The Himalayas, is a mountain range which separates the Great Indian Plains from the Tibetan Plateau. This range is home to nine of the ten highest peaks on the Earth, including the highest, Mount Everest. The abrupt rise of the Himalayan Mountains from less than 500 meters to more than 8,000 meters in a few hundred kilometers has resulted in a huge diversity of flora and fauna. Nearly 1000 birds have been recorded in the Himalayas of which 15 species are fully endemic.
The ibisbili (Ibidorhyncha struthersii) is a bird related to the waders, but sufficiently distinctive to merit its own family ibidorhynchidae. It is grey with a white bill, red legs and long down-curved bill, and a black face and black breast band. It occurs on the shingle riverbanks of the high plateau of central Asia and the Himalayas. The ibisbili feeds by probing under rocks or gravel on stream beds. It wilt take a variety of terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates including caddisfly and mayfly larvae that hide under boulders in streams, grasshoppers and also small fish.
IUCN Status: Least Concern (LC) Photo: Subramanya CK