The 1st ‘Himalayan Bird Count’ event was conducted in Govt. Degree College, Nubra in collaboration with Nature Conservation Foundation, SAVE, Ladakh Drayangs and YAGYAM (youth associations) was started on May 13.

 The program was initiated with a motive to generate baseline data & conservation awareness activity involving young minds. The event was initiated by Bird Count India, Bird Conservation Nepal and the Royal Society for Protection of Nature, Bhutan, who brought together the Himalayan birding fraternity for a common good cause of the Himalayan Avifauna.

Dr. Stanzin Namgail (Coordinator, NSS) briefed about the basics of birding/ bird-watching by familiarizing the students with the different bird-watching related applications and also highlighted to the students about avifauna of Ladakh.

On 14 May, the participants started birding around Diskit village where Debaprasad Sengupta, a Wildlife Biologist (The Celestial Earth, Gurgaon); Kumar Preetam, Environmental Economist (The Celestial Earth, Gurgaon); Roksana Parveen, Entomologist (Punjab University) and Mohd Ali, Wildlife Enthusiast guided the students.  

Dr. Tsewang Motup, Principal, GDC emphasised the need to strike a balance between development and conservation of biodiversity of the area. He also highlighted the important role played by the avifauna in the ecosystem. He appreciated the NSS wing of the college for organising and engaging the students with such events. 

The key speaker Dr. Debaprasad Sengupta spoke about surveying biodiversity and also familiarised some important tips for birding. Roksana Parveen being an Entomologist shared her experiences regarding insects and birds. Dr. Kumaar Preetam spoke about the environmental economy. 

The daylong program was finally concluded with a short walk on birding around the Tsogstod wetland areas. In overall around twenty eight bird species have been sighted around Diskit, Nubra. The bird species recorded are Red-billed Chough, Rock Pigeon, House sparrow, Oriental Skylark, Eurasian Magpie, Citrine Wagtail, Eurasian Hoopoe, Blue Rock-Thrush, Common Redshank, Coal Tit, Eurasian Coot, Bull Finch, Alpine Swift, Barn Shallow, White-winged Redstart , Common Chiffchaff, Mallard, Northern Shoveler, Yellow-Billed Chough, Oriental Turtle Dove, Chukar, Horn Lark, Sand Piper, Green Sandpiper, Black Redstard, Blue Rock-thrush, Eurasian Kestral, Robin Accenter