5/30/2023 0 Comments Himalayan monal pheasant female![]() ![]() Their diet includes a variety of seeds, buds, shoots, roots, and insects in the wild. According to the Sacramento Zoo ( pdf), these pheasants spend most of their day foraging for food. They can dig up to 10 inches under the ground. The Himalayan monal is said to possess a curved beak and is known to be an excellent digger. The Himalayan Times states that these birds can tolerate extreme winter, as they belong to the mountainous regions but depend on a lot of shelter and shade during the scorching sun of summer months and are unable to survive when faced with extreme heat. These birds are found in Nepal, Afghanistan, Bhutan, southern Tibet, and Burma, while many of them are also spotted in some northeastern Indian states such as Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh. However, one common physical feature between both the male and female is that the eyes are ringed with a turquoise blue patch. They have a white neck, and the feathers of the upper part are brownish-black, while the tail feather consists of a mix of white feathers and a layer with a black and copper color. While the male counterparts possess more beautiful colored plumage, the female Himalayan monals are a bit dull in comparison. In flight, these birds, which average 70 centimeters in size, display a white rump and light-brown wings. Meanwhile, their copper-colored tail feathers, which are uniformly rufous, become darker toward the tips. Their spoon-shaped feathers are a combination of black, green, blue, purple, light yellow, brown, and red colors. It is the beautiful combination of hues in the male species of the Himalayan monal that has earned its name as the “nine-colored bird.” The most striking features of the male Himalayan monal include a long metallic green crest that is very similar to a peacock and a reddish-brown neck. Meanwhile, its alternative name “Impeyan monal” comes from Lady Mary Impey, the wife of the British chief justice of Bengal, who first kept these pheasants in captivity, according to The Himalayan Times, a daily newspaper published and distributed in Nepal. While the Himalayan monal is the common name for this distinctively colored species, among ornithologists, the bird is known as Lophophorus impejanus. Among Nepalese citizens, the bird is often referred to as the “Danphe.” ( Dibyendu Ash/CC BY-SA 3.0) This gentle species is the national bird of Nepal and the state bird of Uttarakhand, a state in the northern part of India. ![]() Known for its metallic multicolored iridescent plumage, this large-size mountain pheasant is a feast to birdwatchers’ eyes. I'm primarily keen on self sufficient farming, but have a lot of interest in conservation as well and if I find myself with the ability I'll pursue that interest.The Himalayan monal is one of nature’s stunningly beautiful birds. If they're endangered I would leave them to the experts and conservationists unless I had the land to work on helping conserve the species, in which case I wouldn't be treating them as livestock at all. Nor would I try to develop livestock breeds out of rare species. I wouldn't eat a good breeder of any species, let alone buy a rare bird to eat it, even if it were cheap enough. This would all be dependent on how common they are. Perhaps this was an incorrect impression.Įither way, if I set up a successful breeding program and had excess with inferior genetics, I'd probably eat them. Granted, monals are quite spectacular birds, but my little bit of reading up on them recently had given me the impression they are kept in quantity in some places and "easily bred in aviculture" according to Wikipedia. Quote: Chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, peacocks, quail, poultry in general really, as well as sheep, goats, cattle, deer, etc are all beautiful in my sight too I eat them though. ![]()
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