MORE THAN A DAZZLE

This living tapestry is an indicator species for some of Asia's most biodiverse and least-explored mountain ecosystems

- ASAD R RAHMANI

High in the cloud-draped forests of the Eastern Himalayas, the mist is occasionally shattered by a riot of colour, with the fleeting appearance of one of Asia’s most elusive birds—Blyth’s tragopan.

The male pheasant is a living tapestry.

Its upper body is a deep brown washed with red and dusted with maroon-and-white ocelli. The breast glows bright crimson, edged beneath the chin by a crisp black half-collar. Sandy-grey plumage covers the lower breast, giving way to flanks and thighs mottled in black, buff and splashes of red. Its face is an unmistakable orange-yellow, framed by a black crown and collar. The rest of the head, neck, upper back and shoulder feathers burn with a vivid scarlet sheen, while a patch of yellow facial skin and a grey belly distinguish it from India’s other tragopans—western, satyr and Temminck’s.