hills

hills · snow

Snow Pigeons are among the strongest flying birds in the world. They battle high speed winds, low temperatures and still manage to eke out an existence near the glaciers and high peaks of the Himalaya, in very rugged conditions.

Uttarakhand·birds · wildlife

Crested Hawk-eagle sits atop a tree in the Wilderness orchard and botanical gardens in Landour. The Crested Hawk-eagle or Changeable Hawk-eagle (Nisaetus cirrhatus), is a bird of prey of the family Accipitridae.

wildlife · birds

The head, neck and breast are black with a bluish spotting on the crown. The shoulders and rump are a duller blue and the underparts are a greyish cream. The long tail is a brighter blue with a broad white tip.

birds · forest

The Striated Laughing thrush is a bird species in the Leiothrichidae family. In the proposed rearrangement of the laughingthrushes, it is placed in the monotypic genus Grammatoptila, as G. striata.

Uttarakhand·birds · hills

Grey Drongo or Kotwal with its ruby red eyes, Black-crowned Jay with its impish ways, Greenish-Yellow Leaf Warbler in incessant hunting mode on a cypress tree, the nonchalant Himalayan Whistling Thrush and the sprightly Dark-grey Bush Chat…

birds · hills

Unlike in the west and in garden cherries, the wild Himalayan cherry tree flowers in late autumn and early winter.

Uttarakhand·hills · birds

Soaring about the WildfilmsIndia Jabberkhet Estate, A Mountain hawk-eagle (Nisaetus nipalensis) and the Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis).

Uttarakhand·hills

Juvenile Himalayan Vultures (Gyps himalayensis) that are now 8 months old. This is the last time both of them were in the nest.

hills · snow

A flock of snow pigeons (Columba leuconata) forage in the dry, rocky slope. Their diet includes berries, buds, grains, seeds.

hills · wildlife

A rather small passerine bird, a male Grey Bushchat (Saxicola ferreus) roosts on a dry branch of a conifer. These birds inhabit the higher altitudes of the Himalayan mountain range.

hills · forest

A Himalayan Pied Woodpecker (Dendrocopos himalayensis) pecks on the bark of a deodar tree trunk looking for food. It is a widely distributed species in northern India at the higher altitudes.

Uttarakhand·birds · hills

A Himalayan White-cheeked Bulbul looks like its fuming on top of this small branch in Uttarkashi. In this close shot of the bird, you can see the prominent white face and the yellow vent beneath its tail.

birds · hills

The Himalayan Barbet (Megalaima virens) is a bird native to areas of higher altitudes in northern India. It is distinctly recognizable from its call and the blue head with a yellow beak.

hills

A Rufous Sibia or Black-capped Sibia (Heterophasia capistrata) pecks on a ripe wild Pear fruit in Uttarakhand.

birds · hills

A Himalayan Bulbul (Pycnonotus leucogenys) also known as the White-cheeked Bulbul perches on the barren branch of a Wild Pear tree, locally known as 'Kaitha'.

Uttarakhand·hills · birds

A young Himalayan Woodpecker (Dendrocopos himalayensis) is spotted calling furiously from a tree stump in Uttarkashi. These birds are found in the higher altitudes of the Himalayan ranges in Northern India.

wildlife · birds

A close-up view of a White-capped Redstart perched on the arm of a bench. The Redstart flaunts its colourful plumage and the distinct white patch on its head.

Uttarakhand·hills · wildlife

A Red-billed Blue Magpie (Urocissa erythroryncha) sits at its nest to incubate its eggs near Nainital in Uttarakhand.

Uttarakhand·birds · forest

The Himalayan Pied Woodpecker nonses around on a wild pear tree, eating into the fruit of the pear with its sharp beak.

birds · hills

The Red-billd Blue Magpie is one of the more elegant birds to be seen in a Himalayan hill station or in light middle altitude forests, even though it is a corvid or a crow family member (no, nothing to do with covid).

Uttarakhand·hills

This Red-headed Tit has made a nest in the roots and lower stems of a Rubus or Himalayan raspberry shrub. The parents come in with insect food and feed the three open gapes every few minutes.

hills

They are, after all, crow family members, so this Red-billed Blue Magpie will happily consume dead frogs or birds, ie, carrion. Here it is earing into a dead rat, and eating it from the head downwards.

hills

What a fabulous rare view of the secretive and shy Koklass Pheasant of the middle Himalaya! The female is a drab brown while the male has a fabulous crest and is a tad more colourful.