Beak hour: The BBMP hopes to attract more birds to parks file pic

Birds in the city will soon get their own concrete 'nests' to lounge around in.

In order to address the alarming decrease in indigenous avian species in the city the Brahut Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) plans to set up what they call bird restaurants, with food trays and bird baths, in parks around the city.  

The pilot project is already underway at Gayatridevi Park in Rajajinagar.

Why here, sir?

"Rajajinagar and the surrounding areas have many species of birds," said former MLA N  L Narendra Babu, who has taken an interest in the idea.

"Ornithologist Dr Subramanya who has lived in the area  for 30 years, has done a study and found that the number of species has come down from 125 to a mere 25 between 1980 and 2006," he added.

Apart from restaurants, bird-friendly trees will also be planted. In fact, Gayatridevi park will also serve as the state's first bamboo nursery park. Seeds of two bamboo species that appear once in 45 years and once in 12 years respectively have been brought from Dandeli.

These bamboo species grow up to 105 ft, and will act as noise barriers on the park's periphery.

The BBMP has also proposed to erect a bird-watch tower.

BBMP forest cell advisor R Sharat Babu said, "Bird shelters have been made from scrapped packaging materials. Bamboo bird colonies have also been made to attract nectar-dependent birds.

Nesting material has been prepared from discarded coconut stems, to help the breeding of 120-odd bird species, including rose-ringed parakeets, barbets and woodpeckers."

Here, birdie

Some species likely to visit the bird restaurants:

>>Goldfinch
>>Phainopepla: Silky
>>Hummingbird
>>Mockingbirds and Thrasher
>>Herons
>>Icterids
>>Kinglets
>>Pelicans
>>Flycatcher
>>Raptors
>>Shorebirds
>>Sparrows
>>Stilts