The Jagdishpur Reservoir is a

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

Jahadi Jahadi is a village development committee situated at the southwest corner of Jagdishpur Reservoir, within Kapilvastu District in the Lumbini Zone of southern Nepal. According to the 1991 Nepal census The 1991 Nepal census was a widespread na ...

Village Development Committee Village development committee may refer to: * Village development committee (India) * Village development committee (Nepal) A village development committee (; ''gāum̐ vikās samiti'') in Nepal was the lower administrative part of its Mini ...

Kapilvastu District Kapilvastu District ( ), often Kapilbastu, is one of the districts of Lumbini Province, Nepal. The district, with Kapilbastu municipality as its district headquarters, covers an area of and in 2001 had a population of 481,976, which increased t ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

which was named after Er. Jagadish Jha who designed and supervised the construction of Banaganga dam. With a surface area of , it is the largest reservoir in the country and an important

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

site.Bhandari, B. (1996). An inventory of Nepal's Terai wetlands. IUCN Nepal, Kathmandu. It is situated at an altitude of . The maximum water depth varies between in the dry season and in the

monsoon season The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...

. The Jagdishpur Reservoir is listed on the

List of Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance Ramsar sites are protected under by the Ramsar Convention, an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural, scientific, and r ...

, as defined by the

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar site, Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on We ...

.Bhandari, B. B. (2009). Wise use of Wetlands in Nepal. Banko Janakari 19 (3): 10–17.

History

At Jakhira Lake during the 1970s, Jagdishpur was created to provide water to crops. In 2003, the reservoir was declared a

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...

and nutrients deposited in the reservoir favour the growth of

reed beds A reedbed or reed bed is a natural habitat found in floodplains, waterlogged depressions and estuaries. Reedbeds are part of a succession from young reeds colonising open water or wet ground through a gradation of increasingly dry ground. As ...

, which provide shelter for several

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

. The habitat of the reservoir and its surroundings is important for

resident Resident may refer to: People and functions * Resident minister, a representative of a government in a foreign country * Resident (medicine), a stage of postgraduate medical training * Resident (pharmacy), a stage of postgraduate pharmaceut ...

, wintering and migrating wetland birds, comprising 45 different bird species. Five of these are globally

threatened species A threatened species is any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which is vulnerable to extinction in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensatio ...

. The surrounding cultivated land also provides habitat for a large numbers of birds. Some of the notable species documented in the area include: *

Asian openbill The Asian openbill or Asian openbill stork (''Anastomus oscitans'') is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. This distinctive stork is found mainly in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is greyish or white with glossy ...

(''Anastomus oscitans'') *

Black-winged kite The black-winged kite (''Elanus caeruleus''), also known as the black-shouldered kite (not to be confused with the closely-related Australian species of the same name), is a small diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae best known for it ...

(''Elanus caeruleus'') *

Egyptian vulture The Egyptian vulture (''Neophron percnopterus''), also called the white scavenger vulture or pharaoh's chicken, is a small Old World vulture in the monotypic genus ''Neophron''. It is widely distributed from the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa ...

(''Neophron percnopterus''), a globally threatened species *

Greater spotted eagle The greater spotted eagle (''Clanga clanga''), also called the spotted eagle, is a large migratory bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is a member of the subfamily Aquilinae, commonly known as "booted eagles".Helbig, A. J., Kocum, A., ...

(''Clanga clanga''), a globally threatened species *

Indian spotted eagle The Indian spotted eagle (''Clanga hastata'') is a large bird of prey native to South Asia. Like all typical eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. The typical eagles are often united with the buteos, sea eagles and other more heavy-set A ...

(''Clanga hastata''), a globally threatened species *

Lesser adjutant The lesser adjutant (''Leptoptilos javanicus'') is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. Like other members of its genus, it has a bare neck and head. It is however more closely associated with wetland habitats where it is solitary ...

(''Leptoptilos javanicus''), a globally threatened species *

Long-tailed shrike The long-tailed shrike or rufous-backed shrike (''Lanius schach'') is a member of the bird family Laniidae, the shrikes. They are found widely distributed across Asia and there are variations in plumage across the range. The species ranges across ...

(''Lanius schach tricolor'') *

Oriental darter The Oriental darter (''Anhinga melanogaster'') is a water bird of tropical South Asia and Southeast Asia. It has a long and slender neck with a straight, pointed bill and, like the cormorant, it hunts for fish while its body is submerged in water ...

(''Anhinga melanogaster'') *

Pied kingfisher The pied kingfisher (''Ceryle rudis'') is a species of water kingfisher widely distributed across Africa and Asia. Originally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, it has five recognised subspecies. Its black and white plumage and crest, as well as ...

(''Ceryle rudis'') *

Red-wattled lapwing The red-wattled lapwing (''Vanellus indicus'') is an Asian lapwing or large plover, a wader in the family Charadriidae. Like other lapwings they are ground birds that are incapable of perching. Their characteristic loud alarm calls are indicat ...

(''Vanellus indicus'') * Ruddy kingfisher (''Halcyon coromanda'') *

Sarus crane The sarus crane (''Antigone antigone'') is a large nonmigratory Crane (bird), crane found in parts of the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and northern Australia. The tallest of the flying birds, standing at a height of up to , they are a c ...

(''Grus antigone''), a globally threatened species *

Slender-billed vulture The slender-billed vulture (''Gyps tenuirostris'') is an Old World vulture species native to sub-Himalayan regions and Southeast Asia. It is Critically Endangered since 2002 as the population on the Indian subcontinent has declined rapidly. As o ...

(''Gyps tenuirostris''), a globally threatened species *

Smooth-coated otter The smooth-coated otter (''Lutrogale perspicillata'') is a freshwater otter species from regions of South and Southwest Asia, with the majority of its numbers found in Southeast Asia. It has been ranked as " vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List since ...

(''Lutrogale perspicillata''), a globally threatened species *

White-rumped vulture The white-rumped vulture (''Gyps bengalensis'') is an Old World vulture native to South and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2000, as the population severely declined. White-rumped vultures di ...

(''Gyps bengalensis''), a globally threatened species *

Woolly-necked stork The woolly-necked stork has been split into two species: * Asian woolly-necked stork, ''Ciconia episcopus'' * African woolly-necked stork, ''Ciconia microscelis'' {{Short pages monitor