A nationwide water bird census began on Saturday in lakes, rivers and wetland areas across the country. The count aims to assess the mid-winter status of the aquatic birds increasingly threatened by habitat loss and climate change. The annual count, conducted every January, helps track population trends, distribution and emerging risks to water birds while engaging local communities in conservation.

“This census is crucial to understand what is happening to birds that depend on wetlands,” said senior ornithologist Hem Sagar Baral. “Counts are being carried out across the country according to local feasibility.”

This year’s census runs from January 3 to January 18. It is coordinated by Wetlands International in collaboration with Bird Conservation Nepal, with support from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation. More than 400 ornithologists, nature guides, wildlife photographers and trained volunteers are participating nationwide.

According to Laxman Paudel, national coordinator for the water bird census at Wetlands International, surveys are being conducted at over 80 sites within 18 major wetland complexes, from Koshi Tappu in the east to Shuklaphanta in the west, and from the lowland Jagadishpur lake to Rara in the high Himalayas. “Each site has a designated coordinator who manages the count based on local conditions,” he said.

In Chitwan, the district has been divided into eastern, western and central blocks, with counts scheduled for January 8 and 9, according to Manish Limbu, coordinator for central Chitwan. Pokhara alone will host counts at 11 locations, while surveys are also underway in Koshi Tappu, Dhanushadham, Hetauda, Nawalparasi and wetlands across Lumbini and the Rapti river in Dang.

In the Kathmandu Valley, counts began early Saturday along the Bagmati and Manohara rivers and at Taudaha. “The survey started from Chobhar to Taudaha this morning [Saturday)],” said Jayanath Bhandari, a coordinator with Bird Conservation Nepal. Counts along the Manohara river are scheduled for January 8 and 9.

Ornithologist Krishna Prasad Bhusal said the census is also about raising local awareness. “Birds that once arrived here in thousands from Siberia are no longer seen in Taudaha,” he said. He noted that the globally threatened pink-headed duck was once recorded in the area, along with several rare migratory species that have since disappeared.

The counting of water birds is held every year in January in various water bodies and wetlands. Nepal conducted its first water bird count in 1967 and has conducted it annually since 1987. The count, according to bird conservationists, is important to prepare policies and programmes of bird conservation.

Nepal welcomes around 150 species of winter migratory birds, more than 100 of them water species, and around 60 summer migratory birds every year. The aquatic birds, according to ornithologists, migrate to various lakes, rivers and wetlands in Nepal from Siberia, China, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, the Korean peninsula and elsewhere with the onset of winter and stay here until February.

A total of 903 bird species, including some critically endangered species, have been recorded in Nepal.