Pheasants of Ranikhet

Pheasants are a group of birds within the family of Phasianidae, under the order Galliformes, basically large-bodied birds which are predominantly ground feeders.

Most fowl species like the Common fowls (Chickens), Jungle fowls, Peafowls ( Peacocks ), Turkeys among many others are part of this order. These birds are quite important to the eco-system as seed dispersers and predators. Many of these birds are reared by us humans, for their meat and eggs.

As greedy and feral as we humans are, we aren’t happy with just rearing these birds. Many of these beautiful birds were hunted as game birds. Widespread hunting, habitat destruction due to tree felling or wildfires among many others were the reasons for a steep decline in their numbers and also why these Pheasants became extremely shy of human beings.

An interesting tid-bit :

A pheasant’s call or cry can be recognised by the fact it sounds like a rusty sink or valve being turned.

Wikipedia

The degree of shyness does vary among species, with a few being relatively bolder while others just disappear into the thickets at the first sense of a human around.

During my recent trip to Uttarakhand, pheasants were high on my list to sight and photograph. Three of them mainly, the Kalij pheasant, the Koklass pheasant and the Cheer pheasant.

Among these, Kalij is quite common, widespread and also relatively bolder. The Koklass and the Cheer on the other hand are a different ball game altogether. The Koklass and the Cheer have a very restricted distribution and also are quite shy birds.

On an earlier visit to Uttarakhand, had done birding around Pangot and the only Koklass individual that I got to see was the one which was quite far away, deep inside the forest and the Cheer, I didn’t get to see one. So, wasn’t quite sure as to what was in store this time around.

We began our birding adventure from Bhimtal. Very quickly, we were able to sight and get some good images of the Kalij pheasant.

Kalij pheasant, most times referred to as just Kalij, is a bird found in the forests of the Himalayan foothills.
They are widely distributed from Nepal all the way to western Thailand. The males mostly have a bluish-black plumage with the females being brownish.
Wikipedia

There are 9 recognized subspecies of Kalij and the one that I mention here, is the White-crested kalij (Lophura leucomelanos hamiltoni)

As I indicated earlier, Kalij pheasants are relative bolder and widespread. Thus, one species got ticked off quite early in the trip.

After a couple of days of birding in Bhimtal and the sorrounding areas, we packed our bags and headed to Ranikhet. The target species were the Koklass and the Cheer. Depending on how the sightings and the photography opportunities were and in case we needed more time, we had also planned for a night’s stay at Ranikhet.

Ranikhet is a beautiful, little hill station at an elevation of around 2000m above sea level. The place is well known for its natural beauty, apple orchards and the Jhula Devi temple. Ranikhet is also where you get a beautiful view of the western peaks of the Himalayas. Our first view at the magnificent snow capped peaks during this trip.

Ranikhet, we were there now. The targets were the Koklass and the Cheer pheasants. It was now all about sighting them and photographing them, easy-peasy. Yeah right!, that is easier said than done! 😃

First, some details about the Koklass pheasant :

Koklass pheasant is a species that are distantly related to pheasants and are most closely related to grouse and turkeys.
These medium-sized, elusive birds are confined to the high altitude forests
Wikipedia

With the Koklass too, there are 9 recognized subspecies and the one that I mention here, is the Indian Koklass pheasant (Pucrasia macrolopha)

Though they skulk under bushes, which makes direct sighting difficult, they give loud chorus/predawn calls during the breeding season and during autumn, revealing their presence
Wikipedia

We stopped at a couple of locations to try and see if any movements or calls of the Koklass were around. No luck. We drove further up and stopped again.

This time, only our guide, Sandeep, got out, saying that he will call out if he finds any movement. It was cold outside and we were more than happy to accede to his suggestion 😃

After a few minutes of waiting, our guide called out. We quickly jumped out of the warmth of our vehicle and stepped down into the slopes of the pine forest. I felt the cold immediately. It seemed as though it was a 5 degree colder under the canopy, damn! Fingers were stiff and I could hardly move the dial on my camera to turn it on!

That is when I saw the beautiful Koklass male climbing up from the valley below and into sight.

Once I saw the beautiful bird, it was all a rush. The pain in my fingers notwithstanding, I got things under control and started photographing. This individual seemed quite bold.

Though it maintained its distance from us, it kept moving around and gave us good image making opportunities.

After giving us a few minutes of his time ( more than what we could have hoped for ), the Koklass male slowly walked back down into the valley and disappeared. We all were elated and climbed up onto the roadside to hop back into our vehicle.

That was species number two, ticked off. What was left was the Cheer pheasant, which though, gave us a tough time.

Some information about the Cheer pheasant, first:

The Cheer pheasant (Catreus wallichii), also known as Wallich’s pheasant or chir pheasant, is a vulnerable species of the pheasant family.

Cheer pheasants are distributed in the highlands and scrublands of the Himalaya region of India, Nepal and Pakistan. Males are monogamous.
They breed on steep cliffs during summer. Cheer pheasants are found to be highly sensitive to human disturbance.
Wikipedia

We kept driving around the winding roads with our guide, all the while, looking around for any movements or calls. Absolutely nothing. The sun had begun to break through bringing with it a couple of challenges.

Higher in the hills, the light from the sun turns very bright, very soon, rendering photography difficult due to the haze and the harsh shadows. Also, the pheasants which are mostly active during the early hours of the dawn and at dusk would disappear into the bushes and not move, thus reducing our chances of seeing one to near zero.

After driving around for a while, we stopped at an incline on the road surrounded by thick pine forests on either side. The forest slopes just took off from the roadside at a steep incline.

As before, our guide asked us to wait in the car as he went and explored. We obliged.

After a while, he came back and asked us to come right away. He wasn’t able to call out to us like he did before with the Koklass since he had to go quite a distance down the slope.

We got out of the vehicle and asked him in an excitement filled eager tone if he had spotted a Cheer. He said he had, it was quite a distance away and that we had to hurry. The news we were wishing to hear for a long time now!

We started into the beautiful foresty slope.

With all our gear in tow…

It was quite a long trek down. While climbing down, the imminent sighting of a Cheer pheasant kept us excited. At the same time, we were thinking about the fact that we would have to cover this entire distance while getting back. So many things to worry about right 😃

Finally, we reached the spot where our guide had seen the Cheer pheasant. We settled ourselves down and waited. After a minute or so, which felt like forever, a majestic Cheer pheasant male came into our view. He climbed onto the rocks at the edge of the slope.

Shortly, to our sheer excitement, a female Cheer pheasant came into view and she joined the male.

They started calling together…

The beautiful Cheer pheasant couple (male on the right, female on the left) came out in great morning light to grant us a highly memorable sighting along with great image making opportunities.

After that brilliant session, we trekked back up with our minds and our cards full of wonderful memories. It was now time to get our stomachs full too, with some lip smacking breakfast 😃

These pheasants are such beautiful avian friends. Really hope that their numbers grow and that they thrive in these amazing Himalayan forests for a long time to come.

Hope you enjoyed the post. Adios until next time.