RSCN seeks to turn Kingdom into safe haven for winged visitors

AMMAN — The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) celebrated World Migratory Day through ensuring the sustainable protection and conservation of migratory birds.

“Jordan is considered to be a leading country in the area of migratory bird preservation, in addition to being one of the first countries to have signed both the Convention on Migratory Species and the Convention on Biodiversity,” Director of the Bird Project Department at the RSCN Tariq Qaneer told The Jordan Times on Sunday.

During October, the RSCN and BirdLife International, through their consideration of the Migratory Soaring Birds Project, financed by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and the Egyptian Vulture New LIFE project which is funded by the EU, celebrated World Migratory Bird Day.

Although World Migratory Bird Day is observed annually on October 9, the RSCN celebrates “the magnificence of the Kingdom’s winged visitors” throughout the month by safely releasing birds back to their natural habitats after being rehabilitated.

According to Qaneer, bird rehabilitation is a process that involves safely diagnosing, examining and admitting injured birds that are brought in and need treatment. 

He noted that this process, conducted by the RSCN and the Royal Department for Environment Protection and Tourism (Rangers), aims to prepare birds to rejoin their habitats.

Around 437 bird species have been recorded in Jordan, of which 70 per cent are migratory and 30 per cent are resident, according to Qaneer.

“Migratory birds play many indispensable roles. They are ecologically essential, as they serve as key functions in the interconnected systems,” he said.

In an RSCN statement sent to The Jordan Times, Osama Al Nuri, director of the Migratory Soaring Birds Project, said: “Celebrating World Migratory Bird Day also seeks to highlight the matter of illegal hunting, and to raise environmental awareness of the negative effects of unsustainable bird hunting across the world.”

He added that there are many alternate activities and environmental friendly methods like bird watching that have several positive consequences and build up the efforts of preserving migratory birds.