Bird Watching

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 Bomdeling 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