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 Himalayan shrike-babbler (Pteruthius ripleyi) is a bird species found in the western Himalayas. They are strictly arboreal and are seen foraging for insects mainly in the upper canopy. They sometimes sit still and will call often. The nest is a hammock, built in a fork towards the tip of a branch high in the canopy of a tree.
IUCN Status: Not Evaluated (NE) Photo: Soumyajit Nandy