The Ministry of Forestry has registered 1,056 bird species as part of a drive to promote environmental tourism in the country.
This registration and record keeping was done by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Department of Forestry, along with the Wildlife Conservation Society of the National University of Singapore. They are cooperating for the purpose of conducting research on bird species.
Myanmar has recently received attention from bird watchers and environmental tourists for its diverse wildlife.
Mark Grindley, program manager of Myanmar Fauna & Flora International, said, “Tourism is assumed to improve conditions, but preservation is also essential. We have obtained much information about birds and we also got a chance to study the nature of the environment from them.”
During the observation trip, blood samples were taken from 251 species of birds.
Moreover, they observed some species from cold regions, rare sparrows, bluebirds with white patches above their eyes, other rare species such as red cuckoos, black eagles and mountain eagles in Min Tat and Matupi towns.
Around 11 percent of bird species from all over the world reside in Southeast Asia and the research has found that there are sightings of Jerdon’s babblers, various parrots species, smith birds, pelicans and Htatayu in Bagan and Kanpalat.
