Koklass pheasant (Pucrasia macrolopha)

Koklass pheasant (Pucrasia macrolopha)

Encountering this koklass pheasant (Pucrasia macrolopha) peacefully feeding off the juicy spring shoots and buttercup flowers was a wonderful experience. Not a…


Koklass pheasant (Pucrasia macrolopha)

Koklass pheasant (Pucrasia macrolopha)

A koklass pheasant (Pucrasia macrolopha) leisurly crossing the road. The many species of pheasant found in the Himalayas is incredible, and seeing them up…


Himalayan monal (Lophophorus impejanus)

Himalayan monal (Lophophorus impejanus)

Himalayan monal (Lophophorus impejanus) is the state bird of Uttarakhand, and and incredibly beautiful bird. In Chopta and by most temples this is a commonly…


Red junglefowl (Gallus gallus)

Red junglefowl (Gallus gallus)

This is a common species, but nonetheless a beautiful one, especially when you can see it in the open like here, where it was foraging in the leaf litter and…


Kalij pheasant (Lophura leucomelanos)

Kalij pheasant (Lophura leucomelanos)

On my way down from an amazing sunrise near the Dochula Pass I encountered this gorgeous male kalij pheasant (Lophura leucomelanos) strolling leisurely with…


Himalayan monal (Lophophorus impejanus)

Himalayan monal (Lophophorus impejanus)

Although the Himalayan monal (Lophophorus impejanus) not a threatened species that does not mean it is either common to see, despite its amazing iridescent…


Blood pheasant (Ithaginis cruentus)

Blood pheasant (Ithaginis cruentus)

After a beautiful sunrise as we were ascending towards the pass we encountered the first of several blood pheasants here. I find both male and females really…


Thoasa Sister (Adelpha thoasa)

Thoasa Sister (Adelpha thoasa)

Another species in the Adelpha genus! Some are very hard to identify as the patterns look very similar, but this thoasa sister (Adelpha thoasa) is of the easy…


Orsilochus Daggerwing (Marpesia orsilochus)

Orsilochus Daggerwing (Marpesia orsilochus)

This orsilochus daggerwing (Marpesia orsilochus) was seemingly quite territorial, as I found it either on the ground or on the vegetation in the same area…


Mesentina Sister (Adelpha mesentina)

Mesentina Sister (Adelpha mesentina)

The diversity of butterflies here is staggering, and only when I got home did I see that what I briefly in the field thought of as the same species of Adelpha…