KNCF to support awareness of White-bellied Heron and Black-necked Cranes in Bhutan

The Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund (KNCF), Japan, will be supporting a yearlong project for RSPN entitled “Environmental Education and conservation of critically endangered White-bellied Heron (WBH) and vulnerable Black-necked Crane (BNC) in Bhutan” with the approved grant of JPY 4,765,000 .

The objectives of the project  are to (i) Develop adequate awareness and education materials on WBH and BNC for distribution and (ii) Sensitize communities, institutions local authorities and relevant stakeholders on conservation need of the WBH and BNC in the Bhutan,  through effective outreach program

Some of the major activities under this project will include:

Development of the environmental education and awareness materials such as a book on Black-necked Crane population and conservation status in Bhutan, label pins of both the birds, development of posters, flyers, brochures, banners for awareness program, development of habitat map to be distributed to the schools and institutions, and development of postcards and stamps with image and conservation messages.

Outreach programs will include Environment Education program for students (formal and non-formal institutions including monastic institutions) and community members and leaders.

WBH and BNC stakeholder coordination meetings and workshops to provide platform to share experiences and lessons from different agencies, discuss and identify issues relating to conservation of BNC and WBH and develop a well-coordinated work plan to avoid duplication of effort.

Art and essay competition among school children to engage them in learning, exploring and sharing their experience and knowledge about the environment and to foster conservation effort of the birds.  The tentative title of the competition is “conservation of WBH and BNC in Bhutan”.

KNCF have supported in the conservation of Black-necked Cranes since 2012 and RSPN have jointly worked on such projects with a Japanese NGO; Japan Environmental Education Forum (JEEF, http://www.jeef.or.jp).

The Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund (KNCF) is a public trust established in 2000. It was authorized by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (JAPAN) in April 2000. The KNCF announces for applicants/proposal for the Fund on this website every year (http://www.keidanren.or.jp). KNCF provides assistance for nature conservation efforts implemented by NGO/NPO in developing countries, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region and also provides assistance for nature conservation efforts and sustainable use of natural resources in Japan. A high level delegates from KNCF also visited Bhutan and RSPN office in 2011.

Reported by: Tshering Phuntsho, RSPN

RSPN, in coordination with the Haa Dzongkhag Administration, organized familiarization tour for the Community-based Sustainable Tourism (CBST) project steering committee members to Haa from 24^th to 26^th March 2015.

The participants visited some of the potential tourism sites and experienced existing homestays. They also met with the local stakeholders from the Dzongkhag administration, local government, Jigme Gesar Strict Nature Reserve and the National Centre for Riverine and Lake Fishery (NCRL).

It was organized for the steering committee members for awareness of the current scenario of tourism in Haa which will enable them to guide the project.

The feedback sought from the members will be utilized as a reference during the project implementation.

Reported by: Tshering Choki, RSPN

A steering committee was formed for the Community-based Sustainable Tourism (CBST) project in Haa on 9^th March 2015 at RSPN Conference Hall in Thimphu.

The committee comprise representatives from the Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB), Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators (ABTO), Guide Association of Bhutan (GAB), Nature Recreation & Ecotourism Division (NRED) of DoFPS, and Agency for Promotion of Indigenous Crafts (APIC), the Dzongkhag Administration of Haa, and Royal Society for Protection of Nature (RSPN) and the Japan Environmental Education Forum (JEEF).

The main objective of the steering committee formation has been to involve and seek support from relevant stakeholders in developing community-based sustainable tourism in Haa.

The meeting comprised presentations about the project outline, plans, the role of JEEF as the technical counterpart for the project from Japan and discussion on the terms of reference for the steering committee members.

The steering committee will be meeting quarterly to guide and review the progress of CBST project in Haa.

Reported by Tshering Choki, RSPN

The evaluation committee have selected the Inftnity Reseurch & Consultancy to conduct the Finai Evaluation Survey of Improving Gender-Inclusive Access to Clean and Renewable Energy, ABD Project inZhemgang. The evaluation is based on “best evaluated” procedures. For detailed evalutaion results, please refer following result sheets:

ITANAGAR, Feb 12: Experts have called for collaboration between India and Bhutan for Black-necked Crane Conservation.

In order to discuss the current status and conservation measures related to the species, a two-day Indo-Bhutan workshop on Black-necked Crane was organized at Dirang in Arunachal Pradesh, jointly organized by WWF-India in collaboration with the Forest Department of Arunachal Pradesh. The workshop was attended by the Black-necked Crane experts from India and Bhutan and community conservationists from Zemithang and Sangti valleys of Arunachal Pradesh. During the workshop, the experts deliberated on a range of issues including current status of the species at all the key crane habitats in India and Bhutan.

The Black-necked Crane breeds in the high altitude wetlands of the Tibetan Plateau (China) Eastern Ladakh in J&K and Gurudongmar Lake in Sikkim (India). The species winters in lower altitudes in Tibetan Plateau, Yunan and Guizhou (China), Phobjika and Bumdeling (Bhutan) and Sangti, Zimithang valleys in Arunachal Pradesh (India). The species has strong cultural, spiritual and religious links to the local people in the region. The total global population of the species is estimated to be about 11,000 individuals and it is listed as a globally ‘Vulnerable’ species by IUCN.

The wetland habitats used by the Black-necked Crane are ecologically unique and extremely fragile, the conservation of which is essential, as these wetlands are also hydrologically very important. The close cultural and spiritual link of the local Buddhist communities with this crane species along its distribution range also lends this landscape a sacred fervour. A small proportion of the critically important sites have been designated under the Ramsar List of Internationally Important wetlands and East Asian –Australasian Flyway Site Network.

The workshop delegates also visited the Sangti Valley, a key habitat of Black-necked Crane in Arunachal Pradesh and interacted with the local community and school students. The workshop concluded with a range of recommendation and called for immediate conservation actions to protect the wintering habitat of Black-necked Crane in Sangti and Zemithang valleys of Arunachal Pradesh.

During the workshop, presentations were made by the experts on the current status and conservation issues related to Black-necked Crane in Jammu & Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. The experts from Bhutan deliberated on a range of issues related to the conservation of the species in Bhutan.

Prof. S. A. Hussain, senior scientist from the Wildlife Institute of India made a presentation on the migration studies on this species in India. Dr. Sherub from the Forest Department of Government of Bhutan made a presentation on the migration studies on Black-necked Crane in Bhutan.

Kamal Medhi, Coordinator of the Western Arunachal Landscape made a presentation on the current status of Black-necked Crane in Arunachal Pradesh and informed the experts about WWF conservation actions on the species in Arunachal Pradesh.

Tshering Phuntsho from the Royal Society for the Protection of Nature (RSPN) in Bhutan stressed on the need to enhance the understanding on the impacts of anthropogenic pressures and climate change on Black-necked Crane habitats and populations in the Indo-Bhutan region.

Divisional Forest Officers from Shergaon and Bomdila forest division, local administration of West Kameng district also participated throughout the workshop.

The workshop was coordinated by Pankaj Chandan head of the Western Himalayan Landscape of WWF-India. He informed that this initiative is to protect and to promote the Black-necked Crane as a symbol of cultural identity of Himalayan mountain ecosystems. In the concluding session of the workshop delegates from Bhutan and India jointly agreed that the country specific conservation initiatives should be synergised so as to conserve black-necked crane habitat as a trans-boundary conservation initiative.

The Burmese shrike adds itself to a now 693-strong Bhutanese family of feathered friends.

UWICE: Bhutan is rich by one more species of bird, the Burmese shrike (Lanius collurioides) after a mist-netting programme at the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environment (UWICE) on April 2 discovered the bird.

“The shrike we found is a new record for Bhutan,” bird enthusiast, Ugyen Tenzin, who removed the bird from the mist net line, said.

UWICE ornithologist, Sherub, said that the Burmese shrike in Bumthang nestled at an altitude of 2600m above sea level, is the highest elevation to record the bird until now.

“While its distribution in the Himalayas was north-east India, the discovery here will be its furthest distribution towards the west,” Sherub said.

According to UWICE, the Burmese shrike was caught in mist netting line pitched outside its campus at Lamai Gonpa around 8am.

Mist netting is the process of catching a bird in a minute delicate net pitched in an open field, mostly by its feeding area, or habitat where the frequency of bird movement is high.  When the bird in flight hits the net, it falls into a pouch at the bottom of the net.

The fall however causes no harm to the bird.  As it struggles to escape from the net, it ends up entangled from where the officials remove it for documenting.

The birds are then released safely after recording the details.  The discovery of the Burmese shrike takes the bird species record in Bhutan to 693.

The male bird, which was almost the size of a bulbul, weighed 26.7g.  It was 17-20cm long.

“Its distinctive features are chestnut-coloured mantle and rump with two white lateral feathers at the base of its tail,” Sherub said.

The Burmese shrike was banded before its release later that day.  Ringing or banding is done to keep track of the particular bird in future. “Banding will help us share information on the bird if it’s caught in another location, such as India,” Sherub said.

To date, UWICE, which initiated the mist-netting program in August 2013, has banded around 1,500 birds.  Some of the bird species banded include the gold crest, golden bush robin, Eurasian tree creeper and orange-flanked bush robin.  The red-billed chough is the biggest bird banded among the 1,500.

The mist netting is a long-term programme spearheaded by Sherub, Ugyen Tenzin and Karma Wangdi.  They carry out the mist netting every day from 6-9:30am.

The programme aims to learn and document bird diversity with the change in season.  Mist netting will also enable the institute to learn about birds’ community, breeding biology, age structure and record morphometric data of every species of bird captured.  Students from nearby schools are also given an opportunity to take part in the exercise sometimes.

Source: Kuensel

The Royal Society for Protection of Nature formally welcomes Dr. Kinley Tenzin as the new Executive Director. The formal handing-taking ceremony was conducted today at RSPN Head Office at Kawajangsa, Thimphu.

Dr. Kinley have served as the Program Director at Renewable Resources Research and Development Center, Yusipang under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests prior to the current appointment.

He takes over from Dr. Lam Dorji, who have taken over as the Team Leader for the ADB Technical Assistance Project “Adaption to Climate Change through Integrated Water Resources Management for National Environment Commission and  Department of Agriculture and Forests, Royal Government of Bhutan”. Dr. Lam served in RSPN since 1993.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, members and staff of RSPN, RSPN welcomes Dr. Kinley Tenzin as the new Executive Director, while RSPN also wish Dr. Lam Dorji, the outgoing Executive Director good luck in his new endeavor and thank him for his dedicated and dynamic leadership.

It is spring again and local people in Phobjikha are busy with their farm works. People have waited for the snow for long. They have tilled their fields and started planting potatoes. It is time to get to work.

But it is also a prime time for the Black-necked cranes to leave for their summer habitat in Tibet. It has been five months since they have arrived in the valley. It has been very cold recently with light snow on the night of 1^st March.

Cranes started flying on 25^th February and an amazing 68 cranes flew that pleasant day. The next day, 30 BNCs took off and on 27^th, yet another large number of 200 BNCs took off.  Since then there have been regular flights and today at 0930 hours about eight BNCs took off. The weather is reported to be pleasant with plenty of sunshine and clear skies. As of 3^rd March evening less than 30 BNCs were seen in the valley with one injured crane. We hope it will make it to its summer home. Today evening we saw 30 BNCs roosting in the valley.

Before the flight, the BNCs usually make unison calls, take spiral upwards flight and then fly north-west towards the Pelela mountain pass and over the mountains. Last year the BNCs left the valley starting 9th February consisting of ten adults. Cranes started to fly on various dates in groups of two to 50. Last winter (2013-2014) saw about 422 Black-necked Cranes including 42 juveniles in Phobjikha which is the highest number of cranes to be recorded since 1986.

The local people considers the departure of the cranes as a sad moment since they won’t be seeing and hearing the birds until October. For them the cranes making spirals and circumambulating the Gangteng Monastery in the air before they fly towards north-west is indeed a precious and sad moment.

This year Phobjikha received 396 BNCs with 40 Juvenile. Over all Bhutan received a total of 544 BNCs with 75 juveniles. Bumthang saw an increased number of BNCs with a total count of 28 birds, Khotokha received only six birds, Kurtoe in Lhuntse received seven birds and Bumdeling received 107 BNCs with 12 juveniles.

One lone adult BNC was spotted in Tshekha, Pho Chhu in Punakha on 4th December 2014. (Pic: Kezang Jamtsho @ Facebook)

Acknowledgements:

RSPN would like to thank our stakeholders and friends in Department of Forest and Park Services (Bumdeling, Bumthang, Lhuntse and Khotokha) and volunteers across the habitat areas for their keen participation in the annual counts. Tashi delek!

RSPN is pleased to announce the selection result of a National Consultancy Firm for conducting Baseline Survey. As per the evaluation criteria set up by RSPN evaluation committee, M/s. Kyingkhor Consultancy Service based in Thimphu, who scored 248.5 points is hereby selected for the month long consultancy service. The evaluation was further reviewed by SDF office and was approved for the same.

Please click on the thumbnails to enlarge these evaluation sheets.

22^nd  February 2015. On 22^nd February we woke up at 0430 hours and went to the bird hide after walking for 35 minutes. It was pitch dark with clear skies. Frost have blanketed the entire vegetation. It was complete dark and silent. We kept our noise and torches low not to cause any disturbance to the birds.  At about 0552 hours the sky was becoming brighter and we could hear a single call from the roost. Few minutes later there were many such calls.

In 2014, RSPN built a small eco-friendly bird hide on a slope facing the two major Black-necked Crane (BNC) roosting ponds in Phobjikha. The semi-circle bird hide have elongated narrow window providing panoramic view of the valley. It can accommodate about 15 people and watch the birds quite well without any binoculars or spotting scopes. It is about 100 meters away from the roost. From here BNCs can be easily observed without any disturbance. During winter when temperatures are below freezing point, such shelters keep the birders quite warm from the cold, frost and frequent winds.

We watched from the spotting scope and we could faintly see cranes in Roost No. 2 who were already awake and making slight movements. We could also hear faint calls from the Roost No. 4 located about 700 meters away southwards. By. 0557 hours the cranes started making loud calls. The Ruddy shelducks and Oriental skylarks too have woken by then adding music to the calm morning.

As the dawn broke we counted 110 BNCs at Roost No. 1, 87 BNCs at Roost No. 2, 53 BNCs at Roost No. 3, and 6 BNCs at a small roost near Roost No. 3. We also counted about 13 Ruddy shelducks [The total BNC count for Phobjikha this winter was 396 BNCs counted on 18^th January 2015].

At 0641 hours the cranes started to fly away south wards for feeding. The sun has not yet shown up. We saw cranes walking slowly out of the shallow ponds which were covered with thin layer of ice which broke with the bird’s weight. The ponds seemed quite murky with mud and grasses. Many cranes were still in the post standing patiently on its one leg.  As the sun’s rays fell over the hill tops nearby the cranes started to disperse across the valley in groups ranging from 2 to 10.

Couples were seen performing the “courtship dance” while many others were feeding. A large group of BNCs were still in the roosting ponds preening their feathers. Some were still seen sleeping with their head tugged in the feathers of their body. As the sun’s rays slowly reached the valley floor, it melted away the frost that have engulfed the vegetation.  At this hour preening, feeding and couple dancing was the most seen behavior. Cranes then scattered all over the valley like tiny white mushrooms all over.

An alert call is heard from the distance and we saw three dogs approaching Roost No. 1 and No. 2, sniffing and trying to chase the cranes. The cranes quickly ran and flew off. The sun have now fully covered the valley and BNCs walk slowly in pairs, family and groups majestically. As we walked back we saw them in large groups as big as 34 at about 30 meters away without any peril.

It was a great morning to see the birds!