green pigeons in paradgaon 30km from nagpur and 15 birds in vnit campus he says its a good move the bird is endangered in maharashtra but is widespread in uttar pradesh city birder tarun balpande says retaining hariyal as a state bird is a positive move them the hariyal forage in flocks green pigeons have diets of various fruit nuts and seeds and dwell in trees and occupy a variety of wooded habitats bird watchers say it is an alarming sign and the specie may be on the decline but a section of bird experts say the hariyal forage in flocks and is only seen in the early mornings basking in the sun on the top of fruitbearing trees the female also never leaves the nest and comes out for sunning from 7 to 8am among the other threats to green pigeon include excessive use of pesticides destruction of fruitbearing trees in road widening and rampant construction activity in the city birds dont know boundaries its the humans who set them ashish tiple an avid bird watcher and assistant professor with zoology department at vidyabharti college selu says retaining hariyals status is a good development during this period the male takes care of the food and remains near the nest hate adds declaring any specie as state animal or bird doesnt help in its protection dr sani admits that poaching is the biggest threat to hariyals but doesnt agree that the birds are on decline this means that a bird which is beautiful and commonly found is the state bird of any statekyc outspot hariyal lays eggs in the month of january during this period the male hariyal takes care of the food and is always near the nests raju kasambe project head of the important birds area programme ibap at bombay natural history society bnhs says it needs a birdseye view to sight hariyal which hides itself in the greenery on poor sightings balpande says the bird may be on decline but sightings are still there in rural areas where there are plenty of banyan and pipal trees he says sightings in monsoon are rare the hariyal lays eggs in january which hatch after 2125 days after two months usually in march the chicks start moving out sightings in monsoon are rare the state bird should be protected by the state government and bnhs also needs take initiatives however it is facing threat from poachers belonging to the pardhi community