Both the male and the female advanced towards the fallen tree. The male was agitated probably because he thought some other male bird had intruded into his territory. The guide made a bird call in the hope that the bird would respond.Īfter a while, the response came, in the form of two birds, a male and a female, as they emerged from the undergrowth. Jainy Kuriakose, Masuki and the guide were crouched behind a fallen tree. After a few more minutes of patient waiting, they suddenly heard the call of a male bird. Then the guide, sensing something, said that he was sure they would see the bird that day. They started early in the morning but drew a blank up to 1 p.m. Masuki consoled her and said that they would again the following day. Jainy Kuriakose, though disappointed, shared his joy. The bird, he told her, appeared on a slope all of a sudden.

And then, he showed her a photograph he had taken of the tragopan. Luckily, in the distance she could hear the guides, who came to her rescue.Īt the camp, there was Masuki, with a smile on his face on seeing her. Realising that she was stranded, she tried to find her way back to the camp. The situation was rather frightening because Himalayan black bears could be around. Soon the weather changed: Dark clouds loomed large and icy winds were blowing. Jainy Kuriakose waited, but there was no sight of him or the guides. On the sixth day of their expedition, he disappeared into some remote corner of the forest and the guides too had gone far ahead. Masuki walked with great speed, something that is difficult to do in the oxygen-deficient Himalayan heights for plainspeople, and she was not able to keep up with him. and sat patiently at many vantage points waiting for the bird but in vain.

It is this creation, which guides who accompany birders and photographers call the “invisible bird”, that Jainy Maria Kuriakose, a chemical engineer turned birder and wildlife photographer, went in search of in May 2016 along with the celebrated French birder Yann Masuki. The colourful bird is the theme of many folk songs describing it as a beautiful creation of God. Local residents call it jujurana, which means king of birds. The western tragopan, the State bird of Himachal, looks like a jungle fowl and is secretive and shy. The Indian Himalayan region has 16 species, including the Himalayan monal, the koklass pheasant, the kalij pheasant and the tragopans, occupying various vegetation types and altitudinal gradients. The lone exception is the Congo peafowl, which is a native of the Congo Basin in Africa. Of the 51 species of pheasants in the world, 50 are endemic to Asia. Pheasants are charismatic birds with gorgeous plumage, ground dwelling (flightless) and associated with woody and diverse vegetation. The first four are found in India and the last one can be found only in China. The Tragopan genus has five species: the western tragopan, the satyr tragopan, Blyth’s tragopan, Temminck’s tragopan and Cabot’s tragopan. This rare and elusive bird of the pheasant family with striking plumage lives in the high altitudes of the Himalaya the highest population of the bird is in the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh, 75 kilometres from Kullu town. MOST wildlife photographers and birders would say that the western tragopan is a tough bird to find.

Male himalayan monal pheasant