Birds of Nepal: 867 Species

With the addition of two recently sighted birds never before recorded in the country, the total number of bird species seen in Nepal has risen to 867.  The two newly spotted birds are the grey-necked bunting and the long-billed wren babbler.The bunting was found in Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve in western Nepal, while the babbler was seen in the east, in Makalu-Barun National Park.

Nepal is a richly diverse country with an extraordinary range of habitats. With the new bird species additions to the country's avifauna, Nepal supports roughly nine percent of the total number of bird species in the world - yet it only has .09 percent of the world's land mass. This makes Nepal a dream destination for birders, and it is reasonable that visiting birders could see hundreds of species even during a relatively short visit.

Chitwan National Park. of Nepal

Nepal's first and most famous national park is situated in the Chitwan Doon or the lowlands of the Inner Terai. Covering an area of 932 sq km. the park includes hilly areas of the Siwalik Range covered by deciduous sal forest. One fifth of the park is made up of the floodplains of the Narayani, Rapti, and the Reu Rivers and is covered by dense tall elephant grass interspersed with riverine forests of silk cotton (kapok), acacia and sisam trees. This ecologically diverse area is the last remaining home in Nepal for more than 300 of the endangered Asian one-horned rhinoceros and harbours one of the largest populations of the elusive and rare Royal Bengal tiger. Besides rhino and tiger, Chitwan also supports a great variety of flora and fauna. There are four species of deer, including the spotted chittal, leopard, sloth bear, wild boar, rhesus monkey, grey langur monkey, wild dog, small wild cats, the white stockinged gaur (the world's largest wild cattle) and many other smaller animals. The swampy areas and numerous oxbow lakes of Chitwan provide a home for marsh crocodiles. In a stretch of the Narayani river is found one of the few remaining populations of the rare and endangered fish-only eating gharial, or Gangetic crocodile. Here also is found one of the world's four species of freshwater dolphins. For the ornithologist and the amateur bird-watcher the park offers excellent possibilities with more than 450 species recorded. Some of the resident specialities are several species of woodpeckers, hornbills, Bengal florican, and red-headed trogons. Winter birds such as waterfowl, Brahminy duck, pintails and bareheaded geese, amongst many other cold weather visitors are drawn by the sanctuary of the park's rivers. In the summer the forest is alive with nesting migrants such as the fabulous paradise flycatcher, the Indian pitta and parakeets.

The Chitwan region has had a long history of conservation. For many years it was the Royal hunting grounds for the Kings and dignitaries of Nepal and therefore was not hunted by the general public. It did however become a favorite spot for big game safari hunters in the late nineteenth and early to mid-twentieth centuries. This was coupled with a surge in local human populations following the development of anti-malaria medicines in the mid-twentieth century. The long-term effect was a drastic decrease in jungle habitat and animal populations in the Chitwan valley as jungles were converted to farmland and big game were hunted and poached to dangerously low numbers. The falling rhino (less than 200) and tiger (less than 30) populations in the present park region, focused attention on the Chitwan region and in 1963 the southern two-thirds of the park were declared rhino sanctuary. With sanctuary status came the relocation of 22,000 people from the Chitwan valley and a moratorium on hunting. Since 1963 wildlife populations and ecosystems have been rebounding. In 1973 Chitwan became Nepal’s first National Park. The relatively pristine state of the modern park and its unique ecosystems prompted UNESCO to declare the park a World Heritage site in 1984.

BIRDS WATCHING IN NEPAL

  Nepal is paradise for birds lover with over 848 species almost 10% of the world
total of birds.The government officials probably have have not even heard of this past time.
With the exception of agencies that actually conduct bird-watching tour  they organize.

                      There are bird watching societies all over the world including Nepal.It is up
to the tour operators to tap them.Once more and more bird watchers arrive in Nepal they will go back
spread the world around.we never brother about the varied interests of westerners which we 
fail to understand .Gazing at birds and spending money in the process may not make
sense to us but for but for some people it is a passion.Birds watcher go around the
the world identifying birds and keeping records of species sighted.


                                                  KATHMANDU VALLY

                 The most popular bird watching spot is the Kathmandu valley ,where among them almost 600
are found.The surrounding hills after a varied ecology ranging from primary and secondary forests to
rhododendron,0ak and pine forests .In addition the wetlands and open fields inside the valley make
up a diverse habitat for  many species of birds.The most popular bird watching spot is the pulchoki hill over
265 species have been recorded to data.Birds seen in the area include babblers,warblers,title,thrushes,
mini vets,woodpecker,eagle and many migrant birds.

Gadavari,at the foot of phulchoki hill where the royal botanical garden is situated has recorded over 100 species of birds including  the lesser racket ailed drongo, Tibetan sis kin and the spotted fork tail.

              The shivapuri watershed and wildlife reserve situated 11 km to the north of Kathmandu,is another exciting location along with nagarjun royal forest on jamacho hill situated 5km from Kathmandu  on the ways to kakani from balaju among  the birds are blue magpies kallj pheasants bonellis eagles great Himalayan barbets to name but a few.

                  The high lights for birds sightings of the wetlands in the valley included the banks  of the manohara rivers on the way to bhaktapur and the bagmati rivers which flows into the valley from shivapuri hill exiting through chobhar gorge.

                        taudaha lake harbours over 40 species of birds mostly dependent on wetlands situated on the to dakshinkali it attracts flocks of migrant birds.

                                                       CHITWAN NATIONAL PARK

                        Chitwan national park has been  long one the country treasures of natural wonders .The park is situated in south central Nepal,covering 932sq.km.in the subtropical lowlands of the inner terai.formerly called chitwan national park it was established in 1973 and granted the status of a world heritage site in 1984.I n 2011chitwan forest and grass lands over 255 species recorded .There are many species of parakects other birds include blue-throat long-tailed Night jar,Indian peafowl,great bar bet,red-billed blue magpie and tick ell.red-breasted blue flycatcher.

                                            KOSHI  TAPPU  WILDLIFE  RESERVE

                       Koshi tappu wildlife reserve is renowned for being on of the best location for birding,It is a smallest 175 sq,km and easternmost reserve in Nepal just to the north  east of the convergence of the saptkoshi and trijuga khola rivers.During the monsoon the flow becomes torrential and covers most of the floodplain while during the dry seasons many flat sandy islands are exposed .The habitat is a combination of scrub grasslands and deciduous riverine forest with over 280 species of birds recorded  so far including 20 species of duck ibises ,stork ,swamp,partridges,herons,egrets,Bengal,floricans,and many other exotic and migratory waterfowl not found else where in Nepal.

                                                   BARDIA  NATIONAL  PARK

                              Bardia is also most popular destination for bird watching situated in the  far west for Nepal.It is an area of extensive jungle which is covered by Sal forest riverine and grasslands.a boat ride on the slow moving expanse of the karnali river provides plenty of birds including ruddy shelduck,darters,Brahminikites  ,brown headed gulls,cormorants oriental pied horn bills,night heron&majestic peacocks.

                                        THE ANNAPURNA CONSERVATION AREA

                        The Annapurna region is a conservation area is the largest and most protected region in the world covering around 7629 sq km towards the North -central region of Nepal.The Kali gandaki rivers runs north to south through this region through the world deepest gorge some 6000m below the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri massifs seven of these peaks are over 700m th highest at 8091m.A few facts and figures above ,but as you can imagine the Annapurna conversation area  supports a remarkable but delicate biodiversity,with 441 recorded species of birds including ,the only endemic species of Nepal,the spiny babbler, The bird habitat ranges from  the sub-tropical lowlands towards pokhara in the south of Annapurna conservation area to dry sub -alpine condition above  the tree -line towards the north.

Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve

Royal Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve is located at the north-west amidst the Dhaulagiri Himalayan Range with an area of one thousand three hundred and twenty-five square kilometers. The Reserve was established in 1983 and gazette in 1987 especially for sports, hunting and the preservation of the representative of high altitude ecosystem.

The commonly found winged creatures are the Pheasant and the Partridge and the endangered birds are mostly the Chir Pheasant and the nine different colored Daphne, the national bird of Nepal.

Sagarmatha National Park

               Sagarmatha National park , the highest national park in the word, covers an area of 1148 square kilometers in the Khumbu region of Nepal.Sagarmatha National Park is located to the north-east of Kathmandu in the Kumbu region of Nepal. The park not only includes the highest peak in the world, Mt. Sagarmatha  but also several other well-known peaks such as Lhotse, Nuptse, Cho Oyu, Pumori, Ama Dablam, Thamserku, Kwangde, Kangtaiga and Gyachung Kang. The park was added to the list of UNISCO World Heritage Sites in 1979.



 The mount Everest   National Park provides a habit for at least 118 species of birds. The most common birds to be seen are the Impeyen pheasant (the national bird of Nepal), blood pheasant, cheer pheasant, jungle crow, red billed and yellow billed coughs and snow pigeon. Fairly common birds are the Himalayan griffon, lammergier, snow partridge, skylark and many others.

BIRDS OF NEPAL

ith the addition of two recently sighted birds never before recorded in the country, the total number of bird species seen in Nepal has risen to 867. According to the Himalayan Times, the two newly spotted birds are the grey-necked bunting and the long-billed wren babbler. The bunting was found in Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve in western Nepal, while the babbler was seen in the east, in Makalu-Barun National Park.

Nepal is a richly diverse country with an extraordinary range of habitats. With the new bird species additions to the country's avifauna, Nepal supports roughly nine percent of the total number of bird species in the world - yet it only has .09 percent of the world's land mass. This makes Nepal a dream destination for birders, and it is reasonable that visiting birders could see hundreds of species even during a relatively short visit.

BIRDS WATCHING IN NEPAL

              Nepal is paradise for birds lover with over 848 species almost 10% of the world
total of birds.The government officials probably have have not even heard of this past time.
With the exception of agencies that actually conduct bird-watching tour  they organize.

                      There are bird watching societies all over the world including Nepal.It is up
to the tour operators to tap them.Once more and more bird watchers arrive in Nepal they will go back
spread the world around.we never brother about the varied interests of westerners which we 
fail to understand .Gazing at birds and spending money in the process may not make
sense to us but for but for some people it is a passion.Birds watcher go around the
the world identifying birds and keeping records of species sighted.


                                                  KATHMANDU VALLY

                 The most popular bird watching spot is the Kathmandu valley ,where among them almost 600
are found.The surrounding hills after a varied ecology ranging from primary and secondary forests to
rhododendron,0ak and pine forests .In addition the wetlands and open fields inside the valley make
up a diverse habitat for  many species of birds.The most popular bird watching spot is the pulchoki hill over
265 species have been recorded to data.Birds seen in the area include babblers,warblers,title,thrushes,
mini vets,woodpecker,eagle and many migrant birds.

Gadavari,at the foot of phulchoki hill where the royal botanical garden is situated has recorded over 100 species of birds including  the lesser racket ailed drongo, Tibetan sis kin and the spotted fork tail.

              The shivapuri watershed and wildlife reserve situated 11 km to the north of Kathmandu,is another exciting location along with nagarjun royal forest on jamacho hill situated 5km from Kathmandu  on the ways to kakani from balaju among  the birds are blue magpies kallj pheasants bonellis eagles great Himalayan barbets to name but a few.

                  The high lights for birds sightings of the wetlands in the valley included the banks  of the manohara rivers on the way to bhaktapur and the bagmati rivers which flows into the valley from shivapuri hill exiting through chobhar gorge.

                        taudaha lake harbours over 40 species of birds mostly dependent on wetlands situated on the to dakshinkali it attracts flocks of migrant birds.

                                                       CHITWAN NATIONAL PARK

                        Chitwan national park has been  long one the country treasures of natural wonders .The park is situated in south central Nepal,covering 932sq.km.in the subtropical lowlands of the inner terai.formerly called chitwan national park it was established in 1973 and granted the status of a world heritage site in 1984.I n 2011chitwan forest and grass lands over 255 species recorded .There are many species of parakects other birds include blue-throat long-tailed Night jar,Indian peafowl,great bar bet,red-billed blue magpie and tick ell.red-breasted blue flycatcher.

                                            KOSHI  TAPPU  WILDLIFE  RESERVE

                       Koshi tappu wildlife reserve is renowned for being on of the best location for birding,It is a smallest 175 sq,km and easternmost reserve in Nepal just to the north  east of the convergence of the saptkoshi and trijuga khola rivers.During the monsoon the flow becomes torrential and covers most of the floodplain while during the dry seasons many flat sandy islands are exposed .The habitat is a combination of scrub grasslands and deciduous riverine forest with over 280 species of birds recorded  so far including 20 species of duck ibises ,stork ,swamp,partridges,herons,egrets,Bengal,floricans,and many other exotic and migratory waterfowl not found else where in Nepal.

                                                   BARDIA  NATIONAL  PARK

                              Bardia is also most popular destination for bird watching situated in the  far west for Nepal.It is an area of extensive jungle which is covered by Sal forest riverine and grasslands.a boat ride on the slow moving expanse of the karnali river provides plenty of birds including ruddy shelduck,darters,Brahminikites  ,brown headed gulls,cormorants oriental pied horn bills,night heron&majestic peacocks.

                                        THE ANNAPURNA CONSERVATION AREA

                        The Annapurna region is a conservation area is the largest and most protected region in the world covering around 7629 sq km towards the North -central region of Nepal.The Kali gandaki rivers runs north to south through this region through the world deepest gorge some 6000m below the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri massifs seven of these peaks are over 700m th highest at 8091m.A few facts and figures above ,but as you can imagine the Annapurna conversation area  supports a remarkable but delicate biodiversity,with 441 recorded species of birds including ,the only endemic species of Nepal,the spiny babbler, The bird habitat ranges from  the sub-tropical lowlands towards pokhara in the south of Annapurna conservation area to dry sub -alpine condition above  the tree -line towards the north.