Biodiversity of the birds in the Van Long wetland nature reserve in the Ninh Binh province

Abstract

The surveys on the avifauna of the Vanlong wetland nature reserve in the Ninhbinh province were carried out for 2 years: 2001 and 2002. There are 72 species belonging to 33 families of 14 orders recorded in the Vanlong reserve. Among them, 3 species are listed in the Red Data Book of Vietnam (2000): silver pheasant (Lophura nycthemera), brown fish Owl (Ketupa zeylonensis) and tickell’s hornbill (Ptilolaemus tickelli). The diversity of each order isn’t high, having average 2 families for one order. The highest quantity of them is from December to February, up to 2000 observed individuals. The Vanlong reserve has potentials to develop the eco-tourism, particularly in bird watching.