Gloria Ikegbule
The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), led over 500\ students to commemorate the 2019 World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD), themed “Protect Bird: Be the Solution to Plastic Pollution.”
Held at five locations: Lekki, Lagos; Calabar, Cross River; Nguru, Yobe State; Omo Forest, Ogun State and Finima, Rivers State, the was marked with beach clean-up, string art and environmental education talk.
In Lagos, the event was held at the Kids Beach Garden, Lekki. Students used strings to make drawings. Some of the drawings stringed were Egyptian Vulture, Barn Swallow and Common Cuckoo. The organisers said the activity was designed to encourage the interest of the participants, especially school children in migratory birds as well as their identification. Students were given the stringboards for further practice in their various schools.
Teachers, environmental volunteers, conservationists, representatives of corporate organisations and press men also participated. The participants were engaged in the clean up of the beach to rid it of plastics. The plastics collected were separated into different categories: bottle caps, spoons, plastic bottles and plastic bags.
In Nguru in Yobe State, students of State College of Health Science and Technology, public and private-owned primary and secondary schools, corps members and the community rallied for vulture conservation while commemorating WMBD.
At Omo forest in Ogun State, NCF celebrated WMBD through arts and crafts competition, stakeholders meeting, bird watching session, community awareness campaign and WMBD assembly.
In Calabar centre, participants gathered for an environmental talk on the need to protect the bird species and their habitat.
However, at Finima in Bonny Island, Rivers State, after the bird watching and interactive sessions, participants explored the splendour of the Finima Nature Park.
NCF Head of Communications, Oladapo Soneye, said: “WMBD is an annual event used to raise awareness on bird migration and the importance of protecting the flyways, which is the route they utilise for these trips and habitats utilised by birds during this seasonal experience.
“Migration is a regular and seasonal movement of birds, between their breeding sites, which is where they give birth to their young and their wintering sites. The North to the Southern ends of Nigeria always host these wintering birds, thus, in addition to raising awareness for protecting habitats for resident birds, we must also do same for these migrants.”