By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Oct. 18: Little Pratincole, which is called Paanigauthali in Nepali, has been recorded in the Kathmandu Valley after 192 years. A half-grown Little Pratincole has been noticed on the banks of the Manohara River in Bhaktapur.
The species, which is found from Jhapa in the east to Shuklaphanta in the west, was recorded by bird watcher and wildlife photographer Sanjay Tha Shrestha and Sugam Tamrakar near the Manohara on October 9.

According to ornithologist Dr. Hem Sagar Baral, the species of the bird which used to be recorded in the big rivers of Terai has been spotted in the Kathmandu Valley after 192 years. 
Little Pratincole is a native bird of the Terai. This group of birds, numbering in the hundreds, is found in the Saptakoshi, Narayani, Mahakali, Karnali and other major tributaries of these rivers in Nepal.

A large number of little Pratincoles have been recorded in the big rivers like the Karnali, Mahakali and Narayani every year, Dr. Baral said.
According to wildlife photographer Tha Shrestha, he went to the Manohara with his friend Sugam Tamrakar for bird watching on the occasion of International Migratory Day. The bird was found at 9 am on Saturday, October 9, Tha Shrestha told The Rising Nepal. 
Little Pratincoles are mostly found in the protected areas especially in Shuklaphanta National Park, Bardiya National Park, Chitwan National Park, Parsa National Park and Koshi Tappu Wildlife Sanctuary.

For Nepal, Dr. Brian Hudson first collected a specimen of this species in the valley in the 19th century, although no official data on the origin of the specimen was found at that time. 
Ornithologists Dr. Baral and Carol Inskipp examined old records and found that the bird was found again in the valley after 192 years.
British ornithologist  Inskipp has been involved in studying Nepal's birds for more than five decades.

About 3,000 Little Pratincole have recently been recorded in the Koshi region and another 4,000 in Kailali. 
Dr. Baral said the bird is dependent on wetlands. "It looks like other Pratincoles and eats flies, insects and grasshoppers while flying in the sky," he said.
Two types of Pratincole are recorded in Nepal -- large and little Pratincole.

Although the number of this species appears to be relatively stable in the protected areas, it is declining due to extreme exploitation of stones and sand in rivers and streams outside the protected areas, destruction of breeding habitats, poaching and widespread use of pesticides, ornithologists said.