VietNamNet - In a country that supports nearly 900 species of birds, the members of the Hanoi Birdwatching Club (HBC) should have no trouble keeping themselves busy.

The recently formed group has plans to organise a birding trip every three months, with the next birding trip planned for the Cuc Phuong National Park in August.

"We hope more and more members will join in our upcoming activities," said Le Manh Hung, the club leader.

The HBC is the brainchild of several young scientists from the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources and the Hanoi National University. With some technical support from the BirdLife International Vietnam Programme, the initial idea for the HBC emerged in 2000, but only this year has it become a reality.

The club enjoyed successful first birding trips to the Xuan Thuy National Park in Nam Dinh Province and to the Van Long Nature Reserve in Ninh Binh Province, and by the end of April, the HBC had attracted quite a few young enthusiasts. Many bird species were recorded, but the most notable observations were 11 co thia, black-faced spoonbills (Platalea minor), a species considered globally endangered.

According to BirdLife International, bird watchers of all skill levels, areas of interest and ages can find something interesting in observing wild birds. Some birders travel the world just to look for a few rare species that they wish to see once in their lives. Other enthusiasts simply enjoy watching birds at feeders in their gardens.

Bird watching has become a popular hobby in a number of countries, and many foreign bird watchers have begun to visit Vietnam.

Though the concept of bird watching is entirely new to most local people, the country has developed a reputation for its wide range of habitats sheltering a variety of beautiful and rare species.

Vietnam’s emergence as a destination for foreign bird watchers should come as no surprise: the country hosts one of the richest avifaunas of mainland south-east Asia. Among the nearly 900 species of birds recorded in Vietnam, the country supports 73 species of global conservation concern. Of these, 38 are threatened bird species.

To encourage birding ecotourism in the country and promote nature conservation, BirdLife has revised its web page at www.birdlifeindochina.org/birdwatch to provide helpful information about 15 birding sites in Vietnam. This project resulted in part from the support of the Japan Fund for Global Environment, which has helped enhance access to bird watching information in Vietnam.

BirdLife reports that the accessibility of many of the best birding sites in Vietnam is one reason for the country’s popularity with international bird watchers. At some sites, including Cat Tien and Cuc Phuong National Parks, birders can even stay overnight in the heart of the forest.

According to BirdLife, important congregations of wintering and migrating waterbirds settle in the Cuu Long (Mekong) and Hong (Red) River deltas. The Xuan Thuy National Park in the Red River delta is one of only a handful of places in the world where the endangered re mo thia, spoon-billed sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus) can be found.

The resort city of Da Lat in Central Highlands, with its pines, lakes and mountains, holds four endemic species, including the endangered khuou dau den ma xam, collared laughingthrush (Garrulax yersini), one of the most beautiful of all babblers.

In the centre of the country, spectacular limestone crags support a unique forest type that is the only home of two unusual birds: the near-threatened khuou mun, sooty babbler (Stachyris herberti) and a kind of bird, leaf-warbler that may be a new species.

The mountains of the north hold more wide-ranging species found in China and the Himalayas, but some of these, such as khuou mo det duoi ngan, short-tailed parrotbill (Paradoxornis davidianus), can be most easily observed in Vietnam.

The spine of Vietnam is the mysterious Truong Son mountain range; a "lost world" where birds and mammals formerly unknown to science have surfaced in the last two decades. The most adventurous birders may wish to seek out these barely known species but should remember to seek permission from the local authorities first, BirdLife suggests.

"BirdLife is now seeking funds from the business sector in Vietnam with the aim of organising a series of events this October to join the World Bird Festival 2006 – Asia events," said Jonathan C Eames, programme manager of BirdLife International in Indochina.

Eames said that events will be organised for the first weekend of that month, centred around the theme, "Connecting People and Nature." "BirdLife hopes that the fund-raising will be successful and that these events will attract participation from a lot of bird and nature lovers nationwide," Eames said.

(Source: VNA)