Jungle Bush Quail

Scientific Name: Perdicula asiatica

Place: Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India

Okay now, you can surely ask why am I repeatedly posting Galliformes in this blog. The answer would be - it is tough to photograph or spot them in the wild; that's why. These medium sized Galliformes are common throughout peninsular India. This bird specie is mostly active during dawn and dusk, when they come in open; otherwise a very shy avian beauty which try to avoid thereby foraging beneath bush thickets in daylight.

Jungle Bush Quail (Perdicula asiatica) | Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India
© Dibyendu Ash @ 2015 (CC BY-NC-SA)

Though they are not listed as a threatened specie as per IUCN; still rapid urbanisation and call for upliftment of concrete is a serious threat for them due to habitat loss.

During our short reconciliation tour to Pench (MP) Tiger Reserve in the month of June '15; we started from Kolkata by train and reach Nagpur by late afternoon. The journey towards the resort was fun for us, since we spotted some wildlife on our way to resort.

On 29th June '15, during our morning safari when we were returning from Touria; on our way, just beside the gypsy track some birds were getting inside the bush thickets. Curiosity drove us towards that bush, by that time the flock of 6-7 birds moved up on to a boulder and perched at eye level.

Beside the boulder, when one by one came into the opening, we got them. Everybody from the gypsy got decent photographs of the bird. Photographed one is a male of the specie.

Points to be noted:

• Amongst galliformes, Junglefowls and Quails were domesticated since the dawn of civilization.
• Unlike other avifauna, Junglefowls and Quails have feral and semi-feral status in India.
• Though population is declining, but since the species covers extremely large of distribution, it is species status has been evaluated as Least Concern (See this link from Birdlife International).

Red Junglefowl

Scientific Name: Gallus gallus
Place: Sundarbans Tiger Reserve, West Bengal, India

Red Junglefowl, Probably the most common amongst all Galliformes from the family of Pheasantidae. These colorful looking avian specie are found mostly in all type of habitat in India, except arid & semi-arid landscape of western India and from south India. In south India the specie is replaced by Grey Junglefowl (Gallus sonneratii).

Previously in five days, I have posted just five different specie level article and wrote about sightings of each and every species from different wildlife sanctuaries, biosphere reserves, national parks and tiger reserves from India. Till date, in just these five days, I have been seeing the influx of birders and bird enthusiasts looking into this blog write up and they are following these articles thoroughly. I really appreciate their involvement from my heart, as they are going through each post on a regular basis. Cheers to all readers and viewers!

Now let us talk about Red Junglefowl.

On 30th December '14, during a leisure trip to Sundarbans Tiger Reserve, we were trying to mature our luck for tiger sightings. Prior to that I was there at Sundarbans five times; but the Nut didn't crack. Though common at Sundarbans, all of us were eager to see something unusual. In the mudflat everything, meant all the wildlife that we see other tiger reserves or national parks of India, looks different here at the mangroves.

Nature lovers or bird photographers those who spent their time for birding can find it beautiful against blurred background with soft-moderate light; but, here at Sundarbans what we experienced was something totally unique. A Red Junglefowl picking and dropping food items from the muddy banks of largest mangrove. After taking few snaps, I locked my eyes with my Vanguard 8 X 42mm binocular to enjoy its gait in this unusual terrain.

Here is what we saw, see the image below:

Red Junglefowl ♂ (Gallus gallus) | Sundarban, West Bengal, India
© Dibyendu Ash @ 2014

It is not only the male birds who look beautiful in this mangroves, females of this specie are beautiful too. In countless number of occasions during our birding and bird watching trips to Sundarbans we spot them at different places and islands. See the photograph of female (♀) from Sudhanyakhali watch tower of Sundarbans.

Red Junglefowl ♀ (Gallus gallus) | Sundarban, West Bengal, India

© Dibyendu Ash @ 2015

Mostly Galliformes forage on ground and their food niche is mostly ground insects and beetles. Thus it is hard to spot a Junglefowl on tree branches. Moreover, their flying gait is restricted to a certain level, it would be unusual if one can spot a Galliforme on tree branch.

I told you previously that Sundarbans is full of surprises, what you can expect elsewhere you can experience it in Sundarbans. See the below posted image which shows, Galliformes can roost on tree branches too, if it is needed as a part of their habitat niche occupancy. Tide is a major factor in Sundarbans which decides how the wildlife would live their lives here. At peak during monsoon, the differences between high tide and low tide become more pronounced. These rise and fall of water level controls habit and habitat of wild dwellers. That is due to tidal rise, these to pair of Junglefowls are perched on tree branch.

Hope you loved it! Stay tuned nature lover!

Satyr Tragopan

Scientific Name: Tragopan satyra
Place: Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary, East Sikkim, Sikkim

“Mournful call of an elusive bird - Satyr Tragopan”

As promised in previous blog (writing of Hill Partridge), here is what I present to you readers.

Previous night (27th May 2015), I had a conversation with tour participant Manu regarding - the sighting of Satyr Tragopan, the mournful baby-cry call of it and how gorgeous looking the bird really is - over a pint of Honey-Bee.

On second day of May 2015 (i.e. 28th May) birding trip in Pangolakha WLS, when our search was on for beautiful Monals; suddenly we heard the call of satyr and searched for it alongside the slopes of zig-zag road. It was perched downhill on a parapet(on a abandoned landslide road) around 40 yards away from where tour participants stood. All the participants got some decent images of this rare beauty.

Hope you are enjoying reading this blog, but if you think you are wasting your valuable time going through for no good reason, close this tab.


In general bird nomenclature consist of after some ornithologists or the place it is/was found abundantly or the coloration of body parts; but the nomenclature of "Satyr Tragopan" has been derived from Greco-roman mythology - A drunken, lustful God who stays in deep woodland.

Hill Partridge

Scientific Name: Arborophila torqueola
Place: Near Ramakrishna Mission Ashram, Pangot, Uttarakhand, India

'One of the most elusive bird to see in wild!' - This is how the bird could be explained in one sentence. Mainly an altitudinal migrant like other Galliformes of Himalayas, which prefer to roost at lower altitudes ~ 5,000 to 7,000 ft in western Himalayas during winter months and ~8,000 to 10,000 ft during summer and falls.

Unlike other birds, it is not expected to be seen, but one can hear the call of Hill Partridge from miles away. At the same time I must say - 'when a birder is out for birding, he should not keep this specie in his expected bird list, unless it is God's gift.' I still remember my maiden day for sighting of the specie, in broad daylight, along with six more birding tour participants, for 2 seconds. Somehow I managed to get a record image of the birdie amongst all of them, though the windscreen of the vehicle. That is why the outcome is poor!

As usual birdlife was very rich during our October 2014 trip to Ghatgarh, Sattal and Pangot area. It was 3rd birding day, and all of us set out for Pangot in search of Cheer Pheasant. We were doing on the way birding, by taking pit stops at places, wherever flocks of birds were sighted. This is how, we were going uphill all the way from Ghatgarh(1,020 mtr) to Pangot(2,200 mtr). All on the sudden, as we were passing through a temperate broadleaf section of montane forest by car; a bird of Galliforme type appeared 50 odd feet away from us on road. It stood on road for 2 seconds and jumped into the ditch following a stream of water and vanished beneath the thickly foliaged bush. - This was the making of the this image! I hope someday some other birding group would see it too and achieve something which would definitely be a memory to cherish for them.

Hill Partridge (Arborophila torqueola) | Pangot, Nainital, Uttarakhand, India
© Dibyendu Ash @ 2014

Later that day, after reaching to Cheer Point, we searched for Cheer Pheasant but couldn't spot any of them. Like I said previously, what is expected to be seen may not be seen during birding; but the thing that is least expected can be spotted by God's grace. All the birders was overwhelmed to see this rare beauty in wild (for 2 guys it was a maiden birding trip, what a start for them!).

Since the day I was into birding or conducting birding trips, two birds that is needless to be mentioned, whose calls can be heard from kilometers away, are - Hill Partridge and Satyr Tragopan. In Sikkim Himalayas also I hear both of them, when I am out for Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary or Fambong Lho Wildlife Sanctuary; but one need to have persistent luck for that.

Would post a blog write up about sighting of Satyr Tragopan too in near future. Stay tuned guys!!