ITAHARI, Jan 25: The number of the migratory birds flocking to Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve (KTWR) and its surrounding wetlands is decreasing for some years owing to various reasons, according to the reserve office. Migratory birds from Siberia and South Asia as Pakistan and Sri Lanka and South East Asian countries come to the reserve during the winter.
Eco-tourism conservation committee, Sunsari's Kurban Mansoori shared that the wetlands here were drying up lately and the many areas of land in the Reserve were also being washed away by the Saptakoshi River causing lack of suitable habitats for the migratory species in the bird sanctuary stretched across 175 square kilometer.
"As a result, the 55 to 100 spices of migratory birds recorded to have arrived in an astonishing number in the Reserve with the onset of winter in the past lately are not seen visiting the place in similar number lately," said Mansoori.
He further informed that the Reserve has been failing to lure the winter visitors since the damages incurred to the 8-metre-high embankment of the Koshi Barrage enclosing the Reserve following the massive flood in Saptakoshi River seven years ago. "The floods had destroyed many wetlands surrounding the Reserve."
Furthermore, he said the visitor birds' population was affected by the growing haphazard use of the pesticides in the farmland surrounding the Reserve.
KTWR's Conservation Officer Shyam Kumar Shah added that the migratory birds including a wide variety of pintail, ducks, bar headed goose, mallard, egrets, herons, ibis and endangered swamp partridges and Bengal floricans and the like used to fly in droves the Reserve and inhabit for around six months before flying back to their respective original habitats along with their babies begotten during their time in Nepal.
At barely 90 meters above the sea level, the Reserve and the adjacent wetlands are home to more than 500 species of birds, informed Conservation Officer Shah.
According to him, the decreasing number of such winter visitors has also adversely affected the number of bird watchers, ornithologists, avian visitors and researchers coming in the Reserve.
A team of ornithologists led by Badri Chaudhary is currently conducting birds’ census in the Reserve as well as other wetlands in the eastern region. RSS
Koshi Tappu witnesses further decline in the arrival of migrato...
