Dehradun: Over thousands of locals and school children flocked to the Lansdowne Forest Division—India’s only Conservation Assured Tiger Standards (CATS) accredited— in Kotdwar on Saturday to witness the first-ever three-day bird festival.The fest, which began on Friday, aims to promote eco-tourism in the state and familiarise the locals with diverse variety of bird species found in the forest. The festival was inaugurated by state forest minister Harak Singh Rawat.According to official estimates, lansdowne forest is home to around 350-400 bird species, out of the 700 recorded species in Uttarakhand.Migratory birds like black stork, goosander, laong-tailed broadbill, snowy-browed flycatcher, pin-tailed pigeon, steppe eagle, balck-haired monarch, ruddy-shulduck, black-napped monarch, long-billed thrush and brown dipper take refuge here, offering a visual treat to bird watchers.“For the first time a three-day bird watching has been initiated. The motive is to promote eco-tourism here. Also, we will also be trying to raise awareness about nature conservation among the people visiting here, in the backdrop of increase man-animal conflicts,” said Vaibhav Kumar Singh, divisional forest officer, Lansdown.Meanwhile, the festival has generated positive response from the bird enthusiasts , who are demanding many more such initiatives to be organised in the near future.“This is a brilliant initiative by the forest authorities. It will help us understand the importance of the Landswone forest, which has brought fame for India in the international platform. Many of us are curious to know about wildlife, forest and environment conservation. These kinds of nature festivals often leave a positive impact on the young people,” said Colonel (retd.) Kunwar Ajay Singh.Landswone forest is the only one division that acts as a corridor between Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) and Rajaji Tiger Reserve (RTR).Till now only three sites have been awarded CATS approved status across the globe. Apart from India’s Landswone forest the others to fall in the list include Chitwan National Park in Nepal and Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve in Russia.

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