NL·0610Herbarium of the Nature Library
- Name
- Lophophorus impejanus
- Family
- Phasianidae
- Native to
- Himalaya from eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan through India, Nepal and Bhutan to southern Tibet and NE India
- Habitat
- Montane forest, Alpine meadow
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Himalayan Monal
Live sightings near you, the range map, bar charts of when it is seen, and Macaulay Library photos and recordings.
Himalayan monal
Lophophorus impejanus
Also calledDanphe (Nepali) · Monal / Munal (Hindi/Urdu) · Zōng wěi hóng zhì 棕尾虹雉 (Chinese) · Impeyan pheasant
A pheasant of high Himalayan meadows and forests whose male shimmers in metallic green, copper, purple and blue, crowned by a wiry crest of spatulate plumes. It is the national bird of Nepal.
The Himalayan monal, also called Impeyan monal, is a landfowl native to Himalayan forests and shrublands at elevations of 2,100–4,500 m (6,900–14,800 ft). It is part of the family Phasianidae and is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. It is the national bird of Nepal, where it is known as the danphe or danfe, and state bird of Uttarakhand, India, where it is known as a monal. The scientific name commemorates Lady Mary Impey, the wife of the British chief justice of Bengal, Sir Elijah Impey. Wikipedia
What it can do
- iDigs vigorously with its strong curved bill for roots, tubers and insect larvae, even through snow
- iiLives between about 2,100 and 4,500 m, moving downslope in winter
- iiiMale's plumage is iridescent structural colour that shifts with the angle of light
In the field
Field marks
- aMale: iridescent green head, crest of spatula-tipped plumes, copper nape, purple-blue back
- bMale: conspicuous white rump and cinnamon-rufous tail in flight
- cFemale: mottled brown with a white throat, bare blue skin around the eye and white-tipped tail
- dHeavy, curved bill used for digging
- Voice
- Loud, plaintive whistles 'kur-leiu' or 'kleeh-wick', often heard at dawn and when flushed
- Not to be confused with
- Sclater's monal (eastern Himalaya) has a curly crest and white-tipped tail; Chinese monal (central China, outside its range) has a drooping purple crest rather than spatulate plumes; Koklass pheasant is streaked grey with a long dark ear-tuft.
- Where to see it
- Kaghan and Neelum valleys and Ayubia in Pakistan; Tungnath-Chopta and Kedarnath in Uttarakhand; Sagarmatha and Langtang national parks in Nepal
- When
- Resident; descends to lower forests in winter, easiest to see in spring and autumn
Listen
Looking for field recordings…
Life & habits
- Diet
- Tubers, roots, shoots, seeds, berries and invertebrates
- Habitat
- Oak, rhododendron and conifer forest with open grassy slopes and alpine meadows
- Size
- About 63–72 cm long; males up to about 2.4 kg
Feeds in loose groups on open slopes at dawn and dusk; when flushed it hurtles downhill with a ringing whistle.
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Native range
Himalaya from eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan through India, Nepal and Bhutan to southern Tibet and NE India
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Lophophorus impejanus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
Marginalia
As the Danphe it is Nepal's national bird and appears on Nepalese stamps; it is also the state bird of Uttarakhand. Men in Himachal Pradesh once wore the male's crest on their caps, a practice that drove hunting until legal protection.
Curiosity
The old English name 'Impeyan pheasant' and the species epithet honour Lady Mary Impey, who kept a menagerie in 18th-century Calcutta.
Kinship
Fact-checked: 1 correction made to this sheet. Photographs: iNaturalist contributors under the licences shown. Records: GBIF.org. Historical plates: Source Library (CC BY-SA 4.0; originals public domain). Summary text: Nature Library editors and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Medicinal and edibility notes are historical and educational, not advice. iNaturalist taxon 1175.