Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher given pride of place in Raigad to boost tourism

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 to be declared as the district’s bird

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 as the district’s bird.

Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher. This tiny bird been declared as the bird of Raigad district in order to boost tourism (HT FILE PHOTO)

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 also filmed a documentary on the bird last year and 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, wherein the forest officials had also shot a documentary,” Tatkare said.

This tiniest migratory bird, only 13cm in length, visits the sanctuary every year for two-three 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. The documentary finally bagged the fourth position,” 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.

The bird builds its nest in the radius of one metre in the forest, near the streams and humus land. Known as ‘Tiboti Khandya’ in Marathi, it has black spots on forehead, blue and white colour on neck, dark blue and black colour on feathers. The neck is yellowish saffron, the beak is yellowish orange and the tail is orange pink of the bird. The legs of the bird seem to have three fingers and hence it is called ‘Tiboti’ (three fingers) in Marathi. According to district officials, there is no record maintained on the number of birds in the district as it is a migratory bird and is found here only for four months.