Description:

Large sized, not brightly coloured but nevertheless unmistakable very long, pointed and graduated tail. Male has bottle-green head and ear-tufts, white neck-patch, chestnut on underparts, and streaked appearance to grey upperparts. Female has white throat, short buff ear-tufts, and heavily streaked body.

Distribution:

Historically possible resident in the south-western areas of Diamer district. Usually occurs on steep grassy and craggy hillsides; grassy ravines with scrub; stunted trees, and in secondary vegetation, generally from 1200m up to 3050m.

Behavior:

Very shy and cryptic usually keeps close to cover, but gregarious and noisy. Forages by digging (occasionally quite deeply) and has been recorded in parties of up to 15 birds. Feeds on items such as roots, tubers, bulbs, buried seeds and possibly insect larvae and earthworms.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Cheer Pheasant in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Cheer Pheasant

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.