Himalayan Snowcock

Tetraogallus himalayensis (G.R.Gray, 1843)

2019-01-13 Zailiyskiy Alatau, Almaty region	© Gennadiy Dyakin

Distribution

Occupies in highlands of South-Eastern and Eastern Kazakhstan. Please see the detailed distribution in the section Subspecies.

Biology

Common but in places rare resident. Inhabits higher alpine slopes and sub-alpine meadows with rocks and cliffs throughout the higher Tien Shan Mountains to edges of southern Altai; at 900-1500 m in Dzhungarskiy Alatau and 2500-3300 m in Zailiyskiy Alatau. Not wanders or migrates. Breeds in separate pairs, males sing loud beginning in March. Female builds nest under a stone or in a hole between rocks or even large boulders on ground from dry grass stems and twigs lined with grass and feathers. Clutches of 5-16 eggs in mid-April – early June; female lays one egg every two days. Copulation observed as late as early May. Only female incubates for a month roughly; chicks hatched in mid-May – late June. They stay in broods with one or two parents until September - October, when birds flock on southern slopes with some exposed rocks and vegetation before heavier snow fall later in the year. In places several hundred or thousand birds occurs in winter.

Subspecies

	Tetraogallus himalayensis sewertzowi (Zarudny, 1910) Description. Upper parts lighter than saurensis. Distribution. Breeds in Dzhungarskiy Alatau and Tien Shan.
	Tetraogallus himalayensis saurensis (Potapov, 1993) Description. Upper parts darker than sewertzowi, white patch on under breast almost or completely absent. Distribution. Breeds in Saur and Tarbagatay ridges.

References

"Птицы Казахстана" том 2. Алма-Ата, 1962. Gavrilov E. I., Gavrilov A. E. "The Birds of Kazakhstan". Almaty, 2005. Э.И.Гаврилов. "Фауна и распространение птиц Казахстана". Алматы, 1999.