Birds of Nepal: A book for all birdwatchers

With 890 species of birds found in Nepal, tourists from different countries come in every year for bird watching. Bird watching is gaining a lot of popularity with tourists as well as Nepalese.

Out of 890 species found in Nepal, a total of 75 species of migratory birds have been found. But sadly some of the bird species that were found in Nepal have gone extinct.

Nepal is said to be one of the richest nations in Bird species because of its terrestrial differences. According to experts, the number has also gone up due to the climatic conditions and botanical diversity.

A total of 43 species found in Nepal have been identified by Birdlife International as one of the rarest species in the world. According to international standards a total of 37 important bird and biodiversity areas have been identified in Nepal.

An introductory book called ‘Birds of Nepal’ has been published to help bird watchers to identify all the birds found in Nepal. A revised edition of the book has been made public. The book written by Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp, Tim Inskipp and Hemsagar Baral is published in Nepali language by Himalayan Nature.

This book gives detailed information of more than 790 species of birds found in Nepalalong with pictures and maps of bird sites. The book was unveiled by Dr Ram Chandra Kandel, Director General, Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation.

Dr Kandel, said that the destruction of habitats as well as environmental pollution is a challenge on bird conservation.

Hemsagar Baral, a senior ornithologist and author of the book, said that 700 names were taken from Sanskrit language while naming the birds in Nepali. He expressed the view that if the book could be distributed in 77 districts of Nepal, it would help those working at the local level in bird conservation. Professor Dr Karan Bahadur Shah, President of the Nepal Bird Conservation Association, said that the conservation of birds would affect the ecology from butterfly to elephant.

Dr Tej Bahadur Thapa, Head Professor, Central Department of Zoology, Tribhuvan University, expressed happiness over the breaking of the past tradition of following only the West in scientific writing during the writing of this book.