Birds of Bhutan
The bird habitats of Bhutan can be roughly divided into forest, scrub, wetlands, alpine habitats,agricultural land & around human habitation.
Unlike other Himalayan countries, Bhutan still retains much of its forest intact. The country's forests are rich , diverse & beautiful, forming some of the best remaining representatives of forest habitats in the Himalayas.
Forests & bushes support the high proportion of 84% of the country's breeding birds. In addition 57% of Bhutan's globally threatened birds & 90% of country's restricted -range birds are dependent on forests.
Subtropical & warm broadleaved forests :
Subtropical forest grow along the foot hills up to 1,000m ( -1200m) . globally threatened Rufous-necked Horn bill is vertually confined to these forests & requires mature fruting trees. It is common in Bhutan but rare & declining elsewhere in the range. Endangered species- Beautiful Nuthatch is rare & poorly known has been found only in Bhutan in warm broad leaved forest. These forests are also important for the enigmatic Chestnut-breasted Partridge which is both internationally threatened & restricted in distribution.
Species with restricted ranges, Yellow-vented Warbler, White-naped Yuhina are almost cinfirned to subtropical & warm broadleaved forests.These are also main habitat of Broad-billed Warbler & Rufous- throated Wren Babbler.
Cool broadleavedforestsgrow on moist exposed slope up to 2,900above the broadleaved forests. They are second only to the subtropical & warm broadleaved forests in their bird species richness.
Globally threatened Chestnut breasted Partridge, Blyth's Tragopan have been found here, the latter in the far east. Wood Snipe, an altitudenal migrant probably winter in cool broadleaved forests.
Two globally threatened wetland species occur regularly in Bhutan - The rare White-bellied
Heron breeds & frequents only in those rivers & lakes in dense broadleaved forests below 1400m and Pallas's Fish Eagle which has bred inhabits larger rivers below 1400m.
Typical species breeding along rivers & streams are king fishers, forktails, dipper, wagtails, blue Whistling Thrush & White -capped Water Redstart.
Phobjikha valley in central Bhutan is important wintering ground for Black-necked Cranes, Black-tailed Crake & Ruddy-breasted Crake found in witlands in spring & summer.
Bhutan has a diverse avifauna. 616 species have been recorded so far & many are likely to be found.Around 464 species are resident although some of these are augmented by winter visitors breeding further north. Some residents are sedentary throughout the year, while others undertake irrigular movements, either locally or more widely in the region, depending on food supply.
About 40 species are summer visitors or partial migrants to Bhutan &that include species of cuckoos,swifts, bee-eaters, warblers, flycatchers & drongos. The migration routes of a number of these summer migrants are unknown. Many species winter further south in the subcontinent including Common Hoopoe, Barn Swallow, Ashy Drongo. Other species such as the White-throated Needletail & Asian Emerald Cuckoo, move southeast, perhaps as far as Nalaysia & Indonesia, although Bhutanese birds may not travel so far.The Lesser Cuckoo winters in Africa.
Around 50species are known to winter in Bhutan.These include ducks, waders, birds of prey, thrushes, finches & buntings.
14species recorded in Bhutan have been identified as globally threatened by BirdLife International. These include White -bellied Heron, Pallas's Fish Eagle, Chestnut-breasted Partridge, Blyth's Tragopan, Wood Snipe, Dark-rumped Swift, Rufous-necked Hornbill, Grey-crowned Prinia and Beautiful Nuthatch, all of which probably breed in Bhutan. The country is an important wintering ground f
