Chandigarh: More than 1,000 students of various prominent government and private school students visited Sukhna Lake to know about migratory birds in a fortnight long programme.
The department of environment, UT administration, along with Yuvsatta, an NGO, organised the visits.
On the last day of the programme, over 100 students of Carmel Convent School and Government Girls Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 18 C, Chandigarh, visited Sukhna Lake, where T C Nautiyal, conservator of forest, also addressed them.
Regular bird watchers like Kulbhushan Kanwar and Sarabjit Kaur explained to the kids about migratory birds who travel every year thousands of miles to reach Sukhna Lake to escape the harsh cold of their habitats.
Santosh Kumar, chief conservator of forest and wildlife, and director, department of environment, UT administration, explained migratory birds start arriving in Sukhna wildlife sanctuary from early November and their stay lasts till March or April, depending on the climatic conditions. "These birds are very sensitive; so we have made arrangements to make the environment conducive for them. And migratory birds come from places like Siberia, China and Afghanistan. These are Brahmi ducks, Common pochards and Red-crusted pochards among others."
Nautiyal said, "It was a spectacular day of birding with a great variety of birds being spotted. Forests and wildlife department is taking a keep interest to sensitize young children about the important role birds play, as they provide critical links within the vast food chains and webs that exist in our ecosystem." He further added that the annual migration of hundreds of migratory birds to Sukhna Lake is an awe-inspiring phenomenon. According to forest officials, the winged visitors have been congregating here for the last over three decades as conditions in the region are very hospitable for them. They will be in their full strength by December-end.
