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 dollarbird (Eurystomus orientalis), also known as the Oriental dollarbird, is a bird of the roller family, so named because of the distinctive blue coin-shaped spots on its wings. It is found in India, east Asia, south-west Pacific and northern Australia. It has a length of up to 30 cm. It is most commonly seen as a single bird with a distinctive upright silhouette on a bare branch high in a tree, from which it hawks for insects, returning to the same perch after a few seconds. The birds prefer open wooded areas with hollow-bearing trees to build nests in.
IUCN Status: Least Concern (LC) Photo: Kevin King