Golden Top Bird Building Nests

Kathmandu. The Top birds, nicknamed engineer birds, are very busy building their nests. This bird, also known by names like 'Koterro', 'Sujero', 'Bakecho', stops at a suitable place to build its nest when migrating. Primarily making the Terai its habitat, these birds move uphill after Jestha. It is during this time that this bird is seen around the Kathmandu Valley. The main diet of the Top bird is rice and grains. Therefore, it prefers to live near fields and ponds with water. In these birds, the males have yellow around their heads and necks. Females are dull. After coming to the Kathmandu Valley, the first and primary task of the male birds is to build a nest. They gather green grass and artfully build nests with the help of their beaks. At first glance, the nest looks as attractive as if it were sewn by humans. The female watches the male until it finishes building the nest. If the female does not like the nest, she will not enter it. The male has to build a nest that the female likes again. The male builds a beautiful and artistic nest to please the female. They make the nest sway in the wind to protect it from bad weather and enemies. Because the nest hangs and sways from the branches, snakes cannot easily enter. The female chooses the males whose nests are beautiful. Some males who cannot build beautiful nests do not even get a female. The Golden Top bird, listed in the red list by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is considered very rare worldwide. This bird, found only in Nepal and India, is listed as critically endangered in Nepal. The number of Golden Top birds is very low in both Nepal and India, according to Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN). It is estimated that there are around 200 Golden Top birds in Nepal. Four species of Top birds are found in Nepal: Chhatikale, Dharke, Baya, and Sunagulo, among which the Golden Top bird is found only in the Terai region.