The elusive western tragopan of the Himalaya

Braving the cold and hostile terrain of the Himalayan heights, determined birders go in search of the colourful and ground-dwelling western tragopan, and find it.

A male western tragopan in the Great Himalayan National Park, Kullu district, Himachal Pradesh.

 

The western tragopan is the State bird of Himachal Pradesh. It looks like a jungle fowl and is secretive and shy. Local residents call it jujurana, which means king of birds.

A Temminck’s tragopan (named after the Dutch naturalist and ornithologist Coenraad Temminck) in the Mishmi Hills of Arunachal Pradesh.

The Himalayan monal. It is one of the 16 species of pheasants endemic to the Indian Himalayan region.

A female Himalayan monal. Female pheasants are less colourful than the males.

A satyr tragopan, which was photographed in Bhutan. The local people are so involved in the protection of this bird that it roams freely like domestic chicken.

A male Himalayan monal in all his resplendence.

A Himalayan monal in flight.

A koklass pheasant, another of the 16 species of pheasants endemic to the Indian Himalayan region.

The white-throated tit, another important denizen of the Great Himalayan National Park, though not one of the pheasant species.

The kalij pheasant. Pheasants can be found in various vegetation types and altitudinal gradients.

Another of the attractions of the Great Himalayan National Park apart from its wildlife are cold streams, of which it has more than 2,700, mostly gushing and noisy.

Blyth’s tragopan. The name commemorates the English naturalist and ornithologist Edward Blyth, who lived in India and was the curator of zoology at the Asiatic Society of India in Calcutta.

Jainy Maria Kuriacose.

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A male western tragopan in the Great Himalayan National Park, Kullu district, Himachal Pradesh.
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