Bhutan is a fascinating place. It’s a small Buddhist kingdom in the Himalayas sandwiched between China and India, with a population of about 725,000. In area, it’s a little bigger than the state of Maryland. Its name in Dzongkha (Bhutanese) is Druk-yul, which loosely translates to “The Land of the Thunder Dragon.”
As you can see, it’s completely mountainous. At one time it included some of the plains on its south, but those were ceded to the British in the mid-1800’s
The people are devoutly Buddhist. There are many shrines to various Buddhist deities and holy men throughout the countryside. Every mountain pass has a shrine and numerous prayer flags.
There is a very unique style of architecture. Buildings tend to be multi-story, with tiered roofs. On homes, there is an open gap between the ceiling of the top floor and the roof which is used for storage. Many of the buildings have traditional symbols painted on them (some of the symbols are quite profane).
The major cities include fortresses called dzongs, which are a cross between public administration center, a military fortress, and a religious monastery.
Trongsa Dzong — Bhutan
Dzongs were originally located at key transit points on the old mountain roads in order to prevent invasions from Tibet.
Up until the early 1900’s Bhutan was a semi-unified group of warring kingdoms (think Holy Roman Empire). It was unified by the Wangchuk dynasty who have ruled ever since as the Druk-Gyalpo, which means Dragon King. Bhutan was an absolute monarchy until the mid-2000’s but it’s now a constitutional Monarchy. The current king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, is the 5th King of Bhutan. The king is greatly revered and his picture is everywhere along with pictures of the royal family.
The Bhutanese Royal Family
But in addition to their traditional beliefs, the country has actively tried to modernize. Cellphones are ubiquitous. Children learn English from an early age and much of the population, especially those who interact with tourists, speak English in addition to Dzongkha. There are modern hotels, especially in the cities, and wi-fi is common. And unfortunately, there are also traffic jams in the cities.
Paro, Bhutan
One fact I find fascinating is that there were no paved roads in Bhutan until 1961, due to its extremely mountainous terrain and the difficulty in constructing them. However, all of the main roads between the major locations we visited are now paved, some of them in just the past few years, although we did of course spend some time on dirt roads as needed to access the birds. But that doesn’t mean travel happens quickly – the roads are so winding that the distance by road is often five times longer than as the crow flies.
And one comment on tourism. Bhutan was only opened to tourists in 1973, and the number of tourists currently allowed to enter is strictly limited. There is a daily sustainability fee of $100-$200 per day that is charged in advance when applying for a visa. And all visits must be guided. There’s only one international airport mainly because of the terrain. There no place else to land large jet planes.
Paro Airport
Now let’s talk about the environment.
Unlike its neighbors, Bhutan’s high Himalayan peaks have never been climbed. The people believe that doing so would disturb the mountain spirits, so mountain climbing is banned. Our guides took great pride in saying that Gangkhar Puensum, the highest point in Bhutan at 7,571 m (24,839 ft), is the “Highest Unclimbed Mountain in the World”.
Gangkhar Puensum, Bhutan
Lower mountain valleys are often used for rice and corn farming or cattle herding while high mountain valleys and passes and grasslands are used for yak herding.
Paro Valley, Bhutan
But many of the mountainsides are so steep that it‘s impossible to develop them, even for farming. As I said, they were only recently able to build paved roads. So a significant part of the country is covered in first growth forests.
This means there’s lots of wildlife. In terms of mammals, we saw 5 species of monkeys, 4 species of ungulates, 5 species of rodents (mostly squirrels), an otter, and even a small herd of wild elephants. We also saw a fresh tiger print. And when I say fresh, I mean fresh. We drove down a dirt road, and when we walked back up, the print was in our tire track.
There’s also amazing bird life. In fall and winter, there are migrants that come south from Siberia and China. In spring, birds that winter in India return to breed. The lowlands bordering India have species common to Indochina. The highland species are a mix of birds of the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. The variation in elevations provides varied habitats and that means different species at different elevations. In terms of birds, I saw 308 species, 70 of which were lifers. The official trip list, which included birds I missed and heard-only birds that I don’t count was 341 species.
Our tour took us from Paro, through Thimphu (the capital), down to the Indian border at Gelephu. From there we drove across the south of Bhutan, before heading back into the mountains. We completed the loop by driving over several mountain passes on our way back to Paro.
I’m not sure how exactly to organize this since I want to touch on mammals as well as birds. So I think I’m going to sort the birds taxonomically and toss in mammals where I get the urge. I’m also going to focus on birds that are more range restricted, rather than common birds that I got good pictures of.
That said, off to Bhutan!
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Some of the more spectacular birds in Bhutan are the pheasants. We had a few flocks of Blood Pheasants:
Blood Pheasant — Thrumshing La, Bhutan
Blood Pheasants are found from Nepal through Bhutan, Eastern India, and into the Tibetan Plateau of Sichuan. There are two subspecies found in Bhutan – one in the east and one in the west. This is the eastern subspecies, ssp. tibetanus. We saw it near Thrumshing La (La = mountain pass) at about 2,300m / 7,500 ft.
Even more ornate is the Himalayan Monal:
Himalayan Monal — Tharpaling Monastery, Bhutan
There are three species of monal, all found in the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau. Himalayan Monal is found from Eastern Afghanistan to the India / Tibet border area. With its iridescence our guide called it a “Hummingbird-Turkey”. This Himalayan Monal was one of a small flock that was coming to Tharpaling Monastery near the Chummey Valley. The monks there feed them, so they’re easy to see.
At that same monastery, we also saw Snow Pigeons:
Snow Pigeons — Tharpaling Monastery, Bhutan
Snow Pigeons are a mountain species found from the Pamirs of Tajikistan, through the length of the Himalayas to the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai, China. We saw several flocks of them, but these were likely taking advantage of the food the monks set out for the monals.
Another pigeon with a similar range is the Speckled Wood-pigeon:
Speckled Wood-pigeon — Tharpaling Monastery, Bhutan
They’re found from Kashmir into Sichuan but at slightly lower elevations than Snow Pigeon. We had a small group of the wood-pigeons mixed in with the snow Pigeons at Tharpaling Monastery.
Oh yeah, this is Tharpaling Monastery:
Tharpaling Monastery, Bhutan
So Bhutan...a Buddhist monastery with a pick-up truck.
A more lowland species is Pin-tailed Green Pigeon:
Pin-tailed Green Pigeon — Tingtibi, Bhutan
There are nearly 30 species of Green Pigeons all of which are found in the tropics and most of which are found in Asia (there’s a couple in East Africa). Pin-tailed is found from northeast India through Vietnam. In fact, not only did we see this species in Bhutan, but because the road literally runs along the Indian border, we saw it in India, too.
And when I say the road runs along the border, I mean it:
Bhutan-India Border Marker — Gelephu, Bhutan
That stone is the border marker. The thick brush on the far side of the stone is India. You can just see the edge of the road in the bottom of the picture. We could easily have gotten out of the vehicle and stood on the marker.
We didn’t see many cuckoos, since most of them had left Bhutan to winter in India, but one we saw was Common Hawk-cuckoo:
Common Hawk-cuckoo — Gelephu Sewage Works, Bhutan
Common Hawk-Cuckoo is found throughout the Indian Subcontinent – I’d seen one before in Kerela, Southern India. We saw this one at the Gelephu Sewage Treatment Plant, about ¼ mile from the Indian Border. Yep…sewage plant. Birders go to the nicest places.
And one other goodie we saw right outside Gelephu was a small group of Asian Elephants:
Asian Elephants — Gelephu, Bhutan
You can barely see them, but there are two itty-bitty calves beside the right-most adult. Our guide Aaron, who’s been to Bhutan 10 times, had never seen one in the wild before. He called it “the bird of the trip.”
One of the special birds that winter in Bhutan is the Black-necked Crane:
Black-necked Cranes — Phobjikha Valley, Bhutan
Black-necked Cranes breed in Tibet and winter in Bhutan. I’d seen a couple pairs on the breeding ground in Sichuan, but nothing like the numbers we had in Bhutan. They were just arriving in Bhutan when we landed in Paro, but by the time we arrived at the Crane Reserve in the Phobjikha Valley in central Bhutan, there were about 170 there.
One of the specialty birds of Bhutan is the Ibisbill:
Ibisbill — Punakha Chhu, Bhutan
Ibisbill the only bird in its family. It looks like a small ibis, but is in fact a shorebird. They’re found in mountain streams and rivers from Central Asia through the Himalayas to the mountains of Sichuan. I’d seen one distantly in the Tien Shan in Kazakhstan 13 years ago (and missed it in Sichuan). But they’re easy in Bhutan. In fact, less than an hour after we hit the ground in Paro, we were looking at a baker’s dozen of them along the Paro Chhu (Chhu means river). We also saw them on a couple other days of the tour.
We didn’t see that many other shorebirds, and most of what we saw were plovers. The one we saw most often was River Lapwing:
River Lapwing — Gelephu Sewage Works, Bhutan
River Lapwing is found from Western India to Vietnam. My lifer was actually about 60 km up the Mekong from Vientiane, Laos. This guy was hanging out at the Gelephu Sewage Treatment Plant. Not quite as scenic.
A key target of the tour and another Bhutanese specialty is likely one of the rarest birds I’ve ever seen, White-bellied Heron:
White-bellied Heron — Mangde Chhu, Tingtibi, Bhutan
We specifically spent a couple nights in the area of Tingtibi to maximize our chance of finding one. According to the Bhutanese Royal Society for the Protection of Nature there are less than 60 of them in the world, and half of those are in Bhutan (the rest are in India and northern Myanmar). They’re critically endangered because of habitat loss. Even though they’re protected in Bhutan, the government is building numerous hydropower dams on the two rivers where they breed and forage.
And the story of how we found the one we saw is fun. On the first morning in Tigntibi as we were driving along the road high above the Mangde Chhu, we saw two Bhutanese birders looking down at the river. We stopped, and our local guide Dorji confirmed they were looking for the heron. They exchanged cell phone numbers and we continued on. About a half mile further we got out of the bus and started to bird and Pala, the bus driver, drove a bit down the road.
Less than 5 minutes after we got off the bus, Dorji’s phone rang. Yep, you guessed it: the local birders had found the heron! Dorji immediately called Pala, who somehow turned the bus around on the tiny mountain road, and by the time the group had reassembled by the roadside, he pulled up next to us. A mad scramble back onto the bus ensued, and Pala sped back to the spot. And there it was…waaaay down below us, but there was no mistaking it. Scopes were set up, we all got great looks, and of course let the local birders have a look in the scopes. Whoohoo! And the guides could all relax.
This is basically the place we found it:
Mangde Chuu, Bhutan
While we’re in Tingtibi, let’s take a look at a mammal. This is a Black Giant Squirrel:
Black Giant Squirrel — Tingtibi, Bhutan
According to Wikipedia, “On average, an adult black giant squirrel has a head–and–body length of 34–37 cm (13–15 in.), and the tail is 41–42 cm (16–17 in.) long”. So yeah, “giant” works. They’re fairly widespread – From India to Indonesia.
And while we’re on squirrels, a very cool squirrel we saw is the Bhutan Giant Flying Squirrel:
Bhutan Giant Flying Squirrel — Yongkhola, Bhutan
It also deserves the name “giant”. Per Wikipedia, it has “a head-and-body length of about 35–69 cm (14–27 in), a tail length of 38–61.5 cm (15 in – 24 in). They’re mainly nocturnal. We saw it while looking for owls and frogmouths near Yongkhola. It’s only found in far eastern Nepal, Sikkim (India), and Bhutan.
Now back to the birds!
Most of the raptors we saw are fairly common throughout much of Asia, but I’ll share some pics of a few that are more range restricted. The first of these is Himalayan Griffon Vulture:
Eurasian Griffon Vulture — Chele La, Bhutan
The Himalayan Griffon is found in a ring that goes through Central Asia, the Himalayas, Western China, and Mongolia, basically encircling the Tibetan Plateau. We saw this one at about almost 4,000m / 13,000ft at Chele La west of Paro on the last morning of the tour. You don’t normally see them at eye-level so that was a treat.
Another raptor we saw was Pallas’ Fish-eagle:
Pallas’ Fish-eagle — Punakha Chhu, Bhutan
They breed in Mongolia and Northern China and winter in the Himalayas and Northern India. I saw my first one earlier last year in Mongolia, but these were much closer than that one. As you can correctly guess, they’re related to the Bald Eagle.
A bird we saw on several days was Himalayan Buzzard:
Himalayan Buzzard — Pele La, Bhutan
The Old World buzzards are buteos, like our Red-tailed and Rough-legged Hawks. Himalayan Buzzard is another species that found in the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau. This one was at Pele La Pass, at 3,420m / 11,220 ft.
Moving on to owls, one of the easiest we found was this Brown Boobook:
Brown Boobook — Gelephu, Bhutan
There was one calling right outside our hotel in Gelephu when we went out owling after dinner. This particular one was about 500 meters down the road from our hotel. Brown Boobook is found from India to Borneo.
We found this Tawny Fish-owl on a day roost in Lingmethang, near Yongkhola:
Tawny Fish-owl — Lingmethang, Bhutan
Our guides knew that there was a pair roosting along a certain road in Lingmethang. As we got out of the bus, Aaron said “We know they roost around here, but it may take an hour or so to find them.” At that point our other guide Steve said “Found it.” That easy.
Moving on from raptors we come to Rufous-necked Hornbill:
Rufous-necked Hornbill — Tsirang, Bhutan
Rufous necked Hornbill has the most northerly distribution of all the hornbills. It’s found from NW India into Indochina, although most sightings seem to be in Bhutan and India. This male was in a small group above Tsirang, near the Indian border.
One bird I really wanted to see was Crested Kingfisher:
Crested Kingfisher — Punakha Chhu, Bhutan
It’s fairly widespread in Asia, but it’s a bird I missed in a couple other countries. Early on the Bhutan trip we saw a couple fly-bys, but this one was hanging out early in the morning along the Punakha Chhu just below our hotel.
They don’t have quite the same size bills, but next up are the barbets, the biggest of which is this Great Barbet:
Great Barbet — Yongkhola, Bhutan
Great Barbets are found from Pakistan through southern China and Indochina. I’d seen them before in Myanmar and Fujian, China. On this trip we heard them pretty much every day in the central part of Bhutan. Seeing them is a whole other story, because they’re green and sit still in the leaves. This one was out in the open near Yongkhola.
Much smaller that the Great Barbet is Blue-throated Barbet:
Blue-throated Barbet — Tingtibi, Bhutan
It’s another bird that ranges from Pakistan to Indochina. And like all the Asian barbets, despite its bright colors, it’s usually hard to find but easy to hear. This one was above Tsirang, near where we found the hornbills.
Let’s take another mammal break, this time for monkeys! We saw three species of langurs and two species of macaques. One of the more spectacular is the Golden Langur:
Golden Langur — Tingtibi, Bhutan
Look at that tail! It’s restricted to Assam, India, and Bhutan
More well known is the Rhesus Macaque:
Rhesus Macaque — Tingtibi, Bhutan
It’s more commonly known as the Rhesus Monkey. When you read about monkeys being used for medical testing and experimentation, this is the species they use, because they share 93% of their genome with humans.
Back to birds with big bills. Here’s a couple Long-tailed Broadbills:
Long-tailed Broadbill — Tsirang, Bhutan
Long-tailed Broadbills are a tropical species found from India through Indochina to Sumatra and Borneo. These two were part of a flock of about 30 of them! They were in the foothills above the Indian border.
A Himalayan specialty is the Yellow-billed Blue Magpie:
Yellow-billed Blue-magpie — Tiger’s Nest, Bhutan
They’re found in the Himalayas from Pakistan to far eastern India. This one was at the tea house at the halfway point of the hike to the Tiger’s Nest Monastery. This is the Tiger’s Nest as seen from the tea house:
Tiger’s Nest Monastery — Bhutan
According to Bhutanese lore, Guru Rimpoche rode a flying tigress to a cave on the cliff where he meditated, taught and became enlightened. The monastery was built in 1692.
Unlike the Guru, we mortals have to hike. It’s a 1,700 ft (518m) climb in roughly 1½ miles or a little over a 20% grade. In other words, pretty damn steep – and it’s all uneven steps, not a steady slope. I made it to the tea house, but no further. When I started back down, my leg nearly gave out. So I decided to ride a horse for the downward hike. Scary. And halfway down, the horse threw me. Fortunately I landed on dirt, not rocks, so I only ended up with bruised ribs.
Next up on the bird front are the bulbuls, and this Black-crested Bulbul:
Black-crested Bulbul — Lingmethang, Bhutan
Black-crested Bulbul is found from India to Indochina. It used to be part of a much larger species, but that was split five ways in 2008. This little beauty was in the Lingmethang Valley below Yongkhola.
Also in the Lingmethang Valley was this Himalayan Bulbul:
Himalayan Bulbul — Lingmethang, Bhutan
It’s basically found in the Himalayas from Pakistan to Bhutan, but we only saw it on one day of our tour.
Now we get into the little flitty birds…the kind where you see lots of them and huge mixed flocks, but get very few decent pictures of any of them. First up is Lemon-rumped Warbler:
Lemon-rumped Warbler — Thimphu, Bhutan
This is one of the many similar-looking leaf warblers. We saw 22 different species of warblers and this is the only decent picture I got of any of them. Lemon-rumped is basically limited to the Himalayas and Mt. Victoria in Myanmar. We saw this one in a mixed flock outside of Thimphu.
Moving along from warblers, we have Pale-billed Parrotbill:
Pale-billed Parrotbill — Tingtibi, Bhutan
Parrotbills belong to the family paradoxornithidae because for the longest time they couldn’t figure out which family they belonged to, warbler or babblers. So… “paradox”. After scientists were able to analyze DNA, they decided to put them in their own family. Pale-billed Parrotbill is a bamboo specialist. We found a flock of them with some other bamboo specialists near Tingtibi.
Another bird from a family that’s moved around a bit taxonomically is this Whiskered Yuhina:
Whiskered Yuhina — Yongkhola, Bhutan
We saw 6 different species of Yuhinas. Yuhinas look like titmice, but they’re actually related to the white-eyes. They used to be in the babbler family, but were moved into the White-eyes based on DNA studies. This Whiskered Yuhina was in a mixed flock near Yongkhola.
This brings us to the babblers. It used to be that in terms of taxonomy, if you couldn’t figure out where it belonged you made it a babbler. But with the advent of DNA, the babblers were split into four families.
The first family is the “Old World Babblers”, Timalidae, which includes this White-browed Scimitar-Babbler:
White-browed Scimitar-babbler — Tingtibi, Bhutan
Scimitar-babblers are called that because of their highly curved bills. White-browed is found in the Himalayas from Pakistan to eastern India and throughout Indochina. This guy was in the mixed flock in the bamboo at Tingtibi with the Parrotbills.
Even more of a scimitar bill is on this Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-babbler:
Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-babbler — Tingtibi, Bhutan
This used to be part of a species that stretched from Pakistan to Thailand, but the Indochinese birds were split as a separate species in October of 2024, leaving the Himalayan birds as the other species. We saw a pair of these below Tingtibi.
The next family is the Jungle-babblers or the Ground-babblers. They tend to be in large flocks, but are usually hard to see because they stay near the ground hidden in bushes. First up is White-hooded Babbler:
White-hooded Babbler — Tingtibi, Bhutan
This in another bamboo specialist. There were 20 of them in a mixed flock in the bamboo near Tingtibi, although seeing them in the open is challenging. They tend to stay buried and are constantly moving.
Another little skulker is the Yellow-throated Fulvetta:
Yellow-throated Fulvetta — Yongkhola, Bhutan
We had a flock almost 40 of these near Yongkhola. This guy came out in a gap between bushes, which is why I was able to get a photo.
Moving on, the next family formerly part of the babblers is the Laughingthrushes. We actually saw 27 species in this family. Most are big noisy birds that travel in small flocks, like our jays. Unlike our jays, however, many of the laughingthrush species stay hidden deep in the brush. However, there are exceptions and some also can be coaxed out into the open for a few seconds, and those are the ones I can share pictures of.
First up is Black-faced Laughingthrush:
Black-faced Laughingthrush — Dochu La, Bhutan
They range from Nepal to Sichuan. We saw a couple of these at Dochu La between Thimphu and Punaka. This bird was coming to a trash pile behind the Visitor Center at Dochu La. Once again…birders go to the nicest places.
Not all the laughingthrushes are called a laughingthrush. For example, there’s Rufous Sibia:
Rufous Sibia — Yongkhola, Bhutan
Rufous Sibias tend to flock with many of the smaller birds and are very responsive to imitating an owl. We saw them on several days of the tour. This particular one was near Yongkhola.
Another non-laughingthrush laughingthrush is the Blue-winged Minla:
Blue-winged Minla — Yongkhola, Bhutan
They’re mostly found in Indochina, but they range through the Himalayas into Nepal. They’re fairly common - we saw them on several days. Mostly they were way up in the trees, but this one was in a mixed flock downslope from us. It was near Yongkhola. The name “minla” comes from the Nepali name for the bird. Some authorities call them Blue-winged Siva, since they were moved from the Genus minla to the genus siva, but they’re so commonly known as minlas that most people don’t accept the English name change.
In that same flock we also had Red-tailed Minla:
Red-tailed Minla — Yongkhola, Bhutan
This species ranges from Nepal though Laos into Vietnam, as well as in southern China. It’s another species that usually was up in the trees but obliged us by coming down to below eye level. Unlike the Blue-winged Minla, this one is actually in genus minla.
One that really looks like a laughingthrush, is this Red-faced Liocichla:
Red-faced Liocichla — Tsirang, Bhutan
They’re found in Bhutan and Northeast India. These birds are notorious skulkers, so we were absolutely stunned when this one came out into the open near Tsirang.
Back to laughingthrushes, like these White-crested Laughingthrushes:
White-crested Laughingthrushes — Lingmethang, Bhutan
They’re found from the Himalayas to Indochina. It’s one of the few laughingthrushes that is often seen out in the open. These guys were hanging around a farm near Lingmethang. This picture was taken out the bus window, but it turned out to be one of my favorite pictures from the trip.
Another outgoing laughingthrush is the White-throated Laughingthrush:
White-throated Laughingthrush — Nobding, Bhutan
These guys were actually feeding in the yard of a house near Nobding. They were all over the place including on the roof of the house. They range from Pakistan through to central China.
Quick mammal break, and one for OD, Smooth-coated Otter:
Smooth-coated Otter — Nganglam Chhu, Bhutan
Smooth-coated Otters are found from India through to Sumatra and Borneo. We saw this one on the Nganglam Chhu on the way to Yongkhola.
Back to birds, and moving on from babblers, we come to nuthatches. One of the more common ones we saw was White-tailed Nuthatch:
White-tailed Nuthatch — Yongkhola, Bhutan
It’s found throughout the Himalayas into Yunnan, China, and northern Vietnam. I’m not sure why they chose white-tailed as the name, because it’s hardly the most visible feature. We saw quite a few of them, tho, with this one near Yongkhola.
Another nuthatch was a major target. It’s called Beautiful Nuthatch:
Beautiful Nuthatch — Yongkhola, Bhutan
Not the greatest pic, but they were very active and pretty far. But you can kinda see why this one is named – it looks like they took a normal nuthatch and frosted it. There are two populations – one in Bhutan and NE India and the other in the northern part of Indochina.
Another bird that crawls on the branches is Sikkim Treecreeper:
Sikkim Treecreeper — Yongkhola, Bhutan
It used to be called Brown-throated Treecreeper. It’s pretty much limited to Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim, India. We saw this one near Yongkhola. Now I only need to see one more treecreeper, but unfortunately it’s one I already missed in Sichuan.
We didn’t see many thrushes (and dipped on quite a few), but one we saw was White-collared Blackbird:
White-collared Blackbird — Pele La, Bhutan
White-collared Blackbird is endemic to the Himalayas. They’re a high elevation species. We saw a few of them at Pele La at about 11,200 ft / 3,400m.
We saw quite a few species of Old World Flycatchers, many of which are pretty widespread in Asia. One that’s a little more restricted is Rufous-bellied Niltava:
Rufous-bellied Niltava — Thimphu, Bhutan
They’re found in the Himalayas from Pakistan to eastern India and into Indochina. We saw this boy outside Thimphu near the Chery Monastery:
Chery Monastery — Thimphu, Bhutan
A widespread flycatcher is Verditer Flycatcher:
Verditer Flycatcher — Tsirang, Bhutan
Verditers are found throughout tropical Asia from India to the coast of China and down to Indonesia. But I had to share this picture because I just love the color of these birds. We found this guy near Tsirang. And it made me look up “verditer”. It’s a blue-green pigment color. The name comes from the French, verd de terre, which means green of the earth.
Quick break for more mammals, this time for ungulates. First up is Himalayan Serow:
Himalayan Serow — Yongkhola, Bhutan
Serows are related to goats. The Himalayan Serow is a subspecies of Mainland Serow that’s found at mid-level elevations in the Himalayas (well, duh!). It’s also known as the Himalayan Thar.
And no trip to the Himalayas would be complete with a picture of a Yak:
Yaks — Chele La, Bhutan
Most yaks in Bhutan are domestic animals raised for meat and milk. These two were up at Chele La.
We’ll start the final bird session with accentors, including this Alpine Accentor:
Alpine Accentor — Chele La, Bhutan
As you might gather, Alpine Accentor is found at high elevation. They’re actually found from Spain through Japan. This one was at Chele La above Paro at just under 4,000m / 13,000 ft.
Another accentor we saw was Rufous-breasted Accentor:
Rufous-breasted Accentor — Pele La, Bhutan
Rufous-breasted Accentor is another high elevation bird, found from Pakistan through the Tibetan Plateau. This one was up at Pele La.
And we’ll wrap up with some finches. In that part of Asia, there are quite a few species of rosefinches at high elevation, like this Himalayan Beautiful Rosefinch:
Himalayan Beautiful Rosefinch — Pele La, Bhutan
In my Mongolia Dawn Chorus, I included the Chinese Beautiful Rosefinch. Well here’s the other half of that split. It’s another bird that ranges from the Himalayas to the Tibetan Plateau. This bird was up at Pele La.
And at Chele La, we had Himalayan White-browed Rosefinch:
Himalayan White-browed Rosefinch — Chele La, Bhutan
Himalayan White-browed Rosefinch has a fairly limited range – from Kashmir to Bhutan.
And that wraps up our little visit to the Himalayas. I hope the altitude didn’t get to you!
Himalayas — Bhutan
So what’s up in your neck of the woods?
