New bird species discovered

By Baburam Karki,Barahakshetra, Mar. 5: A new bird species has been recorded in Nepal. The Purple-rumped sunbird was spotted at Kakarbhitta in Mechinagar Municipality-6, in Jhapa district, eastern Nepal.

According to Dr. Tulsi Subedi, coordinator of the Nepal Bird Record Committee, the bird was documented at an altitude of 133 metres above sea level. 

Ornithologist Devendra Kumar Kharel recorded the sighting while birdwatching at 8:30 am on February 19. National coordinator of Nepal Bird Census, Laxman Poudel, said that Kharel first spotted both male and female Purple-rumped sunbirds on an avocado tree within a residential compound in Mechinagar. He observed them continuously for two days before officially documenting the species. Other ornithologists, including Anish Timsina, Chakra Timsina and Shankar Luitel, also confirmed the sighting.

Kharel took photographs of the bird for preliminary identification and sent the details to the Nepal Bird Record Committee for verification. After further study and expert consultations at both national and international levels, the species was officially confirmed and named “Baijani Bunge Chara” in Nepali.

Dr. Subedi said that this bird belongs to the Nectariniidae family under the order Passeriformes. It is a resident species in Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, where it also breeds. 

Globally, two subspecies of the Purple-rumped sunbird have been recorded --Leptocoma zeylonica flaviventris and Leptocoma zeylonica zeylonica. The newly recorded species in Nepal belongs to the Leptocoma zeylonica flaviventris subspecies. With this addition, Nepal's total bird species count has reached 898, as confirmed by the Nepal Bird Record Committee.