Sight of joggers, walkers, fitness enthusiasts is a very usual scene at Ranibari Community Forest. But it was quite different today. A small group of people from different walk of lives had gathered by the side of Ranibari Gate by 7:00 am. Some had high end cameras with big lenses, some carried binoculars, some had note books and many with big smile upon their faces. They had all gathered to celebrate 36th BCN day and participate at bird watching and talk program “Nature and Literature” by Sanjeev Uprety, a prominent writer and philosopher of Nepal.

The flock of nature lovers began exploring the green, serene environment of Ranibari forest following the sounds in hope of great sighting of birds. It was unusual among daily joggers because these people neither run nor walk and abruptly stop and look up at the trees pointing their binoculars, lenses towards the dense trees with excitement. It may not mean a lot for joggers but the birders seemed very happy to have sighted “Blue Fronted Blue Flycatcher, Spotted Owlet, Great Barbet, Blue throated barbet, Oriental White eye, dark sided flycatcher, Oriental Magpie Robin and many more.

Talk program “Nature and Literature” began after wrapping up an hour long bird watching. Santosh Bikram Shah, President of RCF community forest shared that the place is visited by writers and artist and also emphasized on proper coordination in carrying out impactful programs for visitors. Then began the long anticipated program of the day as Sanjeev Uprety started his talk on the topic. He acknowledged that he has always been an admirer of nature but overlooked major components such as birds, plants, wildlife. He narrowed down the complexity of Nature and Literature and shared his thoughts on human behavior, their perception of observing nature and how selfish and human centered approach is harming our nature. He stressed that we need to de-center human centric perspective of the world by foregrounding birds, plants and nature. “Being close to nature can make us better human beings and make human civilization civilized in the truest sense”, he added. Interesting remarks were made during the Q&A session as participant’s pointed out how literature are far away from the factual characteristics of nature and its various components. Ishana Thapa, CEO, BCN shared the overall objective our Learning and biodiversity center of bringing disconnected students and professionals from nature close and organize various activities that would make them appreciate nature and understand the importance of its conservation.

Similarly Vinita,  Karki and Nabin Pandey were awarded with BCN’s Bird Research Grant 2019 supported by Chungba Sherpa, Patron, BCN  to facilitate their Bachelor’s degree research entitled “Assessing behavioral trait of Ibisbill and their vulnerability to climate change in breeding and wintering ground in Central Nepal” and”Status and distribution of Great Slaty Woodpecker in western lowland of Nepal” respectively. The half a day long celebration came to conclusion after concluding remarks from Rajendra Gurung, President , BCN.