Ornithological Survey of lower Mai-Valley lIam, Eastern Nepal By Yub Raj Basnet Jivan Sapkota Final report submitted to Oriental Bird Club (UK) ~ma Bird Conservation Nepal W 2006 SUMMARY Lower Mai Valley is a part of the Mai Valley which is one of the unprotected Important Bird Areas (IBA) in Nepal. The area is mainly located at Siwalik Hills of the !lam district. The forest is mixed type dominated by Sal Shorea robusta. An exploration of bird diversity was done in the area from January 2006 to May 2006. Total of 11 community forests were surveyed during the study period. Species discovery curve was calculated using Mackinnon list, with twenty species in each list. Altogether 36 lists were prepared, 18 in each survey. A total two visits were made, once in each season (i.e. winter and pre-monsoon). A total of 152 bird species were recorded from the area. Hundred and twenty nine were resident, eighteen were winter visitors and five were summer visitors. Among the observed species 13 were new for this locality. Fourteen were nationally threatened species including one globally threatened species, i.e. Lesser Adjutant Leptopti/os javanicus. A total of 25 bird species were biome restricted species. II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to express special thanks to Oriental Bird Club, UK for financial support without which this project would never have carried out. Thank also goes to Oavid Buckingham for his support. We are also grateful to the local people of the Lower Mai Valley especially Ohan Bahadur Thebe, President of Pathivara Community Forest; Indra Uwang, President of Shrijana Community Forest; Puma Pakhrin former President of Namuna Community Forest and President Bam Bahadur Karki and his team of Jukekhadi Community Forest, Khudunabari for their generous support. Our sincere thanks go to Carol Inskipp for her keen interest, supports and reviews throughout the project period. Our thanks also go to Hem Sagar Baral, Haris Rai, Hatan Chaudhary, Bhesh Raj Ghimire and Oev Ghimire for bird identification and their comments on this report. 15 November 2006 III TABLES Table 1: Commmrity forests in the Lower Mai Valley 4 Table 2: List number and nmning species. 9 Table 3: List of birds according to field survey. 10 Table 4: List of threatened birds recorded in the study area. 16 Table 5: Bird species according to biome. 19 FIGURES Figure I Species discovery curve 10 IV CONTENTS Summary II Acknowledgements ID List of tables IV List of figure IV Introduction 1-2 Background 1 Objectives 2 Study area 3-6 Location 3 Climate 4 Biological diversity 5 Flora 5 Fauna 5 Socio-economic aspect 5 Material and Methods 7-8 Bird Survey 7 Data analysis 8 Results and Discussion 9-21 Bird Survey 9 Bird diversity 10-16 Threatened Species 16-18 Biome restricted species 18-20 Threats 21 Conclusion 22 Recommendations 22 References 23-24 Appendix 25-26 INTRODUCTION Background Nepal has an exceptionally rich and diverse avifauna. An important factor determining such diverse avifauna is Nepal's varied topography and climate. The varied physiographic zones of Nepal have facilitated the country's high diversity of fauna and flora. In Nepal 862 species of birds are recorded (Bird Conservation Nepal 2006). A total of 31 species is considered globally threatened (BirdLife International 2001, 2004) and 13 3 species (15%) have been identified as nationally threatened. Furthermore, 72 species are thought to be nationally critically threatened or endangered (Baral and Inskipp 2004). In addition 11 species are considered extinct in Nepal (Inskipp and Inskipp 1991). As many as 78 species (59% of the total threatened) depend on forests (Baral and Inskipp 2004). Considering the situation Bird Conservation Nepal has identified 27 Important Bird Areas (IBA) in Nepal. The Mai Valley is one of 12 IBAs that are unprotected (Baral and Inskipp 2005). Inskipp (1989) earlier identified the Mai Valley as an important unprotected forest of Nepal. Among the six biomes found in Nepal, the Mai Valley IBA possesses four biomes. These are the Eurasian High Montane, Sino-Himalayan Subtropical Forest, Indo-Chinese Tropical Moist Forest and Indo-Malayan Tropical Dry Zone. The lower Mai Valley area is a part of the lower region of the Mai Valley IBA in eastern Nepal (Baral and Inskipp 2005), which supports three globally threatened, one globally near-threatened and one restricted range species (Baral and Inskipp 2001). Furthermore, it supports more than 27 nationally threatened species (Inskipp 1989, Baral and Inskipp 2004); also it lies in the Eastern Himalayas Endemic Bird Area identified by BirdLife International and is recognized as a biodiversity hotspot for birds (Stattersfield et aI.1998). Forests of the lower Mai Valley area are currently unprotected, but local users now manage all the forests as community forest. Forests of the lower Mai Valley comprise tropical and subtropical forests and they include a small but important remnant of tropical evergreen forest (Inskipp 1989). The forest is mainly Sal Shorea robusta with mixed hardwoods. Most of the forest areas of the lower Mai Valley are situated in the Churia (Siwalik) range of Ilam district. 1 The globally threatened White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis, Slender-billed Vulture G. tenuirostris and Lesser Adjutant Leptoptilus javanicus were reported to breed in the area (Inskipp 1989, Baral and Inskipp 2005, BirdLife International 2001). The nationally endangered Asian Fairy Bluebird frena puella and Pale-headed Woodpecker Gecinulus grantia have also been recorded from here. Both the species are very rare in Nepal; the lower Mai Valley is the only known Nepal locality for Pale-headed Woodpecker. Forest areas of the lower Mai Valley are contiguously surrounded by village areas inhabited by caste groups such as Rai, Limbu, Chhetri, Brahman and Tamang. Thus, the forest areas of the lower Mai Valley are highly fragmented. The forest users of the Mahamai and Danabari VDCs are dependent on forest resources for fuelwood, fodder, timber etc. The main occupations of the local people are agriculture, animal husbandry and harvesting of forest products (Oli 1998). Objectives The main aim of this study was to obtain the scientific data from the lower Mai Valley area, which supports large avian diversity. The broad objective ofthis study is to make an inventory of avian diversity in the lower Mai Valley Forest. The specific objectives are: 1. to determine the avian diversity in lower Mai Valley; and 2. to assess the richness of birds in the area. 2 STUDY AREA Location The lower Mai Valley area lies in southern Ilam district and northern Jhapa district under the Mechi administrative zone and the north-east of Morang district under Koshi administrative zone in east Nepal. Though the lower Mai Valley area is not properly delineated, it is considered as the valley made by the Mai River and its tributaries at altitudes ranging from 78m to 1800m asl (Baral and Inskipp 2001). The area lies between 87°38'E and 87°59' E longitude and 26°39' N and 26°52' N latitude. The forest areas of the lower region of Ilam district cover approximately 20,000 hectares. This study was conducted in the lower Mai Valley forests under the Mahamai and Danabari VDCs of Ham district and Surunga and Khudtmabari VDCs of Jhapa district at altitudes 78m- 825m, with an area covering approximately 12,000 hectares. Forests of the lower Mai Valley have been recently developed as community forest. Community forests are the forest areas which have been given to local users for management and utilization of the forest resources for the benefit of users as well as nation. Forest User Groups (FUGs) are given the rights to the forests but not to the land. The rural people are dependent on forest for various products to fulfill their basic needs such as fuel wood, pole, fodder, leaf litter, fruit and medicinal plants (Roy 2004). More than 30 forest user groups are benefiting from forest resources in the lower Mai Valley. During the survey period, a total of eleven community forests were surveyed.. These were considered the most important as they were contiguous with other forest and comprised comparatively large areas. Forests covering small areas or forests that were highly fragmented and located in the vicinity of villages were excluded. Due to the security situation that existed during the survey period, some forest areas could not be safely covered during the first survey. Only seven community forests areas were surveyed on the first visit, but in the second survey all the eleven community forests were surveyed. The name of the community forests are given in table 1. In addition to the forest areas, agricultural areas located between the forests and the Mai River were surveyed. 3 Table 1. Community forests in the Lower Mai Valley SN Name ofthe community forest Location Area (hectares) 1 Pathivara community forest Mahamai, llam 609 2 Gaide community forest Mahamai, llam 867 3 Shrijana community forest Mahamai, llam 844 4 Laxmi community forest Mahamai, llam 400 5 Namuna community forest Danabari, Ilam 597 6 Sukhani community forest Danabari, Ilam and Khudunabari, Jhapa 400 7 Jukekhadi community forest Khudunabari, Jhapa 669 8 Shiva Pokhari community forest* Danabari, Ilam 700 9 Dahijhoda community forest* Khudunabari, Jhapa 674 10 Sukedagi community forest* Surunga, Jhapa 749 11 Kankai community forest* Surunga, Jhapa 270 * visited only in 2nd survey Climate The lower Mai valley area has both tropical and sub-tropical climates. There are four seasons: pre-monsoon (March-May), monsoon (June-September), post-monsoon (October) and winter (November-February) (Oli 1999). The total mean annual precipitation was estimated to be about 2665 mm from 1967 to 1996 at Soktim Tea Estate, the nearest Meteorological station from the study area. The average monthly rainfall of 747 mm was recorded in July, while the lowest monthly rainfall of 11.1 mm was recorded in December. Due to the insurgency at the time of the survey we could not obtain recent meteorological records. The temperature variation in the Ilam Siwalik area depends on altitude and aspect. It is relatively low on the northern slopes and at higher elevations compared to the southern slopes and lower altitudes. The annual mean temperature recorded at Soktim tea estate is 20.7°C with an annual range of mean monthly temperature of 16.6°C in January and 25.8°C in July and August. However, the daily maximum temperature ranges from 21.5°C in January to 30.5°C in April. The monthly minimum temperature ranges from 11.2°C in January to 21.9°C in August. The mean monthly relative humidity varies from 69% in April to 90% in July and August, indicating a dry atmosphere in the pre-monsoon season and a moist atmosphere during the monsoon season (Oli, 1998). 4