India holds 84 endemic bird species. Some are flourishing. Some are whispers. All of them have something to say about what this country still is and has yet to lose.
India has 1,396 species of birds – around 12.4% of the world’s birds – including 84 found only in the subcontinent (endemic). 75 Endemic Birds of India by the Zoological Survey of India – India’s biggest compilation of avian biodiversity – marks a turning point in tracking these unique species. Highest number of endemic birds found in Western Ghats (28 species) & Andamans & Nicobar islands (25 species).
The Manipur Bush Quail, the Himalayan Quail & Jerdon’s Courser haven’t been seen in years and are presumed locally extinct.
The Great Indian Bustard’s population has fallen to less than 150, restricted to mostly in Rajasthan – a far cry from the days it was found across 11 Indian states. Believed to be extinct for 113 years, the Forest Owlet was dramatically rediscovered in 1997. It is these unique species, “more than symbols to be celebrated”, “they are canaries for the future… ecological barometers of change in India’s natural ecosystems, be they the lush forests of the Western Ghats, the grasslands of the sub-Himalayan foothills, or the tiny, ecologically delicate island systems off our coasts.” Many face immense danger as deforestation, power line collisions, agriculture & conversion of their habitats along with the pet trade make it harder for these birds to survive.
Endemic Bird Day, celebrated every first Sunday of May now draws more than 1,100 Indian birdwatchers documenting these species & eBird India’s citizen science program has generated the most comprehensive species distribution information currently available anywhere in India.
1. Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) — The Grassland Ghost
Great Indian Bustard Ardeotis nigriceps Critically Endangered <150 individuals Rajasthan (Desert National Park); localized occurrences in Gujarat, Karnataka Dry grassland, semi-arid scrubland Up to 15 kg; one of the largest flying birds State bird of Rajasthan Power line collisions, habitat transformation, shooting It’s perhaps not even in India where any species has become as acutely urgent, politicized and poignant as that of the Great Indian Bustard (GIB). It’s among the largest flying birds in the world. It’s the state bird of Rajasthan.
And it’s a flagship species for India’s grassland ecosystems, which the conservation regime under the Union of India typically class “wasteland”, leaving them legally susceptible for development into agriculture land, industrial zone or solar farms.
Now, there are less than 150 of them. That figure speaks volumes about what happened in this century to one of the world’s most remarkable avian creatures. For the majority of the 1800s, the Great Indian Bustard had a fairly dispersed population across dry grasslands and scrublands, spanning eleven Indian states – the Thar Desert in the north to the Deccan plateau in the south. Hunters would kill the bird for meat and for sport.
Agricultural encroachment, in stages, encroached upon the open grasslands on which the bird depended.
Today, more than 90% of the total population is in one landscape – the Desert National Park, in Jaisalmer, Barmer and surroundings, of Rajasthan. Other isolated populations are the four GIB females in Gujarat (there’s no confirmed male bird, too, in the state’s Naliya Grassland). Last year (2023), 6 GIBs were seen in Siruguppa, Karnataka, while only two could be observed there early in 2025.
The Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) is a large bird that is now Critically Endangered, with less than 150 individuals remaining in the wild. Once widespread, it has been devastated by habitat loss, power line collisions, and hunting. State Bird of Rajasthan The Great Indian Bustard.
The recent issue that has attracted the attention of the courts and scientists and is threatening the life of the species are power lines. According to Wildlife Institute of India, the transmission lines in and around the Desert National Park kill 84,000 birds from various species per year. The GIB is particularly at risk due to its large size, substantial weight, and narrow field of vision, making it difficult for it to see high voltage wires and dodge them. The Supreme Court has directed power lines within the GIB’s primary range to be buried, though implementation has been met with some pushback.
However, a breeding programme, collecting eggs from the wild and incubating them at a national facility in Jaisalmer, is underway.
It maintains the extremely thin probability of preserving the genetic material, in the remote event the population cannot be rescued from total collapse.
2. Forest Owlet (Athene blewitti) – Declared Extinct for 113 Year
The Forest Owlet was scientifically described in 1873. Its last documented sighting from the wild dates back to 1884. By the middle of the 20th century, the species was declared lost, non-existent, residing only in museums’ specimen collection. The species resurfaced after a 113-year gap – its re-discovery occurred in November 1997 in the Toranmal Reserve Forest, Maharashtra by Pamela Rasmussen (the very ornithologist later responsible for co-discovering the Himalayan Forest Thrush). The photos she captured of Forest Owlets living provided the first proof in more than a century of their existence outside of collections. The Forest Owlet is stout and small, about the same size as the more common Spotted Owlet but with striking physical differences: it has a plain unspotted crown, an uninterrupted white throat band, dense feathers on its legs and a habitual characteristic side-to-side tail movement that motivated specialists to place it in its own genus, Heteroglaux.
It is a rare example among Indian owls because it is diurnal – it hunts during the daytime,preying on small lizards, rodent and lesser birds, utilizing open patches in teaks forests. These habitats are intensively utilized by people for firewood, livestock grazing and timber production. Several surveys in Melghat Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra have detected up to 79 individuals and 19 individuals in Toranmal Reserve Forest. Globally, the number of mature Forest Owlets has been estimated to be less than 1000 individuals, spread over small patches of habitat in three states.
The major causes for the endangered status are habitat degradation due to deforestation and logging, livestock overgrazing, pesticides decimating prey availability and human habitation creeping up to forest borders. The bird is scheduled to be protected by schedule I and CITES Appendix I listing but the issue of enforcement remains the same as for all birds on this list.
3. Jerdon’s Courser (Rhinoptilus bitorquatus) – The Night Bird Nobody Has Seen Since 2008
Only between 50 and 200 are believed to remain. The last photograph was taken of one in 2008. Its elusive, nocturnal habits mean the bird is incredibly difficult to track in the rocky, scrub-filled hillside in Andhra Pradesh where it lives-it inhabits a mere one wildlife sanctuary. Previously believed to be extinct after having been spotted by nobody, Jerson’s Courser was successfully identified and located in 1986 by ornithologist Bharat Bhushan. Bhushan’s work in tracking down the rare bird would come into prominence in following years. The challenge comes in surveying for the bird, given it flies after darkness. Legal challenges and ongoing environmental concerns persist surrounding plans to construct the Polavaram dam on the Godavari, a development that would inundate parts of the known range of the animal. The ZSI mentions Jerdon’s Courser amongst its group of the ‘not seen’ species. Such a rare creature is hardly the focus of much research work, largely because no one knows that it has barely been seen.
4. Nilgiri Laughingthrush (Montecincla cachinnans) — Laughter in Endangered Forests
The Nilgiri Laughingthrush’s raucous, laughing ‘bubbles’ ring out with uncanny carry through the mist and mosspainted trees of the upper Nilgiris and are perhaps the definitive sounds of the shola forest. A stout bird beautifully patterned with a chestnut back and a prominent rufous panel on the wing, it moves about in families of 6–12 individuals, maintained in tight voice contact by the characteristic, almost chortling conversation that gives the family its name. They take insects, berries, and smaller fruit both on the ground and from the low undergrowth. Their plight is almost a perfect mirror of the ongoing shrinkage of shola forests.
The montane evergreen forest in the Western Ghats have been progressively cut over and, more seriously, invaded by exotic species – notably wattle (Acacia mearnsii) which was introduced during the colonial era and has colonized the length of the Nilgiri hills, transforming a shola-grassland mix to one consisting of scrubland monocultures which support neither this bird nor any other fauna adapted to shola conditions. They were rated a High Priority Species in the State of India’s Birds 2023 report, with a significantly shrinking population. They are not on the brink of extinction, but the trend is unmistakably downward.
5. Malabar Trogon (Harpactes fasciatus) – The Silent Jewel of Western Ghats Forests
If you have stood in wet forest in the Western Ghats and spent ten minutes staring at what appeared to be a red-brown lump on a branch before it blinked – that was a Malabar Trogon. The male has deep crimson underparts that glow in the dappled light of the forest interior, a brown back, and a long barred tail. But it sits almost completely motionless for long periods, creating the trogon family’s characteristic effect: extraordinary plumage combined with near-absolute stillness. It is a forest interior specialist – not found in edges, gardens, or degraded habitat – making it a reliable proxy for forest quality. Every ornithologist working in the Western Ghats will note that encounters are becoming rarer in disturbed forest. Find a Malabar Trogon and you are in genuinely good habitat. Lose it and something important about that forest has already changed.
6. Nilgiri Sholakili (Sholicola major) — The Blue Robin of the Mist Forest
But to the ornithologists it was to remain the White-bellied Blue Robin for decades and thus the Nilgiri Shortwing. In 2016 the taxonomy of the species was re-organized; and was now classified into a new, monospecific genus called Sholicola, a term that can be literally translated as “shola-dweller”, and for good reason as well, sholas being the sole purpose and home of this species. A sister species has also been recently lumped into the new genus; and so it is now Sholicola with two extant species.
The Nilgiri Sholakili is one of India’s rarest regarding endemism, confined strictly to sholas above 1500m over the Nilgiris and Anamalais covering a meager handful of the hill districts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu and none more.
The bird suffers from the same maladies as the Nilgiri Laughingthrush, the Nilgiri Marten – invasion of wattles, habitat loss through human encroachment and degradation and global temperature rise. Owing to its relatively small size and shy nature – flitting low over ground and through undergrowth – a sighting of this bird on its own a relatively rare one; a glimpse however of the male is an event which, because it literally electrocutes when caught in a beam of light penetrating into the gloom within the interiors of the sholas, comes as somewhat of an earth shattering revelation to avid birdwatchers.
7. Himalayan Quail (Ophrysia superciliosa) — The Ghost That May Already Be Gone
The Himalayan Quail might be extinct. We don’t have a single confirmed reliable record for it since 1876. It is one of three endemic species not recorded for decades, according to the ZSI.
The extensive searches involving the bird and camera trapping of potential habitat, community searches, and community conversations in Mussoorie and Nainital over the past century haven’t turned up a single, conclusive sighting.
We’ve just collected twelve of these quail specimens between the years of 1858 and 1876 within a 60km stretch of the west Himalayas in Uttarakhand; the bird used to be found within tall grasses in the Himalayan foothills between 1650-2100m – the very region that was intensively developed during the later years of the 19th and the entire 20th centuries. Either this bird is so well hidden in an environment that now sees a vast amount of bird research activity (not to mention much human habitat modification) – or it’s gone. If it’s gone, it would be the first bird extinction in India in modern times; what the delay in an official declaration says is about appropriate scientific caution versus the political awkwardness of owning up to the total loss of a unique bird within the period we’ve come to consider as the age of modern ornithology.
8. Malabar Grey Hornbill (Ocyceros griseus) — The Forest Engineer of the Ghats
This species – a widespread one in the Western Ghats – is one of India’s six endemic hornbills; its commonality means that like many other forest residents of the area it is too easily ignored and therefore its value too easily dismissed. Of all species in a tropical ecosystem, seed-dispersing animals are perhaps the ones whose contribution to canopy regeneration and structure over a decade or many decades, as is the case here in the Western Ghats, cannot be matched. And not only that – as a special kind of cavity-nesting, it relies on large, old trees which must contain an aperture of a certain minimum size – a structural element whose loss through the selective logging of forests is probably immediate!
Bottom Line The Malabar Grey Hornbill is more than just a bird – the bird is an architectural engineer of the forests of the Ghats who holds the future for generations of trees as well as wildlife. I could format this as an editorial style scientific plate like I did for the Himalayan Forest Thrush for you earlier, complete with anatomical details, call outs of anatomical features as well as a Western Ghats map to illustrate its role as a ‘forest engineer’ – please let me know!
9. Indian Pitta (Pitta brachyura) — The Nine-Coloured Bird
Its commonly known by the name ‘nine-coloured bird’ which frankly sounds like marketing but for once, is fairly honest: blue, green, red, black, white, brown, yellow, buff and teal can all be observed, in varying shades, on this one, large sparrow sized bird; the flame-red flash of the scarlet vent beneath the tail against a back which is Turquoise Green is often surprising given white head, Black face. This bird navigates under growth using the family hop and will upturn fallen leaves whilst searching for invertebrates and always announces itself with the same, recognisable call of, two notes, before it has even shown its self as it inhabits the India wide monsoon forests where it is to be partially migratory, breeding on the central and Himalayan range during the rains where it will decend south after to survive winter, appearing in urban settings. Although it’s an endemic species so there’s not much to fret about over there for it, on this list this particular bird stands for a good cause and that is not all India endemic birds are struggling for numbers and visibility, in fact many species are thriving and quite familiar but the novelty remains this bird’s only location where it can be witnessed naturally is our great nation, not to mention how brightly coloured he is!
10. Black-and-Orange Flycatcher (Ficedula nigrorufa) – The Shola’s Hidden Gem
In looks the Black-and-Orange Flycatcher must be India’s most flamboyant endemic. It is a bird of very striking contrast in plumage; saturated orange everywhere else, and black from head to tail – so vivid it can seem almost incandescent in the depths of a shola forest. It’s an especially welcome splash of vividness since, relative to its beauty, its home range is astoundingly limited – it is one of India’s most localized endemic species.
Its range is confined solely to the high altitude shola forest zones of the Nilgiris, Anamalais and Palani hills, an area not extending outside three or four districts in the extreme south of the Western Ghats (Kerala and Tamil Nadu).
The northern Western Ghats don’t have it. The Himalayas don’t have it. You will only ever find it in the very specific cluster of “sky island” shola habitat in the southern Western Ghats. This makes it one of India’s most regionally restricted endemic birds, and therefore one of the most at risk from whatever it is that is eroding those shola “sky islands”.
Near Threatened, its situation echoes the status of its sister species on the shola-dependent list; the “wattle” plant invading habitat from the plains below, habitat squeeze caused by warming temperatures, and poor forest edge management.
Endemic Birds of India
Under all ten birds documented here, a few elements re-emerge. Habitat degradation, always: Grasslands altered for food crops in Rajasthan, shola forests encroached by wattle in the Nilgiris, teak forests reduced through extensive grazing in Maharashtra, canyons turned into water bodies for reservoirs in Andhra Pradesh – at the bottom, what devastates Indian endemic birds is the depletion or ruination of the sites that support them. Small distribution make for poor prospects: If a bird species is only located in a solitary wildlife park, mountain chain, or one type of flora-fauna region distributed across merely a couple of areas, there exists no room for error.
Indian endemic birds are notably grouped: A figure of 28 species across the Western Ghats; 25 found around the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
A more potent knowledge base is developing: The State of India’s Birds 2023 assessment-based on citizen-led data collected by eBird all over the nation – now furnishes analyses of trends not thought-of even a decade earlier. The every-year Endemic Bird Day brings collectively upwards of 1100 fowl watchers – considerable progress regarding information sources crucial for making better protection choices. Statutory defense lacking land defense fails to work: All the 10 birds highlighted here come under Schedule I of India’s Wildlife Protection Act. Numerous figures on CITES Appendix I. Protection laws are efficient. The issue – which makes difference – pertains to control and preservation of environments these birds call their home – and these landscapes are continually decreasing.
Why Endemic Birds Matter (Other Than Their Beauty)
The concept of a life list of species adds value by incentivizing people to seek out rare, little-known species. But endemics have value far beyond our search and counting instincts. They are players in the game of life – seed dispersal agents, controllers of insects and other pests, food for larger animals, and signs of the overall health of the places where they live.
The Great Indian Bustard symbolizes Indian grassland ecosystems.
The Malabar Grey Hornbill helps disseminate seeds vital for the health and regeneration of the trees of the Western Ghats. In its ecological niche in teak forests, the Forest Owlet becomes a living signature for the quality of forest upon which so many other organisms also depend. And of course, each endemics is also an irreplaceable biological history. The 84 endemics unique to India each represents a branch of the tree of life that grew here, moulded by the region’s specific environmental forces and by the processes of evolution that have operated here over thousands of years (in the case of newer lineages) to millions of years (in the case of ancient lineages).
When a species goes missing – and if the Himalayan Quail somehow becomes irrevocably extinct, say – a unique evolutionary history simply ceases.
The uniqueness isn’t duplicated elsewhere, and it isn’t passed along. The history simply ends. India’s Zoological Survey’s recently released 75 Endemic Birds of India was intended, of course, as a celebration.
It’s also, upon closer reading, a solemn catalog of what we have to lose.