Itanagar: The first-ever Keyi Panyor Bird counting exercise recorded 38 bird species in two hours at Joram Putung in Joram village of Arunachal Pradesh’s Keyi Panyor district on Tuesday.The event was organised by the Keyi Panyor Tourism Society in collaboration with the Arunachal Pradesh Birding Club, Bird Count India and the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF).The initiative sought to promote wildlife conservation, build ecological awareness and assess birdwatching’s potential as a sustainable ecotourism model for the district, an official statement said.School and college students, forest officials and local residents took part in the survey. Among the species spotted were the Mountain Hawk-Eagle, Fire-breasted Flowerpecker, Dark-sided Flycatcher, White-throated Fantail, Indian White-eye, Grey Bushchat and Large-billed Crow.An interactive session on avian diversity and bird-counting methods was later held at Joram Govt Secondary School, with NCF resource person Mittal Gala.Arunachal Pradesh Birding Club founder and president Koj Mama said birdwatching could create livelihood opportunities for local youth through training as nature guides, homestays and community-led ecotourism.Ngunu Ziro secretary Punyo Chada proposed an annual Bird and Butterfly Festival for Keyi Panyor, modelled on the Ziro Butterfly Meet.Keyi Panyor zilla parishad chairperson Nabam Piju urged residents to protect bird habitats and refrain from hunting. She said future counts could record more species and strengthen community-led conservation in the district.
