KATHMANDU, JUNE 18
During eight consecutive days, 875 bird enthusiasts from 71 districts enjoyed watching and counting their feathered friends in their surrounding and submitted a total of 2,641 checklists of sighted species.
During the period of June 1-8, Bird Conservation Nepal organised its fourth semi-annual Neighbourhood Bird Count.
Birders and beginners throughout Nepal spent 15 to 30 minutes in their neighbourhood and spotted the common birds and submitted the checklist through the 'Chhimeki Chara' app.
Users can find the list of 100 common birds with their information in the mobile app, but the app features also allow the users to record 700 other species.
The participation was surprisingly high this time with 65 per cent more participants and 16 more districts compared to the last bird count held from January 14 to 21.
"The mobilisation of volunteers and support from the local organisation aided to raise interest in the public towards the bird count," said Ishana Thapa, Chief Executive Officer of BCN. "The involvement of citizen scientists in the bird count can have a significant impact on bird conservation efforts," she added.
Anybody can dive into Neighbourhood Bird Count result in the BCN website https://birdlifenepal.org/ chhimekichara and https:// chhimekichara.netlify.app/.
One can explore district-wise lists and maps of the reported species and the number of users and can get a synopsis of the common birds in Nepal. 79.4 per cent of participants reported 10,253 individuals of semi-wild Rock Pigeon, while 63 per cent of the users across Nepal counted 8,727 individual house sparrows, which easily became the real top chhimeki chara this time.
Looking at the province-wise participation, Bagmati Province took the lead in the neighbourhood bird count followed by Koshi and Gandaki provinces while Kathmandu became the district with the highest participation followed by Lalitpur and Sunsari.
Arend van Riessen, member of data review team and also the Adviser of BCN, said, in comparison to the previous bird count not only the number of participants but also the quality of data submission had increased.
The very first count was held in 2022. In that year, around 460 users from around 55 districts of Nepal submitted a checklist. Since then, the count has occurred twice a year (summer and winter).
"This time, over 75 passionate volunteers, mostly students, teachers and local organisations were mobilised in different districts to orient the public about the neighbourhood bird count campaign," said Aarati Nepali, Project Coordinator, BCN.
The interactive sessions were held in over 65 private and public schools, community forest user groups, women's groups, NGOs. These groups facilitated the participation of interested individuals.
The attendees were given insights into birds, their importance and their conservation. Bird-watching events were also organised to guide the participants to use the 'Chhimeki Chara' mobile application.
The bird-loving community is growing in the midst of increasing number of participants in the bird count. In a few new districts, bird clubs were established. "In six districts including Bajura, Dolpa, Salyan, Pyuthan, Rukum (East) and Dolakha, we still need to work out the ways to encourage the participants to be part of this fun and remarkable event," Nepali said.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 19, 2023, of The Himalayan Times
