Cheer Pheasant

About Cheer Pheasant:

• It is also known as Wallich's pheasant or chir pheasant and belongs to the pheasant family, Phasianidae.
• Habitat: It is found in steep, rocky hillsides studded with scrub, stunted trees and grassy slopes.
• Distribution: Western Himalayas from northern Pakistan through Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, to central Nepal.
• Characteristics of Cheer Pheasant:
  • The cheer pheasant’s nest is a simple ground scrape, tucked beneath undergrowth or sheltered by rocks.
  • It exhibits high natal philopatry­—individuals often return to, or remain near, the area where they were born to breed.
  • It depends on early successional grasslands created by traditional grass cutting and burning practices.
  • Diet: It depends on items such as roots, tubers, bulbs, buried seeds and possibly insect larvae and earthworms.
• Conservation Status
  • IUCN: Vulnerable
  • CITES: Appendix I
  • Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I