Godavari Birds i
From Godavari to Phulchowki peak, there are an estimated 270 bird species with 17 listed as endangered. Godavari proper has 100 species recorded. It is impossible to photograph all of them. A reference list is provided at the end of the booklet so that you can continue to locate birds that we have not been able to photograph. This fun booklet presents a few of the more common and eye catching birds that hopefully will catch your eye too. Bird watching provides valuable information. Consistent records give indications of habitat loss, changes in climate, migration patterns and new or missing previous records. Years of data have been collected across Nepal to give a picture of birds in place and time. The oldest Nepal record is from 1793 when it was more common to catch and skin birds for museum collections. Compiled by Karen Conniff, Ron Hess and Erling Valdemar Holmgren ii
Godavari Birds This basic guide is organized by family and sub-family groupings. The purpose is to make it easier to identify the birds sighted at the ICIMOD Knowledge Park and surrounding areas in Godavari. There are several bird watching tours and groups of regular bird watchers to join with and improve your knowledge of local birds. If you have comments, want to add a new identification record or found errors in this booklet please contact: Karen Conniff karoconniff@gmail.com iii
Blue-throated Barbet (Ron Hess) iv
Phasianidae or Partridges and Pheasants Kalij Pheasant (female) Kalij Pheasant (male) 1
Accipitridae or Kites, Hawks, Eagles 2
Black Kite or Pariah Kite Black Eagle Himalayan Buzzard Shikra (Male) 3
Columbidae or Pigeons and Doves Oriental Turtle Doves Pair Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon 4
Barred Cuckoo Dove Common Pigeon Spotted Dove 5
Cuculidae or Cuckoos and Malkohas Green-billed Malkoha Lesser Cuckoo 6
Psittacidae or Parakeets Rose-ringed Parakeet (female) Cattle Egret Ardeidae or Herons and Bitterns 7
Strigidae or Owls Asian Barred Owlet White-throated Kingfisher Alcedinidae or Kingfishers 8
Ramphastidae or Barbets 9
Blue-throated Barbet Golden-throated Barbet Great Barbet 10
Picidae or Piculets and Woodpeckers 11
Grey-headed Woodpecker (male) Grey-headed Woodpecker (female) Greater Yellow-nape Woodpecker Speckled Piculet 12
Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker Darjeeling Woodpecker 13
Campephagidae or Cuckoo-shrikes, Minivets Long-tailed Minivet (male) Long-tailed Minivet (female) 14
Laniidae or Shrikes Long-tailed Shrike Grey-backed Shrike 15
Dicruridae or Drongos Ashy Drongo Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo 16
Oriolidae or Orioles Maroon Oriole 17
Rhipiduridae or Fantails Yellow-bellied Fantail White-throated Fantail 18
Corvidae or Crows, Magpies, Jays Red-billed Blue Magpie Thick Billed Crow 19
Common Green Magpie Grey Treepie House Crow 20
Paridae or Tits 21
Grey-crested Tit Rufous-vented Tit Green-backed Tit Black-lored Tit 22
Aegithalidae or Long-tailed Tits Black-throated Tit 23
Pycnonotidae or Bulbuls 24
Red-vented Bulbul Himalayan Bulbul Black Bulbul Mountain Bulbul 25
Families Sylviidae or Wablers Cisticolidae or Tailorbirds and Prinias 26
Humes Warbler Common Tailorbird Grey-hooded Warbler Grey-bellied Tesia 27
Timaliidae or Babblers, Scimitar Babblers, Laughingthrushes, Fulvettas, Yuhinas, Sibias Grey-throated Babbler Spiny Babbler Endemic Rare 28
Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler White-crested Laughingthrush Chestnut-crowned Laughingthrush 29
White-throated Laughingthrush Spotted Laughingthrush 30 Striated Laughingthrush Variegated Laughingthrush
Red-billed Leiothrix Stripe-throated Yuhina Nepal Fulvetta Rufous-winged Fulvetta 31
White browed Fulvetta Rufous Sibia 32 Zosteropidae or White-eye Oriental White-eye
Sturnidae or Mynas, Starlings Common Myna Jungle Myna 33
Sittidae or Nuthatches White-tailed Nuthatch Rusty-flanked Treecreeper Certhiidae or Treecreepers 34
Turdidae or Thrushes 35
Blue Whistling Thrush Chesnut bellied Rock Thrush (male) White-collared Blackbird (female) Black-throated Thrush (female) 36
Grey-winged Blackbird (male) Blue-capped Rock-thrush (male) Grey-winged Blackbird (female) 37
Muscicapidae or Old world Flycatchers and Chats 38
Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher Verditer Flycatcher Spotted Forktail Ultramarine Flycatcher 39
Plumbeous Water Redstart (male) Blue-fronted Redstart Plumbeous Water Redstart (female) Magpie Robin 40
White-capped Water Redstart White-browed Bush Robin Himalayan Bluetail (male) 41
Chloropseidae or Leafbirds Orange-bellied Leafbird (male) Orange-bellied Leafbird (female) 42
Dicaeidae or Flowerpeckers Fire-breasted Flowerpecker 43
Nectariniidae or Sunbirds 44
Crimson Sunbird (male) Purple Sunbird (male) Crimson Sunbird (female) Purple Sunbird (female) 45
Green-tailed Sunbird (male) Green-tailed Sunbird (female) Black-throated Sunbird 46
Emberizidae or Sparrows Godavari Birds Eurasian Tree Sparrow White-rumped Munia Estriididae or Munias 47
Motaciliidae or Wagtails and Pipits Grey Wagtail (female) 48
Reference Field Notes Fleming, L Sr, L.Fleming, L.S. Singh Bangdel (1976) Birds of Nepal with reference to Kashmir and Sikkim. 1 st Ed. Vakils House Printers Bombay, Inida. Inskipp, Carol and Tim Inskipp (1991) A guide to the birds of Nepal. 2 nd Edition. Christopher Helm, London. Grimmett, R., C. Inskipp and T. Inskipp (2012) Birds of India: Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives (Second Edition). London. Societies Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN), PO Box 12465, Lazimpat, Kathmandu, Nepal Tel: +977-1-4417805, 4420213 www.birdlifenepal.org
Authors biographies Karen Conniff: Karen is a dragonfly specialist with extensive experience in organic agriculture and birding. During her PhD in agronomy she was drawn to classes on ornithology and entomology. After pursuing these interests further in Sri Lanka where half of dragonfly species are endemic, she has co-authored several books and articles on dragonflies, including the documentation of new species. She is a passionate photographer of birds, butterflies, and dragonflies. Ron Hess: Ron Hess was born in the Himalayas and traces his fascination with birds and natural history to his biology teacher, Robert Fleming, Jr.. After working in film and completing a Master s in Communication from Cornell University, Mr. Hess joined the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, where he has worked for 25 years with posts in Egypt, Uganda and Nepal. Birds have remained a life-long interest. Erling Holmgren Valdemar: Valdemar started watching garden birds in Nairobi at age 9, which kicked off a life-long interest in birds that includes keen birding during spare time; ornithology studies at Lund University concerning bird ecology in agricultural landscapes of south Sweden; ringing of migrants and monitoring of visible bird migration at the south Swedish bird observatories; and leading birding tours in east Africa, Europe and Nepal. He still enjoys the intricacy of field identification of difficult species such as eagles, hawks, and leaf warblers.
Bar-throated Minla -
52 ICIMOD 2015 International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development GPO Box 3226, Kathmandu, Nepal Tel +977 1 5003222 Fax +977 1 5003299 Email info@icimod.org Web www.icimod.org