SIBUR sponsored a birding rally in Tobolsk
23 september 2022
Bird fanciers met on September 10 at their second Birding Rally. The rally was held as part of the Territory of the Lapwing project of SIBUR's Formula for Good Deeds social investment program with the assistance of Birds and People, a non-profit partnership.
A birding rally is a team competition where participants are required to drive their cars along a certain route in the allotted timeframe, take pictures of and then correctly identify as many species of birds as possible.
A total of 53 participants, organized into 13 teams, appeared on the starting line of the rally race. All interested residents of Tobolsk and the city’s guests could take part in the rally, as no special training was required! The length of the rally’s route was about 120 kilometers along public roads, accessible for any car.
Last year Tobolsk hosted its first-ever birding rally, and we noted a great deal of interest in such a cognitive format of a leisure pastime shown by the local residents. We were particularly pleased to see that many of the participants in the first rally took part in this year’s edition as well as Tobolsk residents are feeling the rising need for eco-leisure activities. There were many SIBUR employees and their family members among the rally’s participants, and our employees actively support the company's initiatives. The Birding Rally is a great way to draw the attention of Tobolsk’s residents to the problems of bird conservation and environmental protection while at the same time discovering the amazing world of birds living in our region by means of this special competition, Elena Snezhko, Chief Expert and Head of the Formula for Good Deeds Social Investment Program, commented.
The competitors not only had to put to the test their map reading and orienteering skills, but also had to compete in their observation skills. All in all, in the course of the competition the teams spotted and photographed 66 species of birds (for reference, last year the participants of the birding rally managed to photograph only 34 species of birds). Their cameras’ lenses caught six species listed in the Red Book of Russia: black-throated loon, white-tailed eagle, greater spotted eagle, osprey, azure tit, rustic bunting and mute swan that is listed in the Red Book of Tyumen Oblast.
As a year ago, the first place was taken by the team of Our Flock who managed to photograph 52 species of birds (the team photographed only 26 species in 2021). The second place went to the Vogel team, with the Swifts team placing third.
Birding rallies are growing in popularity in Tobolsk. My brother, who originally saw these competitions just as entertainment for his daughter, became passionate about birding rally competitions and decided to take part this year, even though his daughter had fallen ill. We liked the rally’s route very much, we were fortunate with the weather, and the time period chosen for the competition was spot-on. On the whole, these conditions were excellent for bird watching, and so we managed to photograph many species of birds, some for the first time in my life, Olga Davidovich, captain of the Our Flock team, noted.
This was the second time we took part in a birding rally. Thanks to this contest we were able to get out to the countryside as a whole family, visit interesting places around Tobolsk, and just have a good time. Without the birding rally we would not have ventured to go on such an extensive family trip on our own. This year the route of the competition was slightly changed, so we've discovered a few new places for leisure. I'd like to note the overall organization of the birding rally - it remains outstanding! Yuri Yanke, captain of the Vogel team, shared.