Cheer pheasant (Male) : Catreus wallichii

 

Cheer pheasant : Catreus wallichii

IUCN Status: Vulnerable

Spotted at Vinayak, Pangot, Uttarakhand, India.

4.4.2015

Gender: Male

As we negotiated a curve in the snaking Himalayan incline, we came upon a reasonable straight stretch of road where I spotted another birder in the distance peeking over the verge tentatively at the mountainside below. He looked up towards us - his rotund face bespectacled with ‘Gandhi’ style glasses, face flushed with excitement – and began to furiously flap his left arm up and down. Obviously, he was flagging us down and asking us to be quiet. Common signals among birders. He had a big bazooka pointing down the slope, wore well-worn binoculars and looked to me a serious sort of birder. It had to be something important. Given the successional grassland landscape on the craggy slopes of the area, I felt my own excitement rising as I tip-toes quickly towards the birder. Could it be that he had spotted Cheer pheasants? The habitat looked the type.

When I reached the point, almost on my knees by then, I tremblingly, peered over the edge of the road. As my eyes cleared the crest of the stone bordering the road, I spied – about 10 feet away from my eyes - a Cheer pheasant couple foraging on the craggy mountainside! I dared not even shift my weight. This was a rare sighting. Cheer pheasants are classified as vulnerable and are severely threatened by various factors and their numbers are dwindling. But I had to photograph them. Eventually I did. Rather nervously and clumsily I might add, given my posture and the fact that they were rather niftily foraging over a large patch in the wide acreage of their wild estate. It was a lifer.

They have red facial skin, buff-grey plumage; males have long tails with black barring and spotting with central feathers being longer. The females are smaller in size – not by much – and have shorter tails.

Their diet is rather varied - Ants, Beetles, Berries, Bulbs, Grubs, Insects, Roots, Seeds, Tubers, Worms and stuff. Interesting to note they consume tubers and such, but not surprising given their strong beak and very peacock-like sturdy legs.

They nest on the rocky crags and their eggs are vulnerable to a host of avian and rodent predators.

It is found in the western Himalayas in small population groups, patchy in distribution, and widely separated. Therefore, an uncommon spot.

I must say, they were rather well camouflaged in the grass and black rock.

Taxonomy

Kingdom : Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Galliformes

Family: Phasianidae

Genus: Catreus

Species: wallichii

They are monotypic, they are the sole species of this genus.

There was a time when they used to be classified among ‘game birds’. They still are in certain publications.

 

Photographed at Vinayak, Pangot, Uttarakhand, India on 4.4.2015.

Camera used: Nikon D5100 DSLR with Tamron 150-600mm lens.