BirdLife, Armenia
On May 15, 2010 the Armenian Society for the Protection of Birds (BirdLife in Armenia) organized a “Crane – Bird of Peace Festival” which was held in the village of Mets Sepasar, Shirak province. The Festival celebrated one of Armenia’s critically endangered and red listed species, the Common Crane. Shirak province (L. Arpi IBA) was chosen to be the place to hold the festival because it is so far the only breeding ground for the Cranes in Armenia and, to say the least, a place where a new subspecies of the crane has been discovered in 2008.
The newly identified subspecies of the Common Crane breeds only in the northern regions of Armenia, in waterlogged meadows and wetlands adjacent to Lake Arpi, in the Javakheti region in Georgia and in Kars district in Turkey. It was given its scientific name, Grus grus archibaldi, in honour of the world renowned biologist and distinguished conservationist Dr. George W. Archibald who has dedicated his life to research and conservation of cranes.
The Festival was region-wide in scale and gathered 10 local communities of Shirak province together including Mets Sepasar, Ardenis, Tavshut, Ghazanchi, Garnarich, Tsaghkut, Aghvorik, Alvar, Berdashen and Zorakert. The Crane festival was turned into an attractive show in pursuit of raising the local estimation of communities, especially children of the remarkable creatures that inhabit their place and increase their understanding of the need for their immediate protection. It stands to reason that children of the Armenian North are the most deprived communities and have a more direct contact with Cranes and their threatened habitat, hence their role in conserving them is paramount.
Schools participating in the ‘Crane – Bird of Peace’ thematic competition appeared with creative works in different nominations for the best drawing, best poem, best handicraft and best staged performance. All works have been appraised by an independent jury and the three winners of the competition were selected among the schools. Tavshut was announced as the 1st place winner of the competition with Ghazanchi and Ardenis earning 2nd and 3rd places respectively. The winners were awarded with special prizes for their outstanding performance. Other schools that were not in the prize-winning places received incentive awards and certificates of appreciation from the Armenian Society for the Protection of Birds and the Alvar school won the Audience Prize.
Our festival was enriched by special guest performances: Valeria Cherekian, an Argentine-Armenian singer who made an actual opening of the show with song ‘Kroonk’ and the outstanding dance shows the ‘Art’, ‘Vardevanian dance theater’ and ‘Shogher’ from Gyumri which kept everyone entertained throughout the entire show and truly added festivity to celebration.
The Crane Festival aimed to bring the participants close to nature and share with them the ‘Let’s Save Our Birds’ message which was a success.
The Armenian Society for the Protection of Birds wishes to extend its special thanks to the children, the administration and the principal of Mets Sepasar school for hosting and promoting the festival in the best possible way.
May 31, 2010 at 06:15