Description:

Medium-sized, with orange flanks, blue tail and redstart-like stance. Male is rich dark blue on head and upperparts, blue of upperparts extending to breast-sides; and chin, throat and underparts white. Orange flanks more prominent during breeding. Female has olive-brown upperparts and breast sides.

Distribution:

Common summer visitor to valleys in the south-western Gilgit-Baltistan, absent from Hunza and Baltistan. Summer in forest understorey and bushes in forest clearings of fir, pine and mixed forest up to 3400m. In winter evergreen and open woodland.

Behavior:

Forages on ground and in low bushes, often making short flycatcher-like sallies after flying insects. Feeds on invertebrates, mainly insects including bugs, beetles, flies, ants and wasps; and other invertebrates like caterpillars, spiders. Mostly fruit and grass seeds when not breeding.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Himalayan Bluetail in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Himalayan Bluetail

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.