Flamingos

BNHS has organised its annual flamingo festival on 22nd April this year, funded by Mangrove and Marine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation and supported by the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT). A day-long event to enjoy these pink guests, the flamingo festival becomes a nature fair in its own way with a bevy of wetland birds to observe and over 20000 flamingos as key attraction.

Festival Details
BNHS Flamingo Festival, organized with the Mangrove and Marine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation and MbPT, is open for all and entry is absolutely free. Free bus services have been arranged from Sewri railway station (east) for the visitors from 11:30 am till 5.30 pm on 22nd April. Following are the details in a nutshell.
Date: 22nd April 2017
Time: 11:30 – 5:30 pm
Venue: Sewri Jetty, Mumbai

The day will include educational and informative activities with BNHS experts and scientists. This year the flamingo festival will host renowned author Deepak Dalal for three sessions of book reading of his latest book ‘Flamingo in My Garden’ during the span of the day. Flamingo festival also presents a good opportunity for visitors to gain a lot of knowledge about wetland ecosystem and birds through visual displays (exhibition), nature publications, and educational activities like 'Span your Wings', 'Flamingo Quiz', 'Beaks and their types', face painting and other fun activities. Apart from observing flamingos to one’s heart’s content, this is also a good opportunity to observe other species of resident and migratory water birds including various species of herons, egrets, cormorants, ibises, gulls, terns, plovers, sandpipers and kingfishers, under the guidance of BNHS experts.

Importance of Sewri
The Sewri-Mahul mudflats have been studied by BNHS for several years and are designated as an Important Bird & Biodiversity Area (IBA). The area hosts one of the biggest congregations of water birds in western India. The presence of blue-green algae and other aquatic creatures in large numbers provides staple diet to birds, many of whom migrate over long distances every year. Moreover, the composite habitat of mudflats, mangroves and creeks is very important in terms of fishing and protection from sea waves. Hence, BNHS has been organizing the Flamingo Festival since more than a decade to spread awareness among the masses and boost conservation efforts.