Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary Opens Birding Trail for Nature Enthusiasts

Sambalpur: As part of the celebrations for Wildlife Week 2025, the Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary has opened a 2-kilometre-long Birding Trail to the public, offering a refreshing avenue for nature enthusiasts, children, and youth to experience the sanctuary’s avian diversity up close.

The newly developed Birding Trail takes trekkers through a scenic route of nallas, streams, grasslands, and dense forest patches, creating a rich environment to observe both ground-nesting and tree-nesting birds. A portion of the trail runs along the Hirakud Wetland, allowing visitors to spot migratory waders that frequent the region during winter.

Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary is home to more than 340 species of birds throughout the year, while the Hirakud Wetland alone hosts over 110 species each winter. To make the experience more informative, 42 display boards have been installed along the trail, each providing details about commonly sighted but ecologically significant bird species. These boards include information such as the bird’s name, life span, call, behavior, nesting pattern, diet, and other interesting facts, helping visitors learn to identify and understand the avian world.

Adding to the experience, a short educational film has been created featuring bird vocalizations, including mating calls, distress calls, contact calls, and other types of communication. These recordings help visitors recognize species by their calls and understand the meanings behind them—whether it is territorial defense, social communication, or mobbing behavior. “Every melodious song or call we hear from a bird has meaning—it may signal a mating ritual, territorial defense, or simple communication. The Birding Trail, with trained naturalists, will help visitors identify species and appreciate the beauty and purpose of avian life,” said a forest official during the launch.

The Birding Trail is not just an educational experience but also a means to nurture a deeper connection with nature. Bird watching encourages stillness, focus, and mindfulness, strengthening patience and empathy in observers. It also helps visitors understand the intricate interdependence between forests, birds, water, and soil. Birds are powerful indicators of environmental change, and observing them helps people grasp the delicate balance of ecosystems.

The initiative also aims to foster empathy towards other living creatures and create educational opportunities for all age groups. For children and youth, the trail serves as a living classroom that inspires curiosity and a sense of responsibility toward nature. Despite birds outnumbering humans—an estimated 400 billion individuals worldwide, roughly six birds for every person—most people remain unaware of the species that live around them. Each tree can host several bird varieties, yet their songs and presence often go unnoticed.

The Birding Trail at Debrigarh reminds visitors that habitat loss endangers not just the birds but also the harmony of the ecosystem. By encouraging people to recognize and respect the species they encounter daily, it reinforces values such as respect for nature, care for others, and collective coexistence.

“Nature has surrounded us with birds. Each tree can host ten or more species, yet we seldom recognize them. By learning to identify and appreciate them, we also learn to protect them,” the official added.

With the opening of the Birding Trail, Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary strengthens its position as a center for eco-tourism and environmental education, inspiring citizens to explore, learn, and protect the natural world around them.