KANCHANPUR, Jan 4: A census of water birds is taking place simultaneously at lakes, rivers, ponds, water bodies and wetland sites throughout the country today. The census is conducted from the first Saturday in January every year. The water bird census will be carried out from today until January 19 this year.
Laxman Prasad Poudyal, senior ornithologist with the Nepalese Ornithological Union (NOU) and Wetlands International Nepal Coordinator for Waterbird Census, said that the survey is being conducted for collecting information on the status of the number, species and habitat of water birds.
According to him, data related to birds dependent on water and those birds living around wetland areas as well as the migratory birds would be collected during this period.
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Last year the water bird census was carried out at the lakes, rivers and wetland areas in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve and at Chitwan, Banke, Bardiya, Shuklaphanta and Rara national parks as well as in Pokhara, Limbini, the Bishajari Lake, Ghodaghodi Lake and Jagadishpur wetland areas.
"These regions are included for the census this year also. However, regular census has not still been held at Gokyo, Gosainkunda, Maipokhari, Phoksundo, among other lakes in the mountainous region of the country. We have asked for information on the bird watchers visiting these lakes and other possible wetland sites," Poudyal said.
Sixty-three thousand and nine hundred waterbirds of 79 species were recorded at 84 sub-regions in 18 major wetland regions in the waterbird census carried out in the country in 2024.
The Wetlands International started conducting the International Waterbird Census (IWC) in the Indian subcontinent since 1987. The IWC is a monitoring program operating in 143 countries to collect information on the numbers of waterbirds at wetland sites. There are 5 separate regional schemes of the IWC that represent the major flyways of the world.
Waterbirds are a key part of wetland ecosystems. Their presence, numbers and trends at a site can tell us a lot about the health and quality of a wetland. Waterbirds have an important social function, providing food, recreation and tourism opportunities. Waterbirds connect wetlands and people across cultures and borders, they are a shared wonder of the natural world. The IWC supports many aspects of the work we do to conserve waterbirds and the wetlands they depend upon – from conservation status assessments, to the identification, designation and monitoring of important sites, and providing the international context for managing species at a national or local level.
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