National Bird Day at Sankarghola

Sankarghola is a village under the North Salmara sub-division of Bongaigaon district of Assam. It is located in the foothills of Bhairabsura hill under Bhairabsura reserve forest. The nearby forest area has been conserved by the local Rabha community people since last twenty years. Therefore, it is recommended as one a community conserved area by an environment action group Kalpavriksha. Aaranyak has been providing their helping hand from the beginning of their conservation work.

On Tuesday Aaranyak West Assam Zone has organized the National Bird Day in collaboration with Abhayapuri College Alumni Association at Sankarghola under Bongaigaon District. Afternoon an awareness meeting among the youths of Sankarghola is held near Shankarghola LP School. Dr. Ashoke Kumar Das, coordinator of Aaranyak West zone has delivered lecture on the significance of National Bird Day. He mentioned that “we are experiencing a decreasing amount of both population and species number of birds in Assam including Vulture, Lesser adjutant stork Bengal florican, White winged wood duck etc. He also mentioned that in Bongaigaon district, the major wetlands like Tamranga, Doloni etc. are once full of several species of migratory bird in winter period but presently it is decreasing in alarming rate due to extensive fishing and agricultural work in the banks. Yet there is no intervention or any initiative by the government of Assam to take necessary steps.” Sri Sadananda Ray, the secretary of Abhayapuri College Alumni Association has also advised the participants to conserve the local bird species and their habitat to make the place more beautiful and to conserve our natural wealth for the coming generation.

At the evening a bird watching programme is held among the members of Aaranyak under the supervision of Bikram Ranjan Roy of Aaranyak. The team has recorded few bird species like Red vented bulbul, Spotted dove, Asian openbill, Chestnut tailed starling, Common kingfisher, Indian Rollar, Oriental magpie robin, Common hoopoe, Green bee-eater, Lesser caucal, Greater caucal, Common hawk Cuckoo, Bronze drongo, House swift, Green-billed Malkoha, Greater racket tailed drongo etc.