Total 332 Bird Specie Located in Himachal Pradesh :

• As per the Great Backyard Bird Count (7th Indian edition), the number of bird species in Himachal Pradesh was 332 in 2018.
• Among the Indian States, Himachal Pradesh shared the topmost position with Uttrakhand where the highest number of species was recorded.  
• Birding locations included wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, conservation reserves, villages and urban areas. She said that more than 150 bird species were recorded in Mandi, Shimla, Kangra and Sirmaur districts.
• The Great Backyard Bird Count is a citizen science initiative intended to encourage both amateur and professional bird-watchers to contribute towards the understanding bird and their biology in a better way.
• The  Forest Department said that amateur birders from across the state contributed in the count in addition to 287 checklists that were uploaded into e-Bird by 55 participants.
•  Participation in the event involved a minimum of 15 minutes bird watching during which all the bird species seen were counted and listed.  It involved bird watching sessions with school teachers and students, birding involving local villagers and panchayat representatives and training of frontline staff of the forest department in bird identification.

State Bird of Himachal :

Western Tragopan replaced the bird Monal for the state bird of Himachal. Its scientific name is Tragopan melanocephalus. Since, Monal is also the state bird of Uttrakhand and National bird of Nepal, there was a need to chose some new species of bird as state bird for Himachal. Western Tragopan was chosen keeping in view its beauty and decreasing number in Himachal.