Tibetan Snowcock

The Tibetan snowcock is found in the high-altitude Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau, overlapping in part with the larger Himalayan snowcock but preferring higher altitudes. It has a grey head and neck with a white patch behind the eye above the dark cheek, and a white underside with black stripes. The chin, throat and breast are white with two grey bands on the breast, the wing coverts and tertials are grey with white trim, and the legs and bill are reddish. In flight the secondaries show a broad white trailing edge (Wikipedia, general species account).

Flight is swift and often accompanied by a whistling call. Birds call several times when landing and shake their tails several times on settling, and they call in the morning and evening and are quiet in the middle of the day; calls include a rising chuckle, a whistle and a curlew-like call. Four to six eggs are laid, with the male standing sentinel while the female incubates. SoIB 2023 lists it as a resident of alpine and cold desert that eats plants and seeds but assigns no priority category (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).