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.