A day among avian friends

Hundreds of people spent a day among feathery friends at a bird fair at Jahangirnagar University (JU) yesterday. For the entire day, the sky, the lakes, and the greenery of the campus was abuzz with avian adventurers who bring over their communities to the area around this time every year.

Running since 2001, the fair was organised by the university’s zoology department and its Wildlife Rescue Centre. Families, college and university going students, and professionals thronged the event.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Farzana Islam inaugurated the fair around 11:30am on Zahir Raihan auditorium premises.

Among the daylong activities were a bird identification competition -- where participants had to go around the campus and correctly identify birds on seeing them or from their calls --, a photography exhibition, a painting competition for children and a quiz competition. 

At the Zahir Raihan Auditorium premises, there were around 8 stalls competing over a stall decoration competition. A discussion was also held there. The fair ended with a tour of JU lakes and a prize-giving ceremony.

To create awareness on avian conservation, along with the greater goal of safeguarding biodiversity, books, posters and calendars were distributed among visitors.