Beyond Amur falcons: Nagaland to undertake first bird count

  • November 4, 2022
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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Beyond Amur falcons: Nagaland to undertake first bird count

Subject: Environment

Context-

  • Nagaland is undertaking the first avian documentation exercise to go beyond Amur falcons, the migratory raptor that put the State on the world birding map.
  • The four-day TokhüEmong Bird Count (TEBC) from Friday has been timed with the post-harvest TokhüEmong festival of the Lothas, the Naga community that dominates the Wokha district, arguably the most preferred stopover of the Amur falcons while travelling from east Asia to southern Africa.

AboutTokhüEmong Bird Count (TEBC)-

  • TokhüEmong Bird Count (TEBC) is Nagaland’s first bird documentation event to celebrate the birds of the state. This event is being organised in collaboration with the Wokha Forest Division and the Divisional Management Unit, Nagaland Forest Management Project (NFMP), Wokha, Nagaland and Bird Count India.
  • The exercise entails watching and counting birds on any or all days from November 4-7 from anywhere in Nagaland for at least 15 minutes and uploading the avian names on eBird (www.ebird.org/india), the bird recording platform.
    • The eBird India portal is managed by Bird Count India, a partnership of a large number of organizations and groups working to increase the collective understanding of the distribution, abundance, and population trends of Indian birds.
  • The TEBC falls within the Salim Ali Bird Count, a nationwide event conducted by the Bombay Natural History Society in 2018 to commemorate the birth anniversary (12 November) of the “Bird Man of India”, the late Dr Sálim Ali (1896–1987).

About TokhüEmong festival-

  • TokhüEmong is a village festival celebrated by the Lotha Nagas in Nagaland, India.
  • It is celebrated in the first week of November every year.
  • The nine-day Fall festival celebrates the end of the harvest season.
  • Tokhü means feast (eating food and drinking), and Emong means the Halt on the appointed time.
  • It is also accompanied by folk dances and the singing of folk songs.

Lotha Naga community-

  • The Lotha Nagas, also known as Kyong, are a major Naga ethnic group native to the Wokha District in the Indian state of Nagaland.
  • Beyond Wokha District, a large population of Lothas are permanently settled in Kohima, Chümoukedima, Dimapur and Medziphema.
Beyond Amur falcons: Nagaland to undertake first bird count Environment