The presence of endangered Cheer Pheasant at Chirbatiya in district Ruderprayag has thrilled the forest department and bird experts. The remote Chirbatiya, located 40 kms from the district headquarters, recently hosted a bird festival. Earlier the sighting of Cheer Pheasant (Catreus wallichii), also known as Wallich’s pheasant, was limited to few locations in Uttarakhand. But, now Chirbatiya has got added in the list.

A bird festival was hosted at Chirbatiya on 25-26 December 2019. Bird watcher and other enthusiasts participated and they were overjoyed by sighting the rare bird.  The Cheer Pheasant is described as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Bird guide Yashpal Negi, says, “In my two decade long career as bird guide I have seen Cheer Pheasant thrice and that too in remote locations like Madhmaheshwar, Mukku Math and Talla (near Chopta). This time I was successful in spotting eight Cheer Pheasants at Chirbatiya.”

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A 2007 study, ‘Statues, distribution and management of Galliformes in Uttarakhand’ by S Chandola and Sameer Sinha- which got published Wildlife Institute of India’s Galliformes of India- shows small presence of Cheer Pheasant in Uttarakhand. According to the study, the habitat is limited to Lansdowne (Pauri), Nanda Devi Biosphere, Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary, Govind National Park, Tehri and Uttarkashi Forest Divisions. It is estimated the population of this bird declined due to hunting and habitat loss.

Divisional Forest Officer (Ruderprayag) Vaibhav Kumar Singh says, “Heavy sighting of Cheer Pheasant clearly proves that Chirbatiya offers ideal habitat for this bird species. In the two day festival we recorded presence of over one hundred species, but Cheer Pheasant was special. Besides this the shy Spotted Nutcracker were also spotted by the participants.”

Big confusion prevails about the long tailed bird in Chirbatiya and local used to call it Chukar partridge and some other ‘Junglee Murga’. In many places in Garhwal region the Cheer Pheasant is even called as ‘Chaud.’ Bird watching is fast becoming popular in India. The big presence of Cheer Pheasant is likely to attract bird lovers to remote Chirbatiya.