Recently declared Ramsar Site, Asan Conservation Reserve of Western Himalayan foothills serving as a migratory bird hotspot to inspiring youngster towards conservation: - A birding event story from , The Indian Himalayan Region consists of three parallel ranges, the Greater known as the Himadri; the Lesser Himalayas called the Himachal, and the Shivalik hills, which comprise the foothills. Nestled in these foothills, the Doon Valley is an unusually wide, geologically-rich gap between the Shivalik Hills and the Range of the lower Himalayas. Within the valley lies the city of , the capital of Uttarakhand state. The Doon Valley is a "microcosm" of the Western Himalayas because of the extensive range of habitats with steep altitudinal range which contains three Important Bird Areas (IBAs), making it a birding hotspot. It is also an area of historical importance for ornithology, as it was the first Himalayan region to be conquered by the British Empire in 1816. As a consequence, the first scientific efforts at formal, long-term, unrestricted ornithological study in any part of the Himalayas began in the Doon Valley. The Asan Conservation Reserve (ACR) comprises, a fresh water reservoir, a Reserve Forest Area (Rampurmandi Forest Block which also includes adjoining river bed), a stretch of river bed of Asan river and Yamuna hydel canal near village Dhalipur in of the state of Uttarakhand. Located 38 km from the city of Dehradun, the reservoir is at the confluence of Yamuna hydro-electric (herein after hydel) canal and river Asan. The barrage which is situated across the river Asan is 287.5 m long, the river bed being 396.00 m above sea level, with minimum and maximum water levels at 401.5 m and 403.3 m msl respectively. The reserve is known particularly for its avifaunal diversity including global and local migratory birds along-with resident waterbirds due to which it has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) and recently in 2020 designated as ‘Wetland of national Importance’ by Ramsar Convention of wetlands. In total 330 species of birds, including globally threatened species have been reported from the reserve. On February 2, a bird watching event on the occasion of 50th World Wetland Day, organised by the Maaty Organization, Zoological Survey of India, and Alpine Group of Colleges to mark the 1st Ramsar wetland of Uttarakhand declared as ‘Wetland of National Importance’ on Ramsar Convention on Wetlands – ‘The Asan Conservation Reserve”. This wetland birdwatching event proceeded with dividing the students in 4 different groups and the capacity was 10 each to focus four different habitats. They gathered and presented all the information regarding the number of bird species, their behaviour and habitat very delinquently. Students along-with the resource persons have noted following details: birds at the selected patch and also differentiating males and females respectively, distinguish the birds according to the local/global migration, learning the specific attributes of shorebirds and their identification, distinguish specific body movement and approaching behaviour during their feeding, movement of the ducks according to the sunlight etc. They also make questions about bird behaviour. For example: Have anyone noticed large feeding flocks of Cormorants? Which species: Great, Little or Indian? Do they occur at particular times of year, or particular times of day? etc. The most important highlight was recording the human disturbance present out there which was pretty commendable from the student’s forefront. Most influential field note documentation along-with drawing awarded ‘the best-bird watcher’ at the end of the programme to boost the youngsters so that they come forward in the future to save our country’s wetland and biodiversity. A total of 70+ participants along-with the resource persons were there who took part in the event. During the event, birds that are being documented were Ruddy Shelduck, Tufted Duck, Red- crested Pochard, Northern pintail, Gadwall, Common Pochard, Northern Shoveller, Painted Stork, Grey Headed Swamphen, Common Coot, Common moorhen, Indian spot-billed duck, Grey heron, River lapwing, Green Sandpiper, Egrets, kingfishers and cormorants etc.

Such events met with the important goal of conserving wetland and its biodiversity through the participation of college students as they come from several backgrounds like local communities, farmers, hunters, tourist guides and many more. These awareness events will raise the importance of conserving soaring birds to humans and their livelihood. Addressing the importance of migratory birds into the tourism and agriculture also can be an emerging fact which subsequently will conserve the habitat. Watching two cormorants doing head wagging, wing salute, marching, wing-leg stretch, twist preen bowing (inverted wing salute) or a red-wattled lapwing building a nest, incubate their eggs and raise five enormous fluffy fledglings in the hedge opposite is something which brings more pleasure than watching a movie in a theatre. People across the world have found themselves becoming more aware of their natural surroundings since the COVID-19 pandemic pressed pause on our ordinary lives. And while we all wish this tragedy hadn’t happened, sometimes it can take a huge upheaval to see what’s important in life. This growing public awareness of nature is exactly what we need on a planet that’s facing more pressure than ever before from climate change and the extinction crisis

. A picture of field note documentation by the students

By Oyndrila Sanyal Senior Research Fellow

MAATY organization