Birds count

Counting of birds in the wetlands began Saturday all over Asia. This event is celebrated as the Mid-winter Waterbird Counting. This has been carried out annually for more than two decades and is the longest monitoring program on any wildlife in the nation. In Nepal, bird lovers including trained volunteers and ornithologists, are now busy at work in 30 different wetlands. The counting has already been conducted in several wetlands and is now going on in several others. This is expected to find the status, distribution and population of the water birds in the country. The reason that they have been carried out all at once throughout Asia is to reduce repeated counting of the migratory birds. This counting has been started by Wetlands International and will end on January 25. Many exotic species of water birds are found in Nepal. Some of them come from as far away as Siberia. However, there were reports is the past that this year they failed to show up in the wetlands of Koshi. Experts reason that this was because of the global warming and the resulting climate change. The birds that used to previously migrate to the Koshi wetlands did not do so possibly because the climate in their habitat in Siberia had heated up and the birds did not find it necessary to migrate to a new habitat.

Meanwhile, it is being found that the wetlands are being increasingly threatened as a result of various factors including climate change and humans, and because of it the water birds’ population is being adversely affected. There are a total of 864 bird species found in Nepal out of which 200 are believed to be water birds dependent on the wetlands. The counting of the water birds should give a clear picture as to how these birds are faring. Similarly, it would also assist in conservation endeavors. Bird lovers would look forward to the conservation efforts being conducted to protect the wetlands. The Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation and other bodies like the National Trust for Nature Conservation, the Wetlands Project of Government and also the Bird Education Society, among others, have a crucial role to play in the conservation bid of the water birds and their habitats, which has ramifications in how our planet fares with a worsening picture painted courtesy the climate change. Knowledge and information of the eco-system’s health is essential for the future strategies to be adopted for our survival as well.

Incidentally, bird lovers counting the birds are having fun doing it in all the major wetlands of the country. As the counting is being done by ornithologists and others trained to do so their finding should be reliable. The government and bird lovers in particular should help raise awareness about the vital importance of protecting the water birds whose number have been dwindling alarmingly over the years. All should be made to realize the need to preserve the wetlands which are the habitats of the water birds while we still can, and the motive is directed at all out efforts for conservation of environment where the winged ones constitute a most significant segment, and a barometer of the environmental health.

Weightless antic

Among the evils that bedevil the mortal in this modern era also is the oft resorted to blame game. It cannot be a healthy sports that would keep the body and mind on the move, even for the trumpeter but only rebounds in the most vociferous manner. The said game does no one any good but only feeds the ego which is always bloated to the point of bursting. As the society cannot be made up of patient and tolerant folks, there is room for the conspiring and the shrewd. It’s always the acceptable currency that has the power, and here we have the individuals with the gaffe that sets the whole wheel in motion or rather serve one’s lowly endeavours. The more you stoop low the more you can expect your followers to cheer howsoever ludicrous it may sound.

Maybe the people are audience to the rules of the game as is being acted out in real by our leaders. And why not, they are supposed to the universally accepted role models for good or bad. One has to offer praises to those adept at the blame game as the skills they have honed has not been an overnight miracle. They must have versed through years to have that ability to call names to anyone from any platform. Can’t the blame game players ever come out of the silly ground?