First bird count strikes hope for Nagaland’s wildlife

Tokhü Emong Bird Count (TEBC) is a citizen science initiative aimed at celebrating the birds of Nagaland state. The event has been hailed as Nagaland’s first bird documentation event by Bird Count India, a bird monitoring and documentation collective and organizing group. Other administrators include Wokha Forest Division and the Divisional Management Unit, Nagaland Forest Management Project (NFMP). The event was held over four days from November 4 to 7, 2022, and involved 18 e-birders from four districts of Nagaland – Dimapur, Kohima, Peren and Wokha. E-birders were able to identify 178 species of birds.

TEBC was the brainchild of Lansothung Lotha, a district forest ranger with the Nagaland Forest Department and an avid conservationist. Lotha discussed the TEBC process with Mongabay-India, noting that the participants were mainly school students. The aim was to help develop a love for bird conservation and protection among the young participants. Organizers conducted birding workshops and taught participants how to use and upload their data to eBird, an online bird observation database developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
The preliminary TEBC event report released by BirdCount India details the day-by-day summary of the event and includes a list of birds recorded by participants. Some of the notable birds seen include the Brown Shrike, Black-tailed Crake, Blue-naped Pitta, Brown Bush Warbler, Spot-breasted Scimitar Babbler, Brown-capped Laughing Thrush, Eye-browed Laughing Thrush and the flagship species, the Amor Falcon.
Speaking to Mongabay-India about TEBC, Bird Count India (BCI) coordinator, Mittal Gala said, “One of the objectives of BCI is to obtain data on the distribution and abundance of Indian birds at a fine scale, which means data from the smallest place (city, town or village) to the largest scale (nationwide).

Gala revealed that Nagaland was home to unique species of birds found nowhere else. Through TEBC, BCI hopes to monitor and identify bird species that need conservation attention.
The event was organized in keeping with the peak migration season of Amur falcons, which takes place in the first week of November every year in Nagaland’s Wokha district. Organizers cited examples of bird counting events in other states that are held during festivals, such as Onam Bird Count (Kerala), Pongal Bird Count (Tamil Nadu) and Bihu Bird Count (Assam). Accordingly, this event took place during the Tukhu Emong festival, one of the festivals of the Lotha Nagas. Tokhu Emong is celebrated in the first week of November after the harvest. The term ‘Tokhu Emong’ means resting from the work of the fields after the harvest season. In particular, during this festival, villagers are prohibited from hunting, fishing, trading or traveling.

Hornbills are endangered in the land of the Hornbill Festival.
Nagaland hosts several endangered and near-threatened species of keystone birds, said renowned ornithologist and wildlife researcher Anwaruddin Chaudhary, who has written several books and articles on bird records in Nagaland: Blythe’s Tragopan, Rufous-necked Hornbill, Mrs. Nagant, Mrs. Hume. Babler and Austin’s Brown Hornbill.
In addition to the two hornbill species mentioned, there are three other hornbill species in the state: the eastern pied hornbill, the mantled hornbill, and the great hornbill. Lansothung Lotha, who is also a member of the IUCN Hornbill Specialist Group, revealed that hornbills are being pushed towards extinction in the state.
Choudhury revealed that hornbills are an ‘indicator species’. This means that their presence or absence in a particular area indicates certain environmental conditions and changes. Hornbills need mature trees for nesting. Their absence from the environment indicates that there are no mature trees in the area where they can nest.” Their disappearance from the forests of Nagaland is an important indicator of the rapidly depleting forests of the state. Global Forest Watch reported that from 2000 to 2020, Nagaland experienced a net change in tree cover of -130 sq km (-0.85%).
Hornbills are one of the many bird species that are being pushed towards extinction in the state. Bringing back populations of hornbills and other endangered birds will mean preserving existing natural forest areas, which will require drastic changes to agricultural lifestyles and traditional customs that have been in place for generations.

Factors contributing to the loss of wildlife and biodiversity in the state include jhum cultivation, hunting, logging and felling of trees, and more recently, development activities such as road construction and widening, and monoculture.
Jhum cultivation, a traditional form of agriculture, requires clearing forest or vegetation patches by burning and then using the land for cultivation. After harvesting, the land is fallowed to allow the plant to regrow until it is reusable in the next cycle. In Nagaland, jhum cultivation was once considered a sustainable option as jhum cycles spanned two to three decades, and land ownership was high. However, in recent times, there has been a lot of debate on this practice.

Speaking to Mongabay-India, veteran journalist and a leading conservationist in Nagaland, Bano Haralu said jhumming is no longer practiced on a large scale as it used to be because the lands have become smaller. Hence the jhum cycles have also become quite short and now last only for a few years. This is putting pressure on the land, depleting the soil, and accelerating the cycle of deforestation and burning.
Another important factor in the loss of forest cover has been hunting. A survey conducted in 2013 by researchers at the Salim Ali Center for Ornithology and Natural History Anaikatti, Tamil Nadu, studied wildlife exploitation in the markets of Tuensang city. The newspaper revealed that “13,067 birds and 3,567 mammals were sold annually in the Tuensang market alone, earning about Rs. 2,000. 18.5 lakh annually. This figure was from only one district. If more surveys were conducted in other districts, The number will be higher.
However, traditional hunting is also a dead practice. Now, “the main reason for hunting is the prestige and the money that comes with it. Wild meat is rare, a delicacy,” said Nozota Sawuro, an experienced farmer from the village of Chesezu.

Lack of documentation of wildlife and birds in the state
Lansothung said that the current situation when it comes to loss of biodiversity is quite alarming in the state. “There is a rapid decline of species, but most people are indifferent to the crisis.”

Realizing the urgent need to provide sustainable solutions to these problems, several groups, communities and individuals have been undertaking several conservation initiatives in recent years, such as the Khonoma Green Village initiative, Sendenyu Village Community Biodiversity Conservation, and Tizu Valley Biodiversity Conservation. and livelihood networks.
However, without proper documentation of bird and wildlife species in the state, there are difficulties in tracking the success or failure of such initiatives. There is an urgent need to record bird and wildlife populations and survey the condition of their habitats in Nagaland.

In a 2011 paper that studied wildlife hunting and conservation in Northeast India, “Providing quantitative information on the observed level of impact on wild populations of hunted species in Northeast India.” is severely lacking.”
Talking about the documentation of birds in the state, Chaudhary said that there is a need for many ornithological surveys. “Progress so far has been quite slow.”

While organizing the TEBC event, Lansothung and his team faced the challenge of collecting enough birds to participate in the event, as bird hunting is a relatively new concept in Nagaland.

Gala said bird data from northeastern states was poor even though Nagaland is located in the Indo-Malay Global Biodiversity Hotspot, making it one of the most biologically diverse and important northeastern states in India. Makes one.
Note: The citizen science records shown do not indicate the comprehensive presence/absence of the species and its complete distribution. Map by Technology for Wildlife Foundation and design by Kartik Chandramouli/Mongabay.

“Regional events like TEBC, as well as periodic birding activities, can help fill this gap. It can generate interest in birds, which leads to more documentation. Such documentation increases birding year after year. can help generate baseline data to compare trends in. Gala took the example of the 2020 State of India Bird Report, which revealed long- and short-term distribution and abundance trends for 867 species. The report analyzed 10 million observations that bird watchers uploaded to eBird.
A student of Tetso College, Dimapur, Nzanthung Ezung, who participated in the TEBC event, said he had never participated in bird hunting before the event. He could count a total of 18 birds. Talking about the experience, he said, “Bird watching is fun. I can develop a passion for it.” Ezong’s experience promises hope for more people in the state to become bird enthusiasts. However, to do this, more awareness needs to be created.
Haralu said there is a severe lack of environmental and wildlife education in the state. To deal with this, Haralu proposed that the indigenous and scientific communities come together to communicate and learn from each other.

Talking about the government’s role in conservation of birds and wildlife, Choudhury suggested, “Research on birds and other wildlife should be encouraged and awareness should be given regularly.”

Unique contribution of Nagaland
Choudhury, who has spent nearly four decades surveying wildlife in the Northeast, lauded TEBC as an excellent effort, saying, “In areas like Nagaland where community ownership of land is a large part of the area. Covers part, such local initiatives will ensure local support. Protection.” Land in Nagaland is owned by individuals, clans or communities. This system of land ownership means that people are most aware of the biodiversity around them and are thus best responsible for conservation.
Recounting his visits to Nagaland, Chaudhary also mentions the village council system that prevails in every village: “There was a plus point in Nagaland. The village headmen were powerful and had their say on every major issue.” Such a system can be a tool that can be used to implement conservation efforts, he said. Because of these factors, community-based initiatives are a viable solution for conservation in a place like Nagaland.