Background: The Gharana wetland conservation reserve (GWCR) is a semi-arid wetland adjacent to agricultural areas on the contested Indo-Pakistani border. Despite being declared an Important Bird Area (IBA) by Birdlife International, the occurrence and distribution of birds has not been well-documented in this area. Our aims were to systematically document the composition, relative abundance and feeding guilds of all avian fauna in order to form a baseline to monitor changes from-and to underwrite-future conservation actions. Results: From 24 surveys over 1 year, we recorded 151 species from 45 families and 15 orders. 41% of species were listed as 'rare' and only 22% were 'very common'. The largest number of families belonged to the order Passeriformes (40%), followed by Charadriiformes (14%) and Coraciiformes (11%). The most species (12%), were found in the family Anatidae (Anseriformes-widely recognized as bio-indicators), followed by Accipitridae (Falconiformes; 12%) and Muscicapidae (Passeriformes; 6%). Carnivores and insectivores were the feeding guilds most frequently observed. Indeed, more than 50% of all species fed on the abundant fish, mollusks and insects and larvae. Bark-feeders and nectarivores were the least common. Conclusions: Winter visitors were frequently found, while summer visitors were rare, reinforcing the importance of GWCR as a wintering site for high-altitude species. The conservation of this wetland is especially crucial for nine globally-threatened species. We have provided baseline documentation to help future monitoring efforts for this region, and a template to initiate the implementation of conservation plans for other remote IBAs.