EVENT 2013: MONGOLIAN BIRD WATCHERS' DAY

Bird watching provides a valuable human connection to the natural world and is a globally increasing activity; despite the rapid growth of this activity, however, Mongolia has some way to go in increasing the local popularity of bird watching to the levels seen in the US, UK or Japan. It is recognised that part of the process of increasing its popularity nationally is to increase the number of bird watching activities and so allow people greater access to this fascinating past-time.

The Mongolian Ornithological Society (MOS) organises Mongolian Bird Watcher’s Day, an annual event designed to introduce newcomers to bird watching and to allow current enthusiasts to meet and discuss their shared interest in bird watching. This year MOS conducted Mongolian Bird Watcher’s Day in support of the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism and Mongolica Co.Ltd at Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, 60 km to the north-east of UB city on the 21st-22nd of September. Sixty participants joined in the events involving bird identification, photographing and filming activities. In addition two lectures were conducted by S. Gombobaatar, Director of MOS, and U. Tuvshin, Researcher at MOS titled ‘Ornithology and Special Interest Tourism’ and ‘Birdwatching and Passenger with no Visa’, respectively.

During the lecture ‘Ornithology and Special Interest tourism’ by S. Gombobaatar, Ornithologist, Prof. in Zoology Department in NUM and Director of MOS.

It is thought that if activities such as Mongolian Bird Watcher’s Day are encouraged and performed frequently ornithology and bird watching could develop rapidly in Mongolia. Ornithologist S. Gombobaatar says “increasing the number of bird watchers and enthusiasts in Mongolia will accelerate bird conservation and research in this area”.

Some bird photographs taken during the event.