Students make bird watching trip at Thingungei Patton

From A Correspondent

BISHNUPUR | Sept 30

As part of the weeklong 62nd wildlife celebration of the state forest department, a bird watching trip in and around Loktak lake for young students from Bishnupur besides Manipur University students was held at Thingungei Patton, about 40 km south of Imphal today.

Divisional forest officer (DFO) L. Debala of Bishnupur district flagged off the bird watching team in presence of state’s bird experts K. Jugeshore who is the principal of Kumbi college, Mangolnganbi college lecturer RK. Birjit who is also managing trustee of Center for Conservation of Nature and Cultivation of Science (CCNCS), Zoology lecturer Ch. Sony of Moirang college and CCNCS functionaries.

The bird watching teams which include around 30 students including students from Manipur University’s environment science department, moved out in five groups using twelve local boats from Thingungei shoreline towards the main lake area for about two hours during the day’s trip before returning back at the starting point to share their feedbacks.

Speaking to reporters on the sideline of the day’s event, DFO Debala said that the main objective of organising such an event is to spread the awareness and importance of birds to the students and public. The department’s major objective is for the conservation of water birds and migratory birds in and around Loktak for a better biodiversity in the region, she added.

There are reports of sudden decline of the population of the migratory birds at the Loktak Lake due to implementation of new techniques of fishing in the lake. Some of the important migratory water birds failed to turn up last year, may be because of it, a bird lover opined.