Wildlife seen in the vacation in Nepal (Everest Base Camp and Gokyo Ri).

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Raven (Corvus corax) is a common presence in the mountains

The yellow billed chough (Pirrhocorax graculus) accompanies the trekkers as high as the EBC or Kala Patthar (I haven’t been higher than that)

Tibetan Snowcock (Tetraogallus tibetanus) can come close to villages and to trails. They are quite hard to spot when they stay unmoved but their noisy call draw your attention from far away.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I spotted an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) circling high at Namche Bazaar above 4000 meters. I knew that ospreys eat mainly fish, which is a prey impossible to find in high Himalaya. I wonder what it was doing there.

The Oriental Turtle Dove (Streptopelia orientalis)

This combination of rabbit with rat is most probably a Royle’s pika (Ochotona roylei) as the Himalayan pika (Ochotona himalayana) seems to be less often seen. I’ve observed it near the trail, not far from Lobuche settlement.

Robin Accentor (Prunella rubeculoides)

The White Wagtail (Montacilla alba) seen on the snow and ice covering Gokyo lake.

The Black-fronted laughingthrush (Trochalopteron affine)

The White-capped Water Redstart (Chaimarrornis leucocephalus)

White-winged Grosbeak (Mycerobas carnipes)

A lonely Northern pintail (Anas acta) on Gokyo lake.

Tufted duck (Aythya fuligula) seen on the lowest lake below Gokyo.

A pair of Rudy shelducks (Tadorna ferruginea) circled above the Gokyo lake. Later I observed them on one of the lower lakes in the area.

Rufous-breasted Accentor (Prunella strophiata)

Black kites (Milvus migrans) hover al the time above Kathmandu. But I saw them also high in the mountains, above Namche.

A booted eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus) observed above Dingboche

The national bird of Nepal is the Danphe / Himalayan monal (Lophophorus impejanus)

And above all, the supreme bird of prey, the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos).

…with a suite of teasing ravens.

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For bird identification I used the booklet Birds of Sagarmatha National Park and its Buffer Zone.

<– Himalayan Fauna – part I