Alpine accentor: Prunella collaris ssp. whymperi

 

Alpine accentor: Prunella collaris ssp. whymperi

Alpine accentor: Prunella collaris ssp. whymperi
Finding foothold on the Himalaya slope

Alpine accentor: Prunella collaris ssp. whymperi
 

 

Name: Alpine accentor: Prunella collaris ssp. Whymperi

Spotted at 3600m ASL approx 100m below Tungnath temple, Distt. Rudraprayag, Uttaranchal, India.

Rasping breath...when the next step was not forthcoming, the head turned involuntarily towards Kedarnath across the valley and my thoughts turned to Lord Shiva, at that very moment a silvery arc passed before my eyes and dropped to the snow. It was a flock of accentors, the sun glinting on their feathers. One of them came rather close and started foraging in a grassy/mossy knoll between piles of snow. I saw the rufous colour and I thought – it’s Altai again. Then I saw the yellow patch at the base of a black beak and a white neck patch – it was an Alpine accentor! Within a month, my score for the Prunella species rose to two from zero.

Taxonomy

Kingdom:     Animalia

Phylum:      Chordata

Class:       Aves

Order:       Passeriformes 

Family:      Prunellidae

Genus:       Prunella

Species:     collaris

Subspecies:  whymperi

Photographed at altitude of 3600m ASL approx 100m below Tungnath temple, Distt.Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand, India on 1.5.2015.

Camera used: Nikon D7200 DSLR with Tamron 150-600mm lens.