Among the world's rarest birds found in Nepal, 13 species are waterfowl.
What you should know
Four hundred ornithologists, nature guides, wildlife photographers and volunteers have been deployed to count birds found in lakes, rivers and wetlands across the country. The count, which began on Saturday, will continue until 4th Magh.
The census has been initiated in coordination with Wetlands International and the Ornithologists' Association of Nepal. The Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation and the Bird Conservation Society (BCN) are also collaborating in this.
Waterfowl will be counted from Koshi in the east to Shuklaphanta in the west. Similarly, the census will be conducted from Jagdishpur Bird Reserve in the Terai to Rara Lake in the Himalayan region in the north. Laxman Paudyal, National Coordinator of Wetlands International's Waterfowl Census, said that the census will be conducted in more than 80 places under 18 major wetlands.
Bird species that feed, breed and spend time in water, lakes, wetlands and surrounding areas are called waterfowl. After knowing the area in which waterfowl mainly live, the census is conducted from a certain distance.
Ornithologists who are familiar with the color, structure and voice of birds, nature guides, binoculars and binoculars are deployed for the census. The number and species of birds seen in front are noted. If a bird goes beyond the count, they reduce the count so that it does not repeat.
Ornithologist Rajendra Gurung says that birds use the sun and stars to find their direction and path to reach their destination. The path used by birds during migration is called a 'flyway'. There are 8 such paths in the world. Among them, Nepal falls on the path to Central Asia. A waterfowl census is conducted around the world at this time under the leadership of Wetlands International.
Ornithologist Krishna Prasad Bhusal says that the census is also necessary for local awareness about the condition of guest birds and other birds. Birds start migrating with the onset of snowfall in the North Pole. When the extreme cold causes problems in feeding and eating, they come here to escape the increasing cold of winter. Migratory birds that come to Nepal from Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, China, Mongolia, as well as Europe, Korea and Tibetan regions spend the winter in the wetlands here.
However, as the wetlands shrink and disappear, the number of winter waterfowl has been decreasing in recent years, said ornithologist Ankit Vilas Joshi. He said that waterfowl are at risk due to obstructions in flight paths and increasing pesticide use. “Unprotected electric wires and illegal poaching/hunting have also added to the problem,” he said.
The report of the current census will be made public during the Wildlife Week to be celebrated in April. Last year, 96,565 birds of 96 species were counted in the bird census conducted in 78 areas in 18 places in the country. Of the world's rarest birds found in Nepal, 13 species are waterfowl. There are records of 903 species of birds found in Nepal. Of these, more than 150 are migratory birds in winter and more than 60 in summer. The birds that come in winter mainly include ducks, grebes, grebes, diving birds, and grebes.
