Kathmandu, February 3
A recent survey has found that the number of urban birds has gone up in the Kathmandu valley of late.
The urban bird count in the capital carried out by the Bird Conservation Nepal recorded 6,701 individual birds in the winter of 2022, according to the organisation. This is an increase of 947 from the count of the previous year (2021) when 5,754 individuals were recorded.
Overall, the top ten species recorded in the valley were mostly the same as the previous year, with rock dove, house crow, house sparrow, barn swallow, and common myna being the top five species. In addition, the most common birds spotted in the valley during the winter season are red-vented bulbul, jungle myna, Eurasian tree sparrow, black kite, and cattle egret.
In the valley’s urban area, 769 individual birds increased in comparison to the previous year. Last year, 1,926 birds were observed in urban areas, compared to 2,695 this year. In rural areas, the number of birds grew by 290. This year in the rural area of the Kathmandu valley, there were 1,815 birds documented, compared to 1,525 in 2021.
However, the number of birds in sub-urban regions decreased by 288. Last year, there were 2,303 individual birds documented, while this year there were 2,015.
The urban bird count that conducted from January 1 to 8 is an annual bird monitoring programme where birders observe birds in 24 planned transects in the north, south, east, and west of Kathmandu Valley, with urban, suburban, and rural gradients.
