The accentors are a genus of birds in the family Prunellidae, which is endemic to the Old World. This small group of closely related passerines are all in the genus Prunella. All but the dunnock and the Japanese accentor are inhabitants of the mountainous regions of Europe and Asia; these two also occur in lowland areas, as does the Siberian accentor in the far north of Siberia. These birds are not strongly migratory, but they will leave the coldest parts of their range in winter and make altitudinal movements.
The dunnock is a small passerine, or perching bird, found throughout temperate Europe and into Asian Russia. Dunnocks have also been successfully introduced into New Zealand. It is the most widespread member of the accentor family; most other accentors are limited to mountain habitats. Other, largely archaic, English names for the dunnock include hedge accentor, hedge sparrow, hedge warbler, and titling.
Pallas's grasshopper warbler, also known as the rusty-rumped warbler, is an Old World warbler in the grass warbler genus Helopsaltes. It breeds in the eastern Palearctic: from the Altai Mountains, Mongolia and Transbaikalia to northeastern China, the Korean Peninsula, and islands in the Sea of Okhotsk. It is migratory, wintering from India eastward to Indonesia. It is a rare migrant in Sri Lanka.
The alpine accentor is a small passerine bird in the family Prunellidae, which is native to Eurasia and North Africa.
The Indian paradise flycatcher is a medium-sized passerine bird native to Asia, where it is widely distributed. As the global population is considered stable, it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2004. It is native to the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia and Myanmar.
The black-throated accentor is a small passerine bird found in the Ural, Tian Shan and Altai Mountains. It is migratory, wintering in Afghanistan and neighboring countries. It is a rare vagrant in western Europe.
Ladakh is the home to endemic Himalayan wildlife, such as the bharal, yak, Himalayan brown bear, Himalayan wolf and the iconic snow leopard. Hemis National Park, Changthang Cold Desert Wildlife Sanctuary, and Karakorum Wildlife Sanctuary are protected wildlife areas of Ladakh. The Mountain Institute, the Ladakh Ecological Development Group and the Snow Leopard Conservancy work on ecotourism in rural Ladakh. For such an elevated, arid area, Ladakh has great diversity of birds — 318 species have been recorded. Many of these birds reside at or seasonally breed in high-altitude wetlands, such as Tso Moriri, or near rivers and water sources.
The Siberian accentor is a small passerine bird that breeds in northern Russia from the Ural Mountains eastwards across Siberia. It is migratory, wintering in Korea and eastern China, with rare occurrences in western Europe and northwestern North America. Its typical breeding habitat is subarctic deciduous forests and open coniferous woodland, often close to water, although it also occurs in mountains and spruce taiga. It inhabits bushes and shrubs in winter, frequently near streams, but may also be found in dry grassland and woods.
The tree martin is a member of the swallow family of passerine birds. It breeds in Australia, mostly south of latitude 20°S and on Timor island. It is migratory, wintering through most of Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia east of the Wallace Line and the Solomon Islands. It is a vagrant to New Zealand, where it has bred, and New Caledonia. This species is frequently placed in the genus Hirundo as Hirundo nigricans.
The Himalayan white-browed rosefinch is a true finch species.
The Himalayan rubythroat is a species of passerine bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is closely related to the Siberian rubythroat which however lacks the distinctive white tail-tips and white tail bases. It was also previously considered conspecific with the Chinese rubythroat, together called the white-tailed rubythroat. It is found along the Tien Shan and Himalayan ranges from Afghanistan to Myanmar. Three subspecies are recognized across its wide range.
The brown accentor is a species of bird in the family Prunellidae. It is found in Afghanistan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Radde's accentor is a species of bird in the family Prunellidae. It is found in mountainous parts of Yemen and northern Southwest Asia.
The robin accentor is a species of bird in the family Prunellidae. It is found in the mountainous regions of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and China, at altitudes between about 3,000 and 5,500 m. It is a brown bird with a grey head and an orange-red breast. It is common in parts of its range and its conservation status has been assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being of "least concern".
The rufous-breasted accentor is passerine bird in the family Prunellidae, endemic to the Himalayas, descending in the winter to lower-to-middle altitudes. It is found in Afghanistan, Bhutan, Tibet, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.
The Tibetan blackbird is a species of bird in the thrush family Turdidae. It is found in the Himalayas from northern Pakistan to southeastern Tibet. Originally described as a separate species by Henry Seebohm in 1881, it was then considered a subspecies of the common blackbird until 2008, when phylogenetic evidence revealed that it was only distantly related to the latter species. It is a relatively large thrush, having an overall length of 23–28 centimetres. Males are blackish-brown all over with darker plumage on the head, breast, wings and tail and dull orange-yellow bills, while females have browner underparts, faint streaking on the throat, and a dull darkish yellow bill. Both sexes may seem slightly hooded. It can be differentiated from the common blackbird by its complete lack of an eye-ring and reduced song.
The Himalayan thrush or Himalayan forest thrush is a species of bird described in 2016 and separated out from the alpine thrush Zoothera mollissima with which they were formerly lumped. The species is separated on the basis of phylogenetic studies that suggest that the population diverged from the common ancestor at least 3 million years ago. The alpine thrush breeds above the tree line whereas the Himalayan thrush breeds in forested habitats. The species breeds from Sikkim and Darjeeling in India and extends east into Tibet and further east into northwest Yunnan in China. The species differs in its song from that of the alpine thrush. The Himalayan thrush has a more musical call while that of the Alpine thrush is raspy and grating. A newly discovered Himalayan forest thrush bird was named after the birdman of India, Ornithologist Dr.Salim Ali. The name of the bird is "Zoothera salimalii". A fruit bat is also named after him "Latidens salimalii"
The Chinese rubythroat is a small passerine bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is closely related to the Siberian rubythroat which however lacks the distinctive white tail-tips and white tail bases. It was also previously considered conspecific with the Himalayan rubythroat, together called the white-tailed rubythroat. It is found along the Himalayan ranges from Pakistan to Myanmar.
