Himalayan Monal: Monarch of the High Mountains

Like some people, some bird species are born with a silver spoon in their mouth. The Himalayan monal (Lophophorus impejanus) is one of them. It has a royal pedigree as it belongs to the family of Phasianidae — perhaps some of the most colourful, regal, and majestic birds of the world. Like the royals, it lives in beautiful places: the high Himalayas with the grandest views imaginable all around its home. The high fortress-like deodar and pine trees enhance its abode, and its colourful attire and peacock-like crest give it a ceremonial look. How do we describe its plumage? Its greenish head with blue-eye patches, sits on red neck and a dark blue throat and breast. This is followed by a shiny green mantle that goes down to the back for some distance before merging with its blue back. The dark blue of the neck and breast continues right up to the belly and beyond. Its large rounded blue wings have a metallic sheen. A rufous tail enhances its attraction when in flight or while displaying. In flight, a white back-patch, generally hidden by wings, at once attracts the attention of an observer. This is the description of the king. 

What about the queen? She is drab in colour, unlike the showy male. This is more to do with her maternal duties of incubating eggs for 28-30 days, and then raising 3-5 chicks without drawing the attention of predators. She is largely brown, with long white streaks from neck to the belly, and has a white-tipped wing and tail feathers. Like the male, she sports a white rump patch. She has a small crest, blue patches around the eyes, and a white throat, extending to both sides of the neck.

Like all pheasants, the monal has strong short legs, adapted to walk majestically with head held high. The more mundane use of these solid feet is to scratch fallen leaves for grubs and insects and dig for tubers.

The Himalayan monal, as the name indicates, is a bird of the Himalayas, starting from Afghanistan-Pakistan in the west to Arunachal Pradesh and eastern Tibet in the east. It is also reported from the high mountains in northeast Myanmar. In this area that is over 2,300 km long, it lives between 2,000 m and 4,500 m in the mid to upper Himalayas, most commonly from about 3,000 to 4,000 m. In severe winters, it can be found as low as 2,000 m. I had the opportunity to watch it in Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary nearly 20 years ago. A resplendent male with three consorts was on the road, foraging in the early morning light. As soon as they noticed us, they walked down on the grassy slopes, leaving me transfixed for a long time.

Contrary to the popular view, Himalayan monals do not live in pairs. Like most kings of the past, it is a polygamous species, where the male has many partners. There is stiff competition among males to attract females for mating. For this, the male has an elaborate display that is not easy to describe in words. It uses all its shenanigans to win over females. Its shining blue wings are stretched and drooped, dark brown tail cocked and spread as widely as possible, head lowered, breast touching the ground. Every attempt is made to make use of its shinning colourful plumage. The male shivers and quivers spasmodically to increase his attractiveness, taking nimble steps backwards and forwards towards the female. The female looks quite uninterested in these antics but is perhaps eyeing the qualities she is looking for in a male before succumbing to his charm. The males display on common ground, sometimes singly also, and females select the best male(s) for mating (in true svayamvara style of ancient India). It is not uncommon to find a dozen males displaying in a dispersed lek (breeding ground) — their numbers depending on the overall population of an area and the habitat quality. 

Once mating takes place, the male has no role in nest selection, incubation, or chick-rearing. The nest is just a scrape on the ground in a secluded spot like an undershrub, under fallen trees, or in tall grass, where the female lays 3-5 eggs. The hen’s drab colour and speckled brownish-black patterns perfectly camouflage her from predators. After 25-27 days, the precocial chicks hatch synchronously and leave the nest within 24 hours with the mother. The breeding season is summer (April through August), when hens tend chicks on their own. As winter approaches, the congregation begins. Female flocks are larger than male flocks, perhaps because mothers are with their young.

The Himalayan monal has two close cousins: Sclater’s monal (Lophophorus sclateri), and the Chinese monal (Lophophorus ilhusii). In its long distribution across the Himalayas, the several geographical races of the Himalayan monal have been described, but not all scientists recognise them as there is so much variation in individual plumage in the males. For instance, a race called chambanus, named after the Chamba region of Himachal Pradesh, lacks any white and has an extensive green breast (in males).

Sclater’s and Chinese monals are considered Vulnerable by BirdLife International and the IUCN states both have declining populations. However, the Himalayan monal is still fairly common in many protected areas in India, Nepal, and Bhutan and is considered of “least Concern” on the IUCN Red List.

It is difficult to pinpoint the best places to see this grand bird, but the Great Himalayan National Park in Himachal and Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttarakhand are good. It is also spotted in many areas in Bhutan, sometimes close to human habitation, as it is not hunted there. Being the national bird of Nepal, it gets special protection and is found in all the high-altitude protected areas of the country. Incidentally, it is the state bird of Uttarakhand too. Except perhaps for China and Myanmar, all the range countries have brought out stamps on the Himalayan monal. It is also a popular cage bird in zoos and private aviaries.

Until the 1970s, the Himalayan monal was hunted for so-called “sport”. Locals hunted it for meat, and the male’s crest was used on the traditional headgear of Himachalis, but fortunately, this has stopped. It is still trapped occasionally, but earlier human hunting pressure is not there anymore. Throughout its range, it is a protected species. Let us hope this magnificent bird will adorn Himalayan forests forever.