A Preliminary Study on Birdlife of Betana Wetland, Belbari, Morang District, SE-Nepal

The present study conducted in Betana wetland, Morang, Nepal. The study based on the field survey in order to find out the avifaunal composition. Most of the birds were found belong to the order Passeriformes including nine families and 15 species, followed by Coraciformes with three families and four species then Pelicaniformes with two families and six species. Of them, two species viz. Greyheaded fish eagle ( Icthyophaga humilis) and Lesser Adjutant Stork (Leptoptilos javanicus) are kept under Near Threatened (NT) and Vulnerable (VU) category of IUCN Red List of threatened species. About 70% of total bird recorded was resident type and about 35% of total recorded bird species were fairly common in abundance. The species richness and abundance of avifauna found higher in winter season than summer. Compared to the previous study, birds belonging to four more families and five more orders recorded this time. Keywords: Betana; avifauna; wetland; Icthyophaga humilis; Leptoptilos javanicus; Tera