The first-ever photograph of vulnerable Chestnut-breasted Partridge clicked

The Chestnut-breasted Partridge (Arborophila mandellii) was photographed by a Bengaluru-based wildlife photographer Gururaj Moorching in the first week of April 2015. The bird was spotted in West Kamang district of Arunachal Pradesh.

The click was the first-ever photograph of the bird endemic to the Eastern Himalayas whose scientific name was given by an Italian naturalist and is classified as hill patridge.

Partridges are medium-sized ground-nesting birds of the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are a non-migratory Old World group. These birds are found in about 45 species and is categorised as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

As per estimates of the IUCN, about 2500 Chestnut-breasted Partridges live in from Bhutan, West Bengal (Darjeeling only), Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, north-east India, Nepal Himalaya and south-east Tibet.