List of Winners of Tobolsk’s Birding Competition Unveiled

13 april 2021

On the occasion of the International Bird Day, Tobolsk became home to a birding competition. The tournament was held as a part of the "Land of the Lapwing " project implemented under the auspices of the "Formula for Good Deeds", SIBUR’s social investment program.

The event brought together 128 participants representing 27 joint teams of schools from Tobolsk and from the Tobolsk District, a children’s technopark called Quantorium-Tobolsk, and the City Center for Assisting Family Placement and Foster Family Support. Young birders were expected to spot and take pictures of as many bird species as possible within the provided three-hour time slot, and then to correctly identify birds from the pictures they had taken in a matter of just a few days and fill out a special checklist. The data thus obtained will then be handed over to researchers representing the Tobolsk Comprehensive Research Station and Tyumen State University.

The competition’s winners were chosen by a jury of ornithologists. The first place went to the Zhavoronki (Skylarks) team ( Mendeleyev Verkhnearemzyanskaya Secondary School, Tobolsk District), having managed to correctly identify 7 bird species. The second place was taken by the Strizhi (Swifts) team (Setovskaya Secondary School, Tobolsk District), and the third prize went to the Young Ecologists’ team (Tobolsk’s Secondary School No 14). Several special prizes were presented to Milana Kvashnina and Anna Dementyeva from the "Smeshariki" team representing Tobolsk School No. 1’s Kindergarten unit.

This tournament has really sparked our schoolchildren’s keen interest! I was happy to note that the children's interest in the Land of Lapwing project has been growing year after year. They are becoming more interested in ornithology and environmental protection, which means that they will definitely care about our city’s environment, commented Elena Belskaya, Head of ZapSibNeftekhim LLC’s Government Relations Department.

This was a second installment of the birding tournament for schoolchildren that was conducted under this format. The first such tournament was held in 2019, with 85 participants from 16 teams in attendance.

This is the first time we have participated in a tournament like this, and we had a great time! At first, the kids didn't quite understand how to properly spot the birds, but by the end of the tournament they had already started snapping pictures on their own. We tried different strategies for finding the birds, both inside the park and on the grounds of the nearby housing project next to apartment buildings and to birdfeeders. It is good that the park had undergone a reconstruction. Earlier, there was nothing there besides just a sports school and a stadium, but now there are a lot of different areas for the children to use and enjoy. We go skiing with our schoolchildren there, or roller-skating in summer, and we conduct different weekend competitions on our own, said Tatyana Kosinkina, a teacher at Tobolsk’s Secondary School No. 1.

This is the first time Tobol Park has been chosen as a venue for the competition. This was the result of extensive improvement efforts undertaken over the past three years as part of the Tobolsk-2020 program implemented with the participation of SIBUR. As a result, the stadium has been transformed into an all-season park for active recreation of the city’s residents.

 Background information:

Tobolsk-2020 is a comprehensive infrastructure development program implemented in the city of Tobolsk by the city’s administration and the Government of Tyumen Oblast with the support from SIBUR. The program comprises such activities as construction, partial refurbishment, and complete overhaul of more than 40 educational, healthcare, cultural, athletic, and urban facilities. As part of the Tobolsk-2020 program, the Tobol Center for Sports and Recreation has already been put through an upgrade that included construction of 3 km and 5 km cross-country skiing trails, installation of lighting, construction of Nordic Walking trails, jogging paths, and a downhill ski slope with a ski lift. For more information about the program, please visit: https://tobolsk2020.com/.

The Formula for Good Deeds, SIBUR's social investment program was launched on February 1, 2016 in all key cities where the company operates. It is being implemented across six focus areas covering all essential social sector domains: urban development, education and science, sports and healthy living, environmental protection, culture, and volunteering. Detailed information about the program is available on the program’s website at www.formula-hd.ru.

The Land of Lapwing is a comprehensive project on a mission to protect birds inhabiting the grounds of SIBUR’s ZapSibNeftkhim, Russia’s largest petrochemical facility. The project has been under implementation since 2019 as part of the Environmental Protection focus area of the Formula for Good Deeds, SIBUR’s social investment program. Detailed information about the project is available at https://www.formula-hd.ru/projects/nature/chibisi/.