Cheer Pheasant

Catreus wallichii

Named for its loud 'cheer-a-cheer' call echoing Himalayan hillsides. Vulnerable, vocal, and impossible to ignore.

Population: 2,500-9,999 mature individuals, decreasing (~10-19% over three generations); essentially one metapopulation, extent of occurrence ~259,000 km²
Habitat: Rocky, precipitous slopes with scrub, tall grass and scattered clumps of trees on Himalayan foothills, at roughly 1,445-3,050 m elevation per the current IUCN/BirdLife assessment (English Wikipedia gives a roughly overlapping but not identical ~1,829-3,048 m / 6,000-10,000 ft); favors early-successional grassland maintained by traditional grazing and burning -- tying the species' survival to human land management.
Fun fact: The Cheer Pheasant is the only species in its genus, Catreus, and is named for Nathaniel Wallich, the Danish-born botanist who first collected specimens in the Himalaya in the early 19th century.
Range: Western Himalaya: a discontinuous band from the Hazara division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa / Azad Jammu and Kashmir, northern Pakistan, through Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh (Shimla, Kullu, Chamba) and Uttarakhand (Kumaon/Garhwal) in India, to western/central Nepal (e.g. Dhorpatan) near the Kali Gandaki river.
Diet: Essentially vegetarian/omnivorous ground forager: digs for roots, bulbs and tubers, and takes leaf fragments, herbs, seeds and berries, with insects and grubs taken opportunistically (mostly foraging in open areas during morning hours).
Size: 1 m
Lifespan: 8 years

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