A group of kids spent Sunday morning spotting birds and learning about their habitat, food and lifestyle at Rabindra Sarobar.
The event was part of an eight-city bird walk to acquaint children with birds.
Seeing birds through a spotting scope, learning about them through games and distinguishing between true and false information about birds were some of the activities that the kids participated in.
Siuli Mondal, a Class IX student in Bamanghata High School near Nalban, said she was unaware of the names of many birds. She lives within the East Kolkata Wetlands and sees more birds than many of her age living in the city.
“I take pictures of birds on mobile phone and then make paintings from them. Many birds I saw today (at Rabindra Sarobar) were unknown to me,” she said.
Swajyot Kotal, a Class VII student in St Lawrence High School, said it was the first time he went for a birdwatching session.
“I enjoyed some of the games. There was a game where those who thought a piece of information about a bird was true were supposed to move to one side and those thought it was false to the other side,” said Kotal.
Some of the birds spotted at the Sarobar on Sunday were Great Egret, Painted Stork, Lineated Barbet and Blue-throated Barbet.
These birds are commonly found in the park.
Sunday’s bird walk was held simultaneously in Calcutta, New Delhi, Salem, Srinagar, Mysuru, Agartala, Tirupati and Panaji by Early Bird, a project of the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), a non-profit organisation.
In Bengal, the event was held in partnership with the Birdwatchers Society, a group of keen birdwatchers.
Garima Bhatia, programme manager of Bengaluru-based Early Bird, said their objective was to introduce kids to the world of birds.
“We do not merely show them birds but also tell kids about the lives of birds, their food and habitat. We try to give a holistic understanding about bird life,” she said.
The bird walk, with the 14 kids, aged between 10 and 14, started from Safari Park. The children walked along the water body and were taken to a spot from where they could see the birds on an island in the water body.
“We trained the spotting scope at the island and showed the children some of the birds. We asked them why they felt the birds were there,” said Titash Chakrabarti, a member of the Birdwatchers Society and one of the trainers.
Some of the children replied the birds had their homes on the island, while some others said they were foraging for food.
“We told them that they were roosting there. We also explained to them that home have different meanings for humans and birds,” said Chakrabarti.
While humans live in the homes they build, birds build nests when they give birth. The adults fly and forage for food. They roost in other places.