children since the past few weeks, training them with respect to different species of birds and bird-watching techniques.

“We had over 60 students from our school, who attended the training session on birds. The response we received was tremendous. The students asked questions and showed their interest in this hobby. Many of the kids even signed up for the event. They are very excited as this is the first time they are participating in something like this,” said a teacher of a city-based school.

We had over 60 students from our school, who attended the training session on birds. The students asked questions and showed their interest in this hobby. Many of the kids even signed up for it. They are excited as this is the first time they are taking part in something like this