Clockwise: Red-billed Liocichla, Black-breasted Thrush, Mountain-Bamboo Partridge, Crested Finchbill and Rusty-capped Fulvetta. (All photos by Albin Jacob/Macaulay Library)
Wokha, November 12 (MExN): Over the four days of TEBC, 18 eBirders in Nagaland recorded 178 species and uploaded 84 checklists to eBird-an online platform to record bird observations. Birders from Dimapur, Kohima, Peren and Wokha districts contributed to the lists.
The Tokhü Emong Bird Count (TEBC) – Nagaland’s first-ever bird documentation event was a four-day birding event from November 4 to 7 where birders in Nagaland came together to document the rich avian diversity of their state. Around 33 checklists came from regions outside Nagaland–Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Photo by Lansothung Lotha
“This kind of event can be useful for establishing a benchmark against which future studies of avian populations can be compared, which is especially important given the widespread effects of climate change in North East India,” stated an update from Mittal Gala, Program Manager for Bird Count India, Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), Bangalore.
“It’s a very good initiative to identify the different species that are found in the state with involvement of the local communities in the effort. Nagaland is a state with rich bird diversity and it is important to document as well as monitor their populations in order to protect and conserve them,” said Suman WM Sivachar, IFS, DFO cum DMU Head Wokha, Nagaland Forest Department
This was the very first time for Nagaland to hold a bird documentation event which was organised by the Wokha Forest Division and the Divisional Management Unit, Nagaland Forest Management Project (NFMP), and Bird Count India.
“The idea of such an event was to get people interested in birds, create awareness and celebrate the rich bird diversity of the state. Events such as these when conducted every year can also help in generating a baseline data to compare the year after year trends of our birds,” the organisers stated.
The Tokhü Emong is the post-harvest festival of the Lotha Nagas. During the festival, the entire village takes part in the celebration with prompt and splendour.
