Posted on June, 30 2016

Photographers and artists joined a two-day trip organized on the occasion of the Migratory Birds Day, mid-May 2016. It was initiated by the Altai Nomads NGO (an offspring of WWF-Mongolia) with a small funds from the WMBD Small Grants for East Asian - Australasian Flyway. Environmental agencies have also joined the trip, including the provincial environmental department, Khar-Us Lake National Park administration, WWF-Mongolia’s Altai-Sayan branch. The trip had twofold purpose. First, it was aimed to engage artists and photographers in raising awareness of public on the importance of conservation of migratory bird species of the Khar-Us Lake National Park, one of the 11 Ramsar sites in Mongolia. Second, it was aimed to initiate a database of photographs and artworks that would potentially lead to produce an album on the birds of the Khar-Us Lake National Park.
This first ever event of its kind had involved 38 participants, including 16 photographers and artists and was followed up with organizing an exhibition for Khovd province residents and school children displaying photographs and artworks. It is estimated that the exhibition had reached at least 1000 people during three days of display.
Importantly, a brand new itinerary has been created and featured as “the special Bird watching tour” of the Khar-Us Lake National Park and is planned to be organized on annual basis. WWF-Mongolia’s biologists were invited to take part of this field trip and give information about the migratory bird species, talk about the specificities of the birds, instruct on how to identify them, fill-in the monitoring book and so on.
Artists could observe and got knowledgeable about more than 20 bird species, including the Bar-headed Goose, Grey Heron, Ruddy Shelduck, and Grey Duck. A special focus was given to the bird species subject to illegal killing and trade, for example the endangered Dalmatian Pelican, subject to the illegal trade due to its beak used in traditional lifestyle-related item.