'European Roller' traced first time in country

MYAGDI, September 21: A new species of bird has been tracked in Mustang, the district beyond the Himalaya. 
The presence of bird named 'European Roller' has been detected at Kekighang of Lomanthang rural municipality-5. According to the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP), the bird was found in Lomanthang and it was the first time that the bird was recorded in the country.  

The National Trust for Nature Conservation also on Monday confirmed the finding of the bird at an altitude of 3,781 metres along the Annapurna Conservation Area. 

The bird was recorded in the camera of ACAP Lomanthang employee Ram Bahadur Gurung on August 23 and it was confirmed to be the species of European Roller by ornithologists Dr Hem Sagar Baral, Som GC and other two foreign ornithologists.  

Gurung said he first time captured the bird in his camera at 1:11 pm on August 29 thinking that it was obviously a new case for Nepal.  He was on the way to Chhojung Monastery for the feasibility study of an alternative trekking route when he first saw the bird on a boundary wall of a paddy field some 800 metres east from Lomanthang . Second time it was spotted in a peepal tree.  The medium sized bird is slightly larger than a sparrow. 

With this, 519 species of birds have been confirmed in the Annapurna Conservation Area that covers Kaski, Lamjung, Manang, Mustang and Myagi districts.