The census of critically endangered Khar Mayur, also known as Bengal florican is taking place in Shuklaphanta National Park (SNP).
The count of birds aims to take stock of the status of the bird, its habitat, and the availability of its food.
A team of five members comprising park employees and ornithologists has been mobilised for head counting of the endangered bird species, according to the park’s assistant conservation officer, Rabin Chaudhary. The census that had begun three days ago will complete within a week. Annual incidents of forest fires have posed a grave threat to the habitat of the bird which lives in open grassland
IUCN Red List has identified the bird as critically endangered and SNP is taken as one of the major habitats of the bird.
Nepal government has classified the bird in the conservation list. The 2014 bird census had fixed its number at 41 and of them, nine were found in Shuklaphanta. A survey reveals that of the total 871 bird species in Nepal, more than 50 per cent or 450 species are found in the park in western Nepal which is stretched over in an area of 305 square kilometres.
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