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Festival
Celebrating World Migratory Bird Day

Migratory birds link people across the Flyway. At the time of World Migratory Bird Day, our Partner in The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea held their first Swan Goose Festival on 13th October at Mundok Migratory Bird Reserve (EAAFP Flyway Network Site and Ramsar Site), to join the global celebration of the amazing journey of migratory waterbirds.

This text was written by Vivian Fu, Communication Manager at the East Asian – Australasian Flyway Partnership. You can find the article also here: https://www.eaaflyway.net/first-swan-goose-festival-in-dpr-korea-celebrating-world-migratory-bird-day/

During each autumn, about a third of the global population of Swan Goose uses Mundok Migratory Bird Reserve (EAAF 045) as a stop-over site during southward migration. The Swan Goose Festival was organized by the Ministry of Land and Environmental Protection (MoLEP), co-organized by EAAFP Secretariat, HSF in Korea, WWF Hong Kong and Hong Kong Bird Watching Society. A total of 160 participants including international participants, embassy representatives from Russia, Mongolia, and Syria as well as UN agencies delegates, local government representatives, site managers, and local communities attended this first-ever event.

The opening ceremony of the Swan Goose Festival started with the opening remarks from Mr. Jong Yong Nam, Vice Minister of MoLEP, followed by Mr. Doug Watkins, Chief Executive of EAAFP. Then Mrs. Ri Kyong Sim, Director General of MoLEP talked about the purpose of celebrating World Migratory Bird Day and Mr. O Kyong Chol, Manager and Head of Mundok Migratory Bird Reserve introduced the site. After the ceremony, participants moved to see the photo exhibition of birds at Mundok and the documentary Film Show of “Wetlands of Korea, Treasure House of Biodiversity”. At the same time, they could enjoy watching flocks of thousands of Swan Goose and other waterbirds on the tidal flats. After lunch, WWF- Hong Kong organized environmental education games and operated game booths for children to promote an understanding of food chains, the importance of wetlands and the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.

 

From 14th to 16th Oct, a training workshop was conducted for site managers from Mundok, Kumya Migratory Bird Reserves (both EAAFP Flyway Network Sites, EAAF 045 and EAAF 044) and Rason Migratory Bird Reserve (Ramsar Site), as well as local teachers. The training topics covered concepts of wetland management, CEPA and environmental education, basics of bird identification and monitoring. The trainers were from EAAFP Secretariat and Science Unit, EAAFP Crane Working Group, WWF- Hong Kong and Mangrove Foundation (MCF).

 

At the same time as the training workshop, a joint survey by researchers from MoLEP, Academy of Science of Korea, HSF Korea, WWF Hong Kong and Hong Kong Bird Watching Society was carried out from 14th to 18th October. The team of over 10 people conducted bird surveys in Lake Tongchon and Kumya. On 17th and 18th, the participants who participated in the training workshop joined the survey team and had a taste of waterbird monitoring at Mundok Migratory Bird Reserve.

 

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