Lophura leucomelanos
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The kalij pheasant (Lophura leucomelanos), or simply kalij, is a pheasant found in forests and thickets, especially in the Himalayan foothills, from India, Nepal, Pakistan to western Thailand. Males are rather variable depending on the subspecies involved, but all have at least partially glossy bluish-black plumage, while females are overall brownish. Both sexes have a bare red face and greyish legs (the latter separating it from the red-legged silver pheasant).
The name is also spelled kaleege in old texts, such as Game Birds of India and Asia by Frank Finn, though no longer in his Indian Sporting Birds. The species was introduced to Hawaii in 1962 as a gamebird. On 21 October 2021, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir declared the kalij pheasant as bird of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The kalij pheasant is closely related to the silver pheasant, and the two are known to hybridize. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jim Corbett National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Royal Manas National Park | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | |
| 3 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 4 | Manas National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Kaziranga National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Langtang National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 7 | Namdapha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barcelona Zoo | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Kyiv Zoo | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | |
| 3 | Memphis Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Alipore Zoological Gardens | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 6 | Bird Paradise | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 7 | Aquarama Barcelona | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 8 | Rainforest Wild Asia | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 9 | Motithang Takin Preserve | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | |
| 10 | Paphos Zoo | 🇨🇾 Cyprus | |
| 11 | Міні-зоопарк | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | |
| 12 | Zoo Koki (Parque zoológico y botánico) | 🇪🇸 Spain |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Kalij Pheasant sighting in Royal Manas National Park on a given day, based on 280 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 38th most-seen of the 388 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Kalij Pheasant in Royal Manas National Park on a given day, against about 10% in January and June, the lowest months. That is one of Royal Manas National Park's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain against 930 mm in July. August and September have too few records to rate.
Between 4 and 7 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Kalij Pheasant sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Kalij Pheasant sightings, Royal Manas National Park ranks 2nd at about 30%. The best odds are in Jim Corbett National Park (India, about 40%).
Same family: Phasianidae
The closest relatives of the Kalij Pheasant that you can see in Royal Manas National Park (family Phasianidae, Pheasants, Grouse, and Allies) are Red Junglefowl (about 30%), Rufous-throated Hill Partridge (about 10%) and Grey Peacock-Pheasant (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Kalij Pheasant is recorded against all the birds logged in Royal Manas National Park (280 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
