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 bar-winged cuckoo-shrike (Hemipus picatus) is a small passerine bird found in the forests of tropical southern Asia from the Himalayas and hills of the Indian subcontinent east to Indonesia, Mainly insectivorous, it is found hunting in the mid-canopy of forests, often joining mixed-species foraging flocks. They perch upright and have a distinctive pattern of black and white, males being more shiny black than the females.
IUCN Status: Least Concern (LC) Photo: Dibyendu Ash