Bird Watching

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Bhutan is a paradise for bird lovers and ornithologists. Over 670 species of birds have been recorded and many more are yet to be discovered. Around 50 species of the known birds are winter migrants. These include ducks, waders, birds of prey, thrushes, finches and buntings. 

The partial migrants to Bhutan include cuckoos, swifts, bee-eaters, warblers and flycatchers. The country harbors more than 16 species of vulnerable birds. They are the Pallas’s Fish Eagle, White bellied Heron, Satyr Tragopan, Gray-bellied Tragopan, Ward’s Trogon, Blyth’s King Fisher, Yellow-rumped Honey Guide, Rufous Throated Wren Babbler, Chestnut-breasted Partridge, Blyth’s Trogon, Wood Snipe, Dark-rumped Swift, Rufous-necked Hornbill, Gray-crowned Prinia and the Beautiful Nuthatch all of which breed in Bhutan.

Bhutan is home to many species of birds that are in danger of extinction, including the Imperial Heron, which is one of the fifty rarest birds in the world and the rare Black-Necked Crane, which breeds in Tibet and then migrates over the Himalayas to Bhutan during the winter months. The Cranes can be spotted in Phobjikha Valley in Western Bhutan, Bumthang in Central Bhutan and in Bumdeling in Eastern Bhutan. They migrate to these winter roosting sites in the months of September and October and fly back to Tibet between February and March.

The following is a comprehensive list of the endangered birds of Bhutan:

  1. Baer’s Pochard
  2. Beautiful Nuthatch
  3.  Black-necked Stork
  4. Blackish-breasted Babbler
  5. Blyth’s Kingfisher
  6. Chestnut-breasted Partridge
  7. Dark-rumped Swift
  8. Eurasian Curlew
  9. Eurasian Peregrine Falcon
  10. Ferruginous Duck
  11. Gray-crowned Prinia
  12. Great Hornbill
  13. Lesser Fish-eagle
  14. Palla’s Fish-eagle
  15. Pallid Harrier
  16. Rufous-necked Hornbill
  17. Rufous-throated Wren-babbler
  18. Satyr Tragopan
  19. Ward’s Trogon
  20. White-rumped Vulture
  21. White-throated Bushcat
  22. Woodsnipe
  23. Yellow-rumped Honeyguide
  24. Black-necked Crane
  25. Imperial Heron
  26. White-bellied Heron