The 5th Great Himalayan Bird Count 2012

The 5th Great Himalayan Bird Count, Winter of 2012 will take place on 57 of the most popular trekking trails in the river-valleys of Tons, Yamuna, Pabbar, Kamal Nadi, Aglar, Bhagirithi, Bhilingna, Ganga, Mandakini and Alaknanda in Garhwal, Himalayas, and including the Asan and Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserves in Dehradun and Haridwar districts respectively. The landscape covers diverse bird habitats from wetlands to alpine meadows in Uttarakhand, Himalayas. The bird count will start and finish at Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.

We propose 21 groups undertaking 57 different treks of around 10 km each from 27-30 October 2012. Group size will be a maximum of 5/7 birders plus 2/3 school/college students, as well as local village youths, forest-line staff and govt. Students from nearby villages might also join the trails at the respective count destination itself. We are involving & encouraging students’ participation; because we strongly feel that young minds should start thinking of conservation involvement as an academic and career pursuit instead of just another creative past-time. Most of the groups will be undertaking a minimum two trails during the count but one or two groups will be undertaking 3-4 trails. Some groups are also encouraged to conduct small workshop type interactions with the local village elders to generate a list of vernacular names of the bird species found in different river valleys.

This event will be organized with the support of Forest Department, Govt. of Uttarakhand.

This is a purely non-commercial activity, so we expect the participants to share the cost of lodging, boarding and travel expenses during the count. The participation contribution for four days of dedicated jeep travel, boarding and lodging would now come to Rs 4,500/- only. Each participant will get a complimentary participation kit consisting of an event embossed all weather knap-sack, t-shirt, cap, car/bike stickers, string pen, participation certificate and collectors' bird merchandise. plus a hard copy of the published report of our 3rd & 4th Great Himalayan Bird Count 2010-11. Your participation will also ensure that your name will also appear in our hard copy published report of 5th Great Himalayan Bird Count 2012.

During the count modest but comfortable lodging and boarding on sharing basis will be arranged at the FRH, PWD Inspection Bungalows, Tents and even village accommodation at some of the trails. Participation is strictly on a FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BASIS and we can only accommodate a maximum of 170 birders/participants.

Email arch.birdcount@gmail.com for more details.