9th class students film a documentary on how Vadodara is losing its birds

When was the last time you witnessed a sparrow building its nest on a tree by your patio?

25 kids studying in class 9^th of St. Kabir School, worried about the fact that the city sky was losing its charm with the decreasing amount of birds, filmed a documentary which focuses on 15 species of birds that have considerably reduced in population in urban localities.

Indian grey horn-bill, Asian green bee-eater, black kite, copper smith barbet, swift, peacock, crows, barn-swallow, rose-ringet parakeet, black-winged stilt, pied kingfisher, intermediate egret and breasted water-hen were among the birds that featured in the film that was released by the children on the occasion of World Nature Conservation Day on 28^th July’19, Sunday.

Tasmay Upadhyay, the director of the film said that they were immensely concerned about the birds in urban areas after they attended a workshop on sparrows in 2016. The students previously made a documentary on sparrows under the guidance of Hitarth Pandya who runs the Kids for Environmental Development Initiatives (KEDI) programme in their school. Aditya Patel, assistant director of the film said that the film is important as it sheds light on why a balance between humans and other earthly species is of utmost importance.

The students further consulted experts to gather information and also find ways to restore the population of these birds.