Chief minister Nitish Kumar uses binoculars to spot birds and (inset) the painted stork that he saw at Danapur Military Cantonment in Patna on Thursday. Telegraph pictures

Patna, Sept. 22: Chief minister Nitish Kumar this morning fulfilled his long-cherished dream of watching large flocks of birds at Danapur Military Cantonment.

Waking up early, Nitish reached the cantonment area at 8am. With forests and environment department officials, Nitish was thrilled to watch thousands of openbill storks, popularly known as jhangils. He spotted a pair of painted storks as well.

Nitish was lucky to sight painted storks at this point of the year. Usually, they come to Danapur Military Cantonment — the largest breeding area of openbill storks in Bihar — in January.

“I wanted to see large flocks of birds at Danapur for long. So, I am delighted that today I got the opportunity to fulfil that wish. I will urge the army to construct a watch tower for better viewing of birds,” said Nitish.

Sources said Brigadier Virendra Nangia had recently gifted a photograph of birds at the cantonment to Nitish and invited him to pay a visit. Subsequently, Nitish visited the cantonment today with the officials of the state environment and forests department, including chief forest conservator B.A. Khan.

At present, there are around 3,000-4,000 openbill storks at Danapur Military Cantonment. These locally migrated birds fly in here from nearly 100-300km range. They have been breeding here for the past 25 years. On an average 4,000-5,000 birds breed successfully here between June and December every year.

Explaining the behaviour of the birds during their stay at Danapur Military Cantonment, well-known birdwatcher and deputy general manager of Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation Naveen Kumar said: “In the first phase, few openbill storks arrive and inspect the area. By the middle of July, thousands of them arrive and start building nests on trees in and around the DMC. Being an army cantonment area, the birds feel protected here and find plenty of fish in the nearby Ganga. The concentration of nests is also very high. We recorded 25 nests on a single tree.”

Danapur Military Cantonment is a highly protected area under the jurisdiction of the Indian Army. It is situated on the banks of the Ganga, about 13km from the state capital. It has been declared as an important breeding site of birds.