Oriental Dwarf KF named Raigad’s bird

NAVI MUMBAI: In order to boost the tourism of Raigad district, the district guardian minister, Aditi Tatkare, on the occasion of World Tourism Day, announced Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher bird to be declared the district’s bird.

The unique beauty of the bird and the fact that it comes to the Konkan belt, especially to Raigad district, with the onset of south west monsoon, made it the district bird of Raigad.

The Maharashtra Forest Department had filmed a documentary on the bird last year. It was shown to Tatkare during her visit to Karnala Bird Sanctuary.

“In an earlier meeting with the district forest officers and experts in tourism, it was proposed that we need to have a bird for our district to promote tourism, which was approved in a planning committee meeting held this week. In Raigad, we have these birds coming in from the month of May to October at various places. One of the popular spots for the birds to migrate is Karnala Bird Sanctuary, where the forest officials had also shot a documentary,” Tatkare said.

This tiniest migratory bird, only 13cm in length, visits the sanctuary every year for twothree months and attracts bird watchers in large numbers. “To spread more information on this bird and create awareness to save this species, a documentary titled ‘The Life Journey of a Forest Jewel’ was made by Maharashtra Forest Department. The documentary got nominated in the Natural History category among a hundred-plus wildlife movies from India and other countries in Nature in Focus, an International Film Festival of Bengaluru,” a forest official said.

“This bird is a breeding visitor here. Also known as ‘Flying Jewel’, the vibrant colours of the bird is the major attraction. They migrate to the places near the forest stream as they need fresh flowing water,” Nikhil Bhople, a wildlife expert and conservationist from Navi Mumbai, said.

HT FILE PHOTO Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher has been named Raigad’s bird in order to promote tourism in the district.