Bhubaneswar, June 30: Trekking in surrounding tourism A local organisation in the city has been organising bird-watching walks every weekend.

The Bhubaneswar Bird Walk started on March 3 and the members have so far documented 95 varieties of birds in various localities across Bhubaneswar.

Panchami Manoo Ukil, a member of the group, said: “It started with five persons. We not only watch birds but also take up issues of nature conservation and blend it with a heritage walk and tourism and involving school students.”

The group has doctors, government officials, students, social service experts, homemakers, professional photographers and wildlife experts as its members.

“It is a continuous process of learning. You have to first locate a bird either with its sighting or sound,’’ said Aditya Tripathy, a surgeon.

Senior customs and central excise official Pramod Dhal and his daughter Gloria are members of the group and spend at least three hours to watch birds during weekends.

“At our village near Aul in Kendrapara district, birds are seen in large numbers. But with development, the number of species are going down. The tourism officials can patronise such initiatives in Dhauli, Sikharachandi, Khandagiri-Udayagiri, Mangalajodi, Prachi Valley and little-known water bodies on the outskirts of the city.’’

There are bird watching sites at Ekamrakanan lake on the campus of the Regional Plant Resource Centre, Chandaka Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary and the Mahanadi river bed. Water bodies around Cuttack and lakes such Ansupa also facilitate bird watching and viewing.

From the 95 common birds sighted in various parks, forest patches, tourist destinations, hills and water bodies, the stork-billed kingfisher is seen in broad-leaved forests. This is seen only at the botanical gardens in Nandankanan. This the largest kingfisher specie in terms of size. The black-hooded oriole is a city bird and it stays close to human habitation and feeds on insects and fruits.

Orange-headed thrush, a winter migrant, comes to the plains from the hills in the north. It is found in Kapileswar, Dhauli and Nandankanan.

A white-throated kingfisher eats lizards, snakes, garden lizards and crabs. Jerdon’s Leafbird camouflages with leaves are spotted only in Dhauli. A common hoopoe, a winter migrant, is found in Dhauli and Jayadev Vatika.

Another member of the group Satyasundar Mishra says: 'Water bodies near the foothills of Dhauli and the campus of the Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture are paradise for many bird species. I have documented 62 species of birds only from CIFA campus.

The Bhubaneswar Bird Walks members have also taken part in the Delhi Bird Race, an annual event to conduct a bird survey-cum census.

“We are going to start such an event here in near future in collaboration with the forest and tourism departments. That way, along with the knowledge sharing, a lot of promotion of the places for trekking and related recreation could be achieved,’’ said Panchami.

The members are also working on a handy picture-based guide for bird watchers in the city. They also want to include places such Sisupalgarh and 64 Yogini temples in their list to spot birds in future.