


Top 20 Most Common Bird in Dhawalagiri
Nestled amidst the Himalayas, Dhawalagiri is a treasure trove of diverse and mystical avian life. In Dhawalagiri's supreme altitudes thrive the 20 most seen birds, displaying an array of splendid colors, fascinating behaviors, and unique adaptations to survive harsh conditions. Each of these birds possesses distinct traits, from melodious birdsongs to remarkable migratory habits, embodying Dhawalagiri's rich biodiversity.

Most Common Bird

1. Eurasian Tree Sparrow
The eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) is a widespread sparrow of the European mainland that has been introduced to some parts of North America. Eurasian Tree Sparrow is very similar to the House sparrow (Passer domesticus) but it's smaller and neater. It prefers more natural habitats, at the edges of human activity, and inhabits farmlands, parklands, and open woods.

2. Oriental Turtle-dove
The oriental Turtle-dove is a migratory bird whose appearance can vary between subspecies. Individuals from higher latitudes migrate south over the winter months while those at lower latitudes do not migrate. The oriental Turtle-dove can be found in a large range of habitats, but usually prefers dense tree coverage. These birds mainly forage for seeds on the ground.

3. Common Tailorbird
The common Tailorbird is famous for its nests, which are leaves that have been sewn together. Also known as Orthotomus sutorius, it is found across tropical regions in Asia and can be identified by its long, erect tail. The male and female take care of the chicks, and there have been recorded cases of a pair adopting chicks from another couple.

4. Barn Swallow
A familiar sight in rural and semi-open areas, the small barn Swallow can often be spotted by its distinctly graceful flight as it travels low over fields. Seemingly unbothered by having human neighbors, they nest unafraid in barns, garages, beneath bridges or wharves. Interestingly enough, they have come to prefer these locations so much that you are unlikely to spot a nest in a place that is not a human-made structure.

5. Himalayan Vulture
This is a huge vulture, and is perhaps the largest and heaviest bird found in the Himalayas. It is the largest of the species in the Gyps genus, seemingly averaging larger in every method of measurement than its relatives. Adults have a ruff that is long and pale brown with white streaks. The ruff feathers are long and spiky. The head is covered in down which is yellowish in adults but whitish in immature vultures. The underside and under-wing coverts are quite pale brown or buff, being almost white in some specimens. The legs are covered with buffy feathers and the feet can vary from greenish grey to white. The upperside is unstreaked, pale buff with the tail quills, outer greater coverts and wing quills being a contrasting dark brown. The inner-secondaries have paler tips. The pale blue facial skin is lighter than the dark blue in Gyps fulvus with this species having a yellowish bill. In flight the long fingers are splayed and there is a pale patagial stripe on the underwing. The wing and tail feathers are dark and contrast with the pale coverts and body, one of the best methods to distinguish this species from the slightly smaller griffon vulture. The feathers on the body have pale shaft streaks. They are distinguished from the Indian vulture (G. indicus), which can somewhat similar in color by being much larger with a stouter, more robust bill. Younger birds have a pale parts to the bill and tend to have buffy-white streaks on the scapulars and wing coverts contrasting with dark brown underparts. They are similar in size to the cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus), which has a slightly shorter overall length but in large specimens can weigh more than the Himalayan vulture. Weight in Himalayan vultures can range from reportedly as little as 6 kg (13 lb) to as much as 12.5 kg (28 lb). A field study estimated an average of 9 kg (20 lb) for the Himalayan vulture, but weights can vary with conditions from 8–12 kg (18–26 lb). The wingspan of birds varies greatly depending on the method used to measure them and published measurements vary from 2.56 to 3.1 m (8.4 to 10.2 ft), a similar wingspan range as a cinereous vulture.


6. Black Kite
Black Kite is a bird of prey known for its aerial skills and hunting ability. Its striking appearance makes it a fascinating species to observe, and it can often be seen soaring through the skies. Black Kite is highly adaptable and can be found in a variety of habitats, making it a common sight in many areas.


7. Coppersmith Barbet
The coppersmith barbet is green with a red head, yellow cheeks and a yellow throat. Its underparts are streaked in grey and black. During the nesting season, the wear and tear on the feathers can cause the plumage of the upper back to appear bluish. It is 15–17 cm (5.9–6.7 in) long and weighs 30–52.6 g (1.06–1.86 oz).


8. Hume's Leaf Warbler
Hume's leaf warbler is one of the smallest "Old World warblers". Like most other leaf warblers, it has greenish upperparts and off-white underparts. With its long supercilium, crown stripe and yellow-margined tertial remiges, it is very similar to the yellow-browed warbler (P. inornatus). However, it has only one prominent light wing bar, just a faint vestige of the second shorter wing bar, and overall duller colours. It also has a dark lower mandible and legs. Its song is buzzing and high pitched. The best distinction from the yellow-browed warbler is the more disyllabic call. While the eastern and western Hume's leaf warblers already show noticeable differences in mtDNA sequence and calls, their songs do not differ; they are reproductively isolated only by allopatry and not usually considered separate species.


9. Red-headed Vulture
It is a medium-sized vulture of 76 to 86 cm (30 to 34 in) in length, weighing 3.5–6.3 kg (7.7–13.9 lb) and having a wingspan of about 1.99–2.6 m (6.5–8.5 ft). It has a prominent naked head: deep-red to orange in the adult, paler red in the juvenile. It has a black body with pale grey band at the base of the flight feathers. The sexes differ in colour of the iris: males have a paler, whitish iris, whilst in females it is dark brown.


10. Spotted Dove
The spotted Dove is a medium-sized bird that is swift in flight. It prefers to live year-round in warm climates in suburban areas, especially in parks. Their nests are mostly made out of sticks and they like to dine on insects and seeds.

11. Oriental Magpie-robin
This species is 19 centimetres (7.5 in) long, including the long tail, which is usually held cocked upright when hopping on the ground. When they are singing a song the tail is normal like other birds. It is similar in shape to the smaller European robin, but is longer-tailed. The male has black upperparts, head and throat apart from a white shoulder patch. The underparts and the sides of the long tail are white. Females are greyish black above and greyish white. Young birds have scaly brown upperparts and head. It is the national bird of Bangladesh. The nominate race is found on the Indian subcontinent and the females of this race are the palest. The females of the Andaman Islands race andamanensis are darker, heavier-billed and shorter-tailed. The Sri Lankan race ceylonensis (formerly included with the peninsular Indian populations south of the Kaveri River) and southern nominate individuals have the females nearly identical to the males in shade. The eastern populations (Bhutan and Bangladesh) have more black on the tail and were formerly named erimelas. The populations in Burma and further south are named as the race musicus. A number of other races have been named across the range, including prosthopellus (Hong Kong), nesiotes, zacnecus, nesiarchus, masculus, pagiensis, javensis, problematicus, amoenus, adamsi, pluto, deuteronymus and mindanensis. However, many of these are not well-marked and the status of some of them is disputed. Some, like mindanensis, have now been usually recognized as full species (the Philippine magpie-robin). There is more geographic variation in the plumage of females than in that of the males. It is mostly seen close to the ground, hopping along branches or foraging in leaf-litter on the ground with a cocked tail. Males sing loudly from the top of trees or other high perches during the breeding season.


12. Red-vented Bulbul
The red-vented Bulbul is considered a pest by gardeners as it eats fruits and vegetables and spreads seeds to non-native regions. Because of this, these bird is considered an invasive species in some countries. The red-vented Bulbul is loud and can become aggressive to other birds and even humans in their forest, shrubland, and urban habitats.

13. Cattle Egret
Cattle Egrets are short, thick-necked egrets. Their name refers to their preference to follow along with livestock as they forage in fields. Cattle Egrets were native only to Africa until the late 1800s when they somehow made their way throughout the Americas. They can often be found along airport runways waiting for planes to take off and blow insects out of the grass and weeds. They also follow behind farm equipment and do the same thing.

14. Verditer Flycatcher
The verditer flycatcher (Eumyias thalassinus) is an Old World flycatcher It is found from the Himalayas through Southeast Asia to Sumatra. This species is named after its distinctive shade of copper-sulphate blue and has a dark patch between the eyes and above the bill base. The adult males are intense blue on all areas of the body, except for the black eye-patch and grey vent. Adult females and sub-adults are lighter blue. The verditer flycatcher is also interesting among the flycatchers in that they forage above the canopy level and perching on electric wires or exposed tree top branches. This species was earlier placed in the genus Muscicapa and it has been suggested that it is closer to the Niltava flycatchers.


15. Himalayan Black-lored Tit
The Himalayan black-lored tit (Machlolophus xanthogenys), also known as simply black-lored tit, is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. The yellow-cheeked tit is probably its closest relative, and it may also be related to the yellow tit. These three tits almost certainly form a distinct lineage, as indicated by morphology, and mtDNA cytochrome b sequence analysis (Gill et al., 2005). Lore in the bird's common name refers to the area between eye and bill. This species is a resident breeder along the Himalayas in the Indian Subcontinent. It is an active and agile feeder, taking insects and spiders from the forest canopy, and sometimes fruit. It uses woodpecker or barbet holes for nesting, and will also excavate its own hole or use man-made sites. The Himalayan black-lored tit was formerly one of the many species in the genus Parus but was moved to Machlolophus after a molecular phylogenetic analysis published in 2013 showed that the members of the new genus formed a distinct clade.


16. Long-tailed Shrike
The long-tailed shrike is a typical shrike, favouring dry open habitats and found perched prominently atop a bush or on a wire. The dark mask through the eye is broad and covers the forehead in most subspecies and the whole head is black in subspecies tricolor and nasutus. The tail is narrow and graduated with pale rufous on the outer feathers. Subspecies erythronotus has the grey of the mantle and upper back suffused with rufous while the southern Indian caniceps has pure grey. A small amount of white is present at the base of the primaries. The bay-backed shrike is smaller and more contrastingly patterned and has a more prominent white patch on the wing. The sexes are alike in plumage.


17. House Crow
The house Crow is an intelligent bird that is near becoming a declared invasive species. The house Crow is very common in developed areas and can have a bold, aggressive personality. These birds have been known to damage and steal crops, affect local flora and fauna, create excessive noise, and carry diseases and parasites.

18. Great Barbet
The great barbet has a blue head, large yellow bill, brown and green-streaked body, belly and a red vent. The plumage is green. It is the largest barbet species with a body length of 32–35 cm (13–14 in) and a weight of 192–295 g (6.8–10.4 oz).


19. Grey-hooded Warbler
The grey-hooded warbler (Phylloscopus xanthoschistos) is a species of leaf warbler (family Phylloscopidae). It is most famous for the way it warbles. It was formerly included in the "Old World warbler" assemblage. It is found in the Himalayas. Its natural habitat is temperate forests.


20. Black Drongo
This bird is glossy black with a wide fork to the tail. Adults usually have a small white spot at the base of the gape. The iris is dark brown (not crimson as in the similar ashy drongo). The sexes cannot be told apart in the field. Juveniles are brownish and may have some white barring or speckling towards the belly and vent, and can be mistaken for the white-bellied drongo. First-year birds have white tips to the feathers of the belly, while second-years have these white-tipped feathers restricted to the vent. They are aggressive and fearless birds, and although only 28 cm (11 in) in length, they will attack much larger species that enter their nesting territory, including crows and birds of prey. This behaviour led to their former name of king crow. They fly with strong flaps of the wing and are capable of fast manoeuvres that enable them to capture flying insects. With short legs, they sit upright on thorny bushes, bare perches or electricity wires. They may also perch on grazing animals. They are capable of producing a wide range of calls but a common call is a two note tee-hee call resembling that of the shikra (Accipiter badius).
