Rastriya Samachar Samiti

Kathmandu, March 20:

A new species of bird has been found at Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve bringing the total number of bird species in Nepal to 862. Greater white-fronted goose (Anser albirfrons) was identified for the first time by a team of Som GC, an ornithologist with Bird Conservation Nepal, Paul Sutherland of Australia, and Anish Timilsina of Koshi Camp. The bird was found on March 24, 2004. It took almost a year to verify the finding by the Nepal Rare Birds Committee, which reviews the authenticity of such claims in Nepal. This bird belongs to the duck family, anatidae. With this new bird species, Nepal now has 35 species of ducks. Nepal is home to nearly nine per cent of the total bird species found in the world.