Avifaunal Diversity of Northwestern Himalayas (Jammu & Kashmir) and Trans Himalayas (Ladakh)

Abstract The Himalayas are home to a wide variety of animals and plants, making it one of the world's most biodiverse regions. Both the northwestern Himalayan region of Jammu & Kashmir and the trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh are home to a wide variety of bird species because of varied topography and temperature. In this study, we collected the field data and checklists over a period of 3 years based on the compilation of data from published & unpublished scientific literature, print & electronic, currently accessible in the form of research articles, papers, books, websites, web pages, & field notes. The Northwestern Himalayas (Jammu and Kashmir) and trans-Himalayas (Ladakh) are home to 677 bird species belonging to 89 families (out of 107 families in the Indian sub-continent), which is equal to 6.77% of total bird species (>10000) found globally and 49.2% of total bird species (1376) found in the Indian subcontinent. The family Muscicapidae (53, 7.8%) has the most species, followed by Accipitridae (41, 6%), and so on. Moreover, the number of threatened species is 54 (8%), which includes 22 (3.25%), 23 (3.40%), 6 (0.8%) & 3 (0.44%) under Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Endangered, & Critically Endangered categories. Among 677 species, 228 species (33.77%) are found in all the 3 regions, 77 (11.4%) in only Jammu & Kashmir but not Ladakh, 24 (3.55%) in Jammu & Ladakh but not in Kashmir, 80 (11.85%) in Kashmir & Ladakh but not in Jammu, 152 (22.5%) only in Jammu but not in Kashmir & Ladakh, 26 (3.84%) only in Kashmir but not in Jammu & Ladakh, 71 (10.51%) only in Ladakh but not in Jammu & Kashmir. This provides the first-of-its-kind comprehensive data on bird diversity in these regions.