Greater Noida wetlands to host bird fest tomorrow

NOIDA: The 100-acre wetland area at Dhanauri in Greater Noida, which is home to over 120 sarus cranes, will be the focal point of this year’s bird festival, the forest department said.

The festival will be celebrated on February 2, which is internationally marked as wetland day, by the forest department across various wetlands. The district has three major wetlands — Okhla Bird Sanctuary, Surajpur and Dhanauri. Each of these hosts over a hundred different bird species with a major concentration during winter, when migratory birds arrive for about six months. Dhanauri is recognised as a major habitat for the sarus crane, the state bird. Sarus cranes are listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act.

“While Dhanauri is now counted among the listed wetlands of India, not too many people visit it or even know about it because of its distance (46km) from the city. We are organising this year’s bird festival at Dhanauri so that people get to know about the landscape and its huge bird population,” district forest officer PK Srivastava said.

The festival will also be held at the Okhla Bird Sanctuary and Surajpur wetland. “We are expecting school children, environmentalists and birders to participate,” Srivastava added.