Bird ringing station to come up in Bihar; MoU inked in Gujarat

Bihar is set to have a bird ringing station, devoted to observation, monitoring and research on migratory birds fourth such facility in country and first to be set up with support of a state government a top official said on Monday.

Principal Secretary, Environment and Forests, Dipak Kumar Singh, said a Memorandum of Understanding was exchanged by representatives of Bihar government and Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) at Gandhinagar in presence of C K Mishra, secretary to Union Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

" MoU was exchanged on sidelines of CMS-COP 13, or 13th Conservation of Migratory Species-Conference of= Parties, held at Gujarat capital where delegates from 130 countries are participating in discussions on preservation of migratory species," Singh told PTI over phone.

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"So far, re were three bird ringing stations - at Tamil Nu, Rajasthan and Orissa. Bihar government will spend Rs 5 crore for new project. As per MoU, which is for a period of five years, new bird ringing station will be manned by trained scientists and or skilled manpower from BNHS," principal secretary stated.

He said MoU was signed by Preep Apte, Director BNHS, and Bihar's Chief Wildlife Warden Prabhat Kumar Gupta. "This will be first bird-ringing station in country to be set up with support of a state government. Its main center will be at Bhagalpur, located close to Ganges, and is known to be a favorite destination of migratory birds.

"In fact, it happens to be among only three breeding places of Greater jutant across world, or two being in Assam and Cambodia," Singh ded. At se stations, rings are placed on legs of birds. rings come with chips which help in tracking origin of birds and route taken by se during migration. In Bihar, migratory birds are also spotted in large numbers in Jamui, Begusarai, Darbhanga and Vaishali, he ded.

"At CMS-COP 13, we h put up a Bihar stall at India pavilion, which was inspected by Babul Supriyo, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest and Climate Change. He was appreciative of efforts me by Bihar in preserving wildlife. He was presented with a report on breeding of Greater jutant in Bhagalpur," Singh said.

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