Photo: Giles Laurent · CC BY-SA 4.0Grassland Specialists
The park's alluvial grasslands are vital habitat for some of Asia's most threatened birds.
Photo: Nejib Ahmed · CC BY-SA 4.0A secretive grassland bustard and one of the world's rarest birds.
Critically Endangered
Photo: Rana Choudhuri · CC BY-SA 4.0A large stork of the wetlands and floodplains.
Vulnerable
Photo: Sakshamtamu · CC BY-SA 4.0More than 200 were sighted across three grassland types in a single 2005 survey.
Vulnerable
Photo: Mildeep · CC BY-SA 4.0Wetland Birds
The near-threatened Oriental darter breeds around the park's many lakes, where egrets, bitterns, storks and kingfishers gather. Chitwan is also one of the few known breeding sites of the globally threatened spotted eagle, while peafowl and jungle fowl forage the forest floor.
A Calendar of Wings
Around 160 migrating and vagrant species arrive from the north — including the greater spotted eagle, Pallas's fish-eagle, Brahminy ducks and goosanders.
Large flocks of bar-headed geese rest for a few days on their long migration northward over the Himalayas.
The calls of cuckoos herald spring; the colourful pitta, paradise flycatcher and several sunbirds breed through the monsoon.
Plan a visit during the cool, clear bird season to witness the avian richness of the Terai.