Reported by Dr. Hishmi Jamil Husain
A bird watching programme has been organized by Commission Members of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Jamshedpur Forest Division, Government of Jharkhand in association with Non – Government Organization, Sumansa from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India in the Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary.
Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary is located 10 km from the city of Jamshedpur. It is important wildlife sanctuary and holds substantial population of Indian Elephants. Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary is situated around the Dalma Hills. Bird watching is an effective way of creating awareness on bird species.
The sanctuary is spread in 195 km2. The sanctuary attracts varied strata of people right from the city dwellers, students to nature lovers. The height of hills ranges from 690 ft to 915 ft. from sea level. Dalma Sanctuary comprises forests of East Singhbhum and Saraikela-kharsawan districts of the state of Jharkhand.
Forests is characterized with shed leaves in the summer and attains its full bloom at the onset of monsoon. The forest falls under the category “Dry peninsular Sal” and “Northern Dry Mixed Deciduous Forest”.
The programme was started at morning 7:00 AM and ended at 11:00 AM on 28th January 2018. There are 25 wildlife enthusiasts participated in the programme. A briefing session was done prior to the bird watching programme. The program was organized in two sessions.
First session was at foothill of Dalma Hills where the participants observed the birds by randomly tracking on the foothill of 2 km. Second session was held inside the Dalma Sanctuary. All participants were assigned task to identify and record at least ten birds in their datasheet cum reference sheet provided to them with the help of Volunteers.
A consolidated 30 bird species were identified during the sessions by all participants. The participants were quite happy of which some of them were fresher in this field. The participants comprised, Teachers, Scientists, Volunteers, Forest guards from Jamshedpur Forest Division attended. The program was led by Sanjay Kumar Mahto curator Tata Zoo and Dr. Hishmi Jamil Husain, Head Environment & Forest Management, Raw Material Strategy Group, Tata Steel Limited.
(About the author: Dr Hishmi Jamil Husain is the Head, Environment & Forest Management at Tata Steel Ltd.)
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