Muktsar ‘birdman’ builds nests for 5K winged guests

Sameer Singh

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Bathinda, December 3

Situated adjacent to the district border, Mallan village in Gidderbaha tehsil of Muktsar has become a home for hundreds of birds. New winged guests come to this village on daily basis. While many birds have started moving to neighbouring states, this village in the heart of the Malwa region has been attracting birds from different parts of the region.

Amused by colours, sounds of birds

Since my childhood, I have been amused by the melodious sounds and colours of birds which visited trees planted by my father.

Inspired by the idea of ‘Save environment and save birds’, Muktsar-based bird lover Benazir Singh Brar, who is employed as field officer at Punjab Agricultural University’s Gidderbaha office, along with his friends, has made more than 5,000 nests, which they distributed and hung at trees and houses in different villages.

Brar said, “My father was an environmentalist and used to grow a lot of plants. Since my childhood, I have been amused by the melodious sounds and colours of the birds which visited the trees and plants my father planted. My friends Gurpreet, Jaswinder and Balwinder, and I started an NGO by the name of Bir Society Mallan and got it registered.”

“We have made more than 5,000 nests, which we have distributed at Kauni, Doda, Ablu and Kotli villages. In our village, we have more than 500 nests. There is also a special arrangement for people to feed the birds in these nests,” Brar added.

Benazir shares, “Among other trees, I have observed that birds have taken a special liking for nests hung on local jujube tree. Keeping that in mind, we have grown and distributed hundreds of jujube plants in recent years. The plants distributed by us have even been grown in Chandigarh as well. We are also growing Afghani date plants these days.”