New species of bird sighted

January 2, 2003
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KATHMANDU, Jan. 2: A new species of bird has been found for the first time in Nepal. The Moustached Warbler (Acrocephalus melanopogon) was spotted and recorded at Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve in eastern Nepal on December 22, 2002.

The latest find puts the total species of birds found in Nepal at 859. Before this, Tibetan Sandgrouse (Syrrhaptes tibetanus) was recorded from Damodarkunda area of Upper Mustang on June 19, 2002.
The bird was sighted and was scientifically recorded by a team of ornithologists led by Dr. Hem Sagar Baral of the Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN). Other scientists involved in the survey team were Tika Giri, Badri Chaudhary and Som GC, BCN said Thursday.

Three birds of the species were sighted by the scientists, and they expect that a larger colony might inhabit the area.

The bird was seen at the edge of the Rani Tal marshes of the Wildlife Reserve. The team of bird experts was on a study mission sponsored by Koshi Camp and Silent Safari. “The team is optimistic that they will find the bird in a large number,” according to BCN.

Moustached Warbler belongs to Sylyiidae family and Acrocephaninae subfamily. It has a distinct broad white supercilium and a dark stripe through eye. It has dark ear-coverts, and white streak through head and back. It has dark whitish throat, light rufous and unstreaked rump. According to bird experts, its call is louder than any other warbler found in Shukla Phanta.

This species, according to the ornithologists, mostly inhabits open edges of marshy grassland. They have been found in India and Pakistan within the Indian subcontinent as winter visitor. They breed in small numbers in the northern areas of the subcontinent.

Bird experts at the BCN believe that this species is either a passage migrant or winter visitor to Nepal.