State bird Nongin sighted at Jessami

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Sep 27: As many as 11 Nongins, which is the State bird of Manipur were sighted in the mountain ranges of Jessami, Ukhrul district.
A group of bird lovers, members of village council and hunters went to Jessami recently and they not only sighted the Nongins but also managed to take pictures of some of them.
Wildlife photographers Oken Sanasam, Herman Ningthouja, Priyojit Akoijam, Elivason Khangenbam and K Jogmani Sharma stationed themselves at Jessami which is round 116 Kms away from Ukhrul district headquarters from September 24 to 26.
The team succeeded in taking photographs of some Nongins and they claimed that the particular bird species is found abundantly in the jungles of Jessami.
They sighted seven males and four female Nongins.
Notably, there was a report of sighting four Nongins at Razai, Ukhrul district.
Weyepe Mkrishuh, son of the Jessami village chief told The Sangai Express that he accompanied the bird lovers to Jessami Peak and they sighted some Nongins there.
He said that some youngsters of the village unknowingly killed the bird earlier when they went for picnic to Jessami Peak.
Saying that Nongin, the State bird, should not be killed but protected, Weyepe Mkrishuh informed that a village level meeting would be held on the growing need to protect wildlife.
The meeting would take a concrete decision to ban killing and poaching of Nongin and impose fine on those who defy the ban, Weyepe Mkrishuh said.
He said that a joint meeting of village council and youth and women’s associations would be held on Saturday and it would take a concrete decision to protect Nongin in Jessami area.
Besides being a battlefield during the Second World War, Jessami which is located close to Nagaland border has all the elements of eco-tourism, he added.