By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Sept. 24: A new species of bird named Brown-breasted Flycatcher (Dhawal Arjunak) has been recorded for the first time in Chitwan.
Scientifically called Muscicapa muttui, Brown-breasted Flycatcher is a small passerine bird in the flycatcher family Muscicapidae.
Despite being a migratory bird for Nepal, the bird hasn’t been spotted before.

Sagar Bishwokarma and Rajiv Kumal, nature guides of Barahi Jungle Lodge, had taken photos of the bird while observing birds in the Andrauli Intermediate Community Forest on Monday, September 20.
In order to identify and verify the bird, Ramesh Chaudhary, President of the Bird Education Society and members of the working committee -- Ram Krishna Mahato, Man Kumar Chaudhary, Govind Thanet and Krishna Poudel -- went to the Andrauli Intermediate Community Forest and photographed the bird. They have identified the bird as a newly added species in the area.

With this, the number of birds in Chitwan has reached 658, said the president of the Society Chaudhary.
The bird breeds in the northern region of eastern India, central and southern China, Burma and Thailand, and sometimes travels through forests in Nepal to southern India and Sri Lanka.
This bird feeds on the broad-leaved forest at an altitude of about 135 to 1330 metres above sea level.

Sudhir Byas first saw the bird in Nepal on September 6, 1987, at Ranibari and on October 4 at Chatara. Since then, from 2017 to 2020, bird watchers in Raniwari, Shivpuri, Nagarjuna and Tokha have repeatedly seen and the evidence has been written in the Red Book of Birds of Nepal, Chaudhary said.