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Zorkul Nature Reserve
Zorkul Nature Reserve is a 1610 km2 nature reserve in south-eastern Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province in eastern Tajikistan, adjoining the border with Afghanistan’s Wakhan District. The area was made a zakaznik in 1972 for the conservation of Bar-headed goose, bar-headed geese and upgraded to a full nature reserve in 2000. It has also been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA). Description The reserve occupies a wide valley 320 km east of the provincial capital of Khorugh, lying between the southern Alichur and Vahan ridges of the eastern Pamir Mountainss at 4000–5460 m above sea level. The landscape consists mainly of gentle slopes of sparsely vegetated Alpine-steppe, alpine steppe. The core of the reserve is the 3900 ha fresh water, freshwater Zorkul lake at an altitude of 4125 m. The maximum depth of the lake is 6 m. Its surface is covered by vegetation. Bar-headed geese and other waterfowl breed on islands in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pamir Protected Area Map-fr , a board game set in 19th century Afghanistan
{{disambig, geo ...
Pamir may refer to: Geographical features * Pamir Mountains, a mountain range in Central Asia ** Pamir-Alay, a mountain system in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, part of the Pamir Mountains *A pamir (valley) is a high plateau or valley surrounded by mountains **Great Pamir, a high valley in the Wakhan, on the border of Afghanistan and Tajikistan **Little Pamir, a high valley in the Wakhan, Afghanistan * Pamir River, on the border of Tajikistan and Afghanistan Other uses * ''Pamir'' (ship), a German sailing ship * Pamir Airways, based in Afghanistan * Pamir languages * Pamir Alevism ''(),'' a sect of Batini-Ismailis in Turkestan See also * Pax Pamir ''Pax Pamir'' is a boardgame designed by Cole Wehrle, originally released in 2015 with a second edition published in 2019. It concerns the Russian, British, and Durrani empires struggling for dominance in Afghanistan, with players assuming the r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pasture
Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs (non-grass herbaceous plants). Pasture is typically grazed throughout the summer, in contrast to meadow which is ungrazed or used for grazing only after being mown to make hay for animal fodder. Pasture in a wider sense additionally includes rangelands, other unenclosed pastoral systems, and land types used by wild animals for grazing or browsing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are distinguished from rangelands by being managed through more intensive agricultural practices of seeding, irrigation, and the use of fertilizers, while rangelands grow primarily native vegetation, managed with extensive practices like co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White-winged Snowfinch
The white-winged snowfinch (''Montifringilla nivalis''), or snowfinch, is a small passerine bird. Despite its name, it is a sparrow rather than a true finch. Taxonomy In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the white-winged snowfinch in his ''Ornithologie'' based on a specimen but without specifying where it had been collected. He used the French name and the Latin ''Fringilla nivalis''. The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his ''Systema Naturae'' for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the white-winged snowfinch. Linnaeus included a brief description, used the bi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hume's Lark
Hume's short-toed lark (''Calandrella acutirostris'') is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae. It is found in south-central Asia from Iran and Kazakhstan to China. Taxonomy and systematics The name commemorates the British naturalist Allan Octavian Hume who described the species. The alternate name short-toed lark may also be used for three other species in the genus ''Calandrella''. The alternate name lesser short-toed lark should not be confused with the species of the same name, '' Alaudala rufescens''. Other alternate names for Hume's short-toed lark include Hume's lark and Karakoram short-toed lark. Subspecies Two subspecies are recognized: * ''C. a. acutirostris'' - Hume, 1873: Found from north-eastern Iran and eastern Kazakhstan to western China * Tibet short-toed lark (''C. a. tibetana'') - Brooks, WE, 1880: Originally described as a separate species. Found from north-eastern Pakistan to Tibetan Plateau Description Hume's short-toed lark is similar in size an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yellow-billed Chough
The Alpine chough (), or yellow-billed chough (''Pyrrhocorax graculus'') is a bird in the crow family, one of only two species in the genus '' Pyrrhocorax''. Its two subspecies breed in high mountains from Spain eastwards through southern Europe and North Africa to Central Asia and Nepal, and it may nest at a higher altitude than any other bird. The eggs have adaptations to the thin atmosphere that improve oxygen take-up and reduce water loss. This bird has glossy black plumage, a yellow beak, red legs, and distinctive calls. It has a buoyant acrobatic flight with widely spread flight feathers. The Alpine chough pairs for life and displays fidelity to its breeding site, which is usually a cave or crevice in a cliff face. It builds a lined stick nest and lays three to five brown-blotched whitish eggs. It feeds, usually in flocks, on short grazed grassland, taking mainly invertebrate prey in summer and fruit in winter; it will readily approach tourist sites to find supplementary f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brown-headed Gull
The brown-headed gull (''Chroicocephalus brunnicephalus'') is a small gull which breeds in the high plateaus of central Asia from Tajikistan to Ordos in Inner Mongolia. It is migratory, wintering on the coasts and large inland lakes of the Indian Subcontinent. As is the case with many gulls, was traditionally placed in the genus ''Larus''. This gull breeds in colonies in large reedbeds or marshes, or on islands in lakes, nesting on the ground. Like most gulls, it is highly gregarious in winter, both when feeding or in evening roosts. It is not a pelagic species, and is rarely seen at sea far from coasts. This is a bold and opportunist feeder, which will scavenge in towns or take invertebrates in ploughed fields with equal relish. The brown-headed gull is slightly larger than black-headed gull. The summer adult has a pale brown head, lighter than that of black-headed, a pale grey body, and red bill and legs. The black tips to the primary wing feathers have conspicuous white "mir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lesser Sand Plover
The lesser sand plover (''Charadrius mongolus'') is a small wader in the plover family of birds. The spelling is commonly given as lesser sand-plover, but the official British Ornithologists' Union spelling is "lesser sand plover". The genus name ''Charadrius'' is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives from Ancient Greek ''kharadrios'' a bird found in ravines and river valleys (''kharadra'', "ravine"). The specific ''mongolus'' is Latin and refers to Mongolia which at the time of naming referred to a larger area than the present country. Taxonomy There are five races, and the large east Asian forms, ''C. m. mongolus'' and ''C. m. stegmanni'', are sometimes given specific status as Mongolian plover, ''Charadrius mongolus''. If the taxonomic split is accepted, lesser sand plover as then defined becomes ''Charadrius atrifrons'', including the three races ''atrifrons, pamirensis'' and ''schaeferi''. A study published in 2022 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Himalayan Vulture
The Himalayan vulture (''Gyps himalayensis'') or Himalayan griffon vulture is an Old World vulture native to the Himalayas and the adjoining Tibetan Plateau. It is one of the two largest Old World vultures and true raptors. It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. It is not to be confused with the griffon vulture, which is a similar species. Description The Himalayan vulture has dark brown greater covert feathers, tail and wing quills, but a pale buff uniform upperside and paler tipped inner secondaries; its legs are covered with buffy feathers and vary in colour from greenish grey to pale brown. The underside and under-wing coverts are pale brown or buff, almost white in some individuals. The whitish down on the head of immatures changes to yellowish in adults who have a long and pale brown ruff with white streaks and long and spiky ruff feathers. The pale blue facial skin is lighter than the dark blue in ''Gyps fulvus'' with this species having a yellowish bil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saker Falcon
The saker falcon (''Falco cherrug'') is a large species of falcon. This species breeds from central Europe eastwards across the Palearctic to Manchuria. It is mainly migratory except in the southernmost parts of its range, wintering in Ethiopia, the Arabian peninsula, northern Pakistan and western China. The saker falcon is the national bird of Hungary, the United Arab Emirates, and Mongolia. Taxonomy and systematics This species belongs to the close-knit hierofalcon complex. In this group, there is ample evidence for rampant hybridization and incomplete lineage sorting which confounds analyses of DNA sequence data to a massive extent; molecular studies with small sample sizes can simply not be expected to yield reliable conclusions in the entire hierofalcon group. The radiation of the entire living diversity of hierofalcons seems to have taken place in the Eemian interglacial at the start of the Late Pleistocene, a mere 130,000–115,000 years ago; the saker falcon represents ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruddy Shelduck
The ruddy shelduck (''Tadorna ferruginea''), known in India as the Brahminy duck, is a member of the family Anatidae. It is a distinctive waterfowl, in length with a wingspan of . It has orange-brown body plumage with a paler head, while the tail and the flight feathers in the wings are black, contrasting with the white wing-coverts. It is a migratory bird, wintering in the Indian subcontinent and breeding in southeastern Europe and central Asia, though there are small resident populations in North Africa. It has a loud honking call. The ruddy shelduck mostly inhabits inland water-bodies such as lakes, reservoirs and rivers. The male and female form a lasting pair bond and the nest may be well away from water, in a crevice or hole in a cliff, tree or similar site. A clutch of about eight eggs is laid and is incubated solely by the female for about four weeks. The young are cared for by both parents and fledge about eight weeks after hatching. In central and eastern Asia, pop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Himalayan Snowcock
The Himalayan snowcock (''Tetraogallus himalayensis'') is a snowcock in the pheasant family Phasianidae found across the Himalayan ranges and parts of the adjoining Pamir range of Asia. It is found on alpine pastures and on steep rocky cliffs where they will dive down the hill slopes to escape. It overlaps with the slightly smaller Tibetan snowcock in parts of its wide range. The populations from different areas show variations in the colouration and about five subspecies have been designated. They were introduced in the mountains of Nevada in the United States in the 1960s and a wild population has established in the Ruby Mountains. Description The Himalayan snowcock is a large grey partridge-like bird, in length and weighing .''CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses'' by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), . The head pattern has a resemblance to that of the smaller and well marked chukar partridge. The white throat and sides of the head are bordered by chestnut moustac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
