New bird recorded to the Bird list of Bhutan

Tanden Zangmo

Bhutan is considered to be one of the top biodiversity hotspot in the world. Such a

tagging is befitting for Bhutan has been able to maintain large forest coverage, both rich

and intact. Such a provision provides safe haven for many floral and faunal species to

thrive unperturbed.

With the record of yet another new bird species the official number of bird species

recorded in Bhutan will reach a high of 701 after the sighting of Sharp-tailed Sand on

October this year by the officials from Royal Society for the Protection of Nature

(RSPN).

The bird was confirmed as new record not recorded earlier of its presence in the Country

by the Ornithologist at Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environment

(UWICE) in Bumthang.

The official with the RSPN, Tashi Dawa said that the new bird was sighted in Buli under

Zhemgang dzongkhag while conducting biodiversity assessment of Buli wetland and the

footage of the new bird was sent for confirmation to Ornithologist Sherab.

He said that the three officials were unsure about the bird’s record in the Bhutan’s Bird

List and the footage of the bird was later sent to UWICE for confirmation.

According to the Ornithologist Sherab, the bird sighted by the RSPN officials is

confirmed as a new record to the Bhutan’s Bird List.

He said that the bird is a winter visitor which is recorded in the Birds of the Indian Sub-

continent so far.

He said that the country’s policy has always been very much conducive for the flora and

fuana diversity to thrive as is evident from the constitutional requirement to maintain 60

percent of the land under forest coverage for all time to come.

He further added that the huge altitudinal ranges that rises from tropical forests in the

south to the alpine region in the north is one reason why Bhutan is home to huge

collection of flora and fauna which is supplemented by strong political will as well as

conservation efforts the government invests such that country has conservationists spread

all across the country.

As per the literature  the sharp-tailed sadpipers is bird resembles the pectoral sandpiper,

within whose Asian range it breeds and It differs from that species in its breast pattern,

stronger supercilium  and more rufous crown.

The breeding adults have rich brown with darker feather centres above, and white

underneath apart from a buff breast with a light superciliary line above the eye and a

chestnut crown.

During the  winter, sharp-tailed sandpipers are grey above while the  juveniles are

brightly patterned above with rufous colouration and white mantle stripes

These birds are known to forage on grasslands and mudflats, like the pectoral sandpiper,

picking up food by sight, sometimes by probing and they are also known to feed on

insects and other inverterbrates.

Meanwhile Buli already provided home to about 71  species of birds among which the

sparrows and bulbuls are found mostly in the area and the Hornbills are found often.