Let’s tell you about the amazing national bird of Peru! This fabulous bird lives in the longest mountain range of South America which is known as Andes. The Andes Mountain Range of South America is the world highest mountain range outside Asia. The bird is well known for its big round crest and fantastic orange plumage. This bird is known as Andean Cock-of-the-rock which is scientifically called as Rupicola peruvianus.

Andean Cock of the Rock. Image By Bill Bouton

Andean Cocks of the rock have black wings with a row of pale grey feathers inside. The Andean Cock-of-the-rock can gain the approximate length of 32 cm (12½ in) and weight of 235 grams (8.7 oz).  The female Andean Cock of the Rock is comparatively darker in its color than the male with a shorter crest. The bill is yellowish in the male, and dark with a small yellow tip in the female. The diet of Andean Cock of the rock mainly consists mainly of fruit and insects, although small vertebrates such as frogs or lizards have also been recorded. The most exquisite feature of the Andean Cocks of the Rock is their display of fluttering dance during courtship. They build their nests with mud and stick mostly on the rocks and the female lays only two eggs during the year. The female Andean Cock of the rock incubates the egg for 28 days.

Andean female Cock of the rock ( Image: Brad Schram )

Andean Cock of the rock, the national bird of Peru is mainly threatened with the predators like wild beasts and prey birds. Andean Cock of the rock is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The Green Pheasant which is also called the Japanese Pheasant is a native pheasant of Japan which is scientifically known as Phasianus versicolor. This is also the national bird of Japan and its population extends roughly from northeast to southwest along the northeastern coast of the Eurasia mainland, washing upon the northwestern shores of the Pacific Ocean. Mainly, the Green Pheasants prefer to inhabit in the grassy and bushy areas and light forest areas near cultivated lands and meadows of the Japanese Archipelago.

Green or Japanese Pheasants. Image © Daniel Ruyle

The species of the Green Pheasant is also introduced in North America and Hawaii where it is domesticated as a game bird. According to the biologists the Green Pheasant or the Japanese Pheasant is a sub species of the Common Pheasant. The female of the Green Pheasant is smaller in size than her mate which lays 10-12 eggs which are olive brown in color. The Green Pheasant make their nests in form of a heap of leaves and grass on the ground, with a very slight depression.

The diet of Green Pheasant, the national bird of Japan includes beans, peas, acorns, berries, and sometimes it has even been observed to eat the ivy leaf, as well as the berry. The young chicks of the Green Pheasant are fed with ant eggs, maggots, grits, and similar food.

“Chand ko kya maloom chahata hai usko chakor

How could the Moon discern the enchanting Chakor?

woh bechara door se dekhe kare na koi shor.”

These are the words of a classical Indian song in which the poet has simulated himself as Chakor and the moon as his beloved, expressing the grief for his malcontent love. Chakor (Alectoris Chukar) is a symbol of passionate but unreciprocated love in Indian sub continent.  It is known to bewitch by the moon and for its constant gaze at moon.

Chakor (Alectoris Chukar), The National Bird of Pakistan

Chakor or Chukar is a chunky 32-35 cm long bird of amazing color scheme like brown back, grey breast, and sandy color belly. While the face is white and legs are red. Its tail consists of 14 feathers.

Chakor belongs to the pheasant family Phasianidae and is native of Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Nepal, Turkey and Kashmir range. It is also connected to its western tantamount, the Red-legged Partridge, Alectoris Rufa. Normally their territories are rocky open hillsides and mainly they are found at an altitude of 2000 to 4000 m. But in Pakistan they are also observed at 600m. They do not live in humid and rainy areas. Usually Chakor travels in groups of 5 to 30 and the groups are called coveys. They like wide variety of seeds and insects as food and sometimes they also swallow the dust particles. The seeds of Eragrostis in Kashmir are their favorite diet.

In the breeding season the female lays 8 to 20 eggs in total and 1 egg per day throughout the captivity period. Their nest is a scantily lined ground scrape protected by shrubs and small brambles. Normally their nests exist on hilly slopes with rocky offshoots, above streams. Nesting Chakor may be seen within 3 km of water. It is specially known for its surgical upward flights and quick vanishing in the hills and trees. Due to their remote existence they are not threatened due to hunting but inappropriate weather patterns can be harmful for their population.

Chakor has been declared as national bird of Pakistan.