Recent bird count in Shuklaphanta National Park in Kanchanpur reported a decline in Finn’s weaver’s population. Finn’s weaver is locally called Sunaulo Top Chara.

The Shuklaphanta National Park and Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN) jointly conducted the count of the bird species from June 26 to July 2 in the national park and its buffer zone. Finn’s weaver, which is on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is a popular bird species, mostly recognised for its ability to make attractive nests.

“The final report of the bird count is yet to be published as the count was completed on Sunday. The preliminary report shows the number of Finn’s weavers has declined this year in Shuklaphanta,” said Hirulal Dagaura, a conservationist associated with the BCN.

According to him, approximately 200 Finn’s weavers have been recorded this year while the population of the bird species stood at 242 last year.

According to Dagaura, a team of eight technicians was mobilised for the recent bird count. “We followed both the opportunistic method and transit line method while counting the birds,” he said. The technicians counted the bird species in Lalpani, Haraiya, Shuklaphanta grassland area, Pillahariphant, Radhapur among other places of the national park and its buffer zone. He further informed that the technicians found fewer nests of the bird species this year.

Four weaver species—Finn’s weaver, Baya weaver, Streaked weaver and Black-breasted weaver—are recorded in Nepal. The Finn’s weaver species are found in Nepal and India. The Shuklaphanta National Park is the bird’s only habitat in Nepal.

According to Manoj Air, assistant conservation officer at the Shuklaphanta National Park, around 70 percent of the global population of Finn’s weaver is found in the Shuklaphanta area. “We are yet to conduct counts in some wetlands and grasslands. However, the preliminary report has shown Finn’s weaver population to be fewer than before,” said Air.

The Finn’s weavers, according to conservationists, make nests and breed in the monsoon season. “This is the season for these birds to build nests, which are quite attractive. So it is easy to count them,” said Air. According to him, Finn’s weavers were mainly sighted in the national park during the monsoon season a few years back, but of late they are being spotted at Shuklaphanta throughout the year.

Hem Sagar Baral, a senior ornithologist, had recorded Finn’s weaver in Shuklaphanta in 1996.

Meanwhile, a Chinese pond heron was sighted at the Jhilmila area of Beldadi Rural Municipality, which lies in the buffer zone of the national park, when the technicians were counting Finn’s weaver population. According to Dagaura, this is the first time that the Chinese pond heron has been spotted in the Sudurpaschim Province. The bird species were found in Chitwan last year and sighted in Pokhara a month ago.

With the sighting of the Chinese pond heron, a total of 461 bird species have been recorded in the Shuklaphanta National Park area. The lesser grey shrike (Lanius minor), which is commonly found in South and Central Europe and West Asia, was recorded for the first time in Nepal in the Kalapani area of the Shuklaphanta National Park in May this year.

Shuklaphanta is now a major birding destination in the country. A good number of tourists, both international and domestic, visit the protected area to enjoy the view of birds and wildlife. The increasing number of birds and bird species in the park lure droves of tourists each year.

Established as a wildlife reserve in 1976, Shuklaphanta is the country’s second youngest national park, after Parsa National Park. Located in the southwestern corner of Nepal in the Sudurpaschim Province, this park was once a hunting reserve, famed for its abundance of swamp deer, tigers, rhinos and other exotic species. Ever since its conversion into a national park, its animal, bird and fish species have multiplied.

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Two Finn’s weavers are seen among several of the bird’s nests inside the Shuklaphanta National Park in this recent photo.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF HIRULAL DAGAURA, BCN

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Members of a team from the Shuklaphanta National Park and Bird Conservation Nepal counting Finn’s weaver in and around the Skuklaphanta National Park in Kanchanpur district last month. A census was conducted to count specifically the Finn’s weaver at the national park and its buffer zone from June 26 to July 2.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF HIRULAL DAGAURA, BCN

शुक्लाफा“टा राष्ट्रिय निकुञ्जमा सुनौलो तोप चराको गणना गर्दै प्राविधिकहरु । तस्विर सौजन्य ः हिरुलाल डगौंरा नेपाल पंक्षी संरक्षण संघ ।