Tragopan melanocephalus

The foreign name of the black-headed tragopan is Western Tragopan, and there is no subspecies.

The black-headed tragopan likes to move alone and forms small groups in winter. It has weak flying and dispersal abilities, and relatively poor ability to avoid natural enemies. It lives in dense forests, and mainly feeds on the tender buds, young leaves, green leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds of trees, shrubs, bamboo, herbs and ferns, and sometimes insects and other invertebrates.

When the black-headed tragopan is alerted, it makes a sheep-like waa, waa, waa call. In spring, the male bird makes a single goat-like waa call from time to time all day long.

The black-headed tragopan enters the breeding season from May to July every year. During the estrus period, the male bird has a very imposing show-off performance, with fleshy horns and fleshy skirts swollen, and two wings one high and one low, facing the female bird for the best effect. It nests in trees. The female bird chooses a suitable place on the horizontal branches of a tall tree, and uses her abdomen to press the accumulated moss and fallen leaves into a shallow nest, which is very simple. The female bird lays eggs inside. Generally, one egg is laid every other day, and each nest has 3-6 eggs. The color of the eggs is light yellow or reddish brown, with a few dark brown round spots. The female bird is responsible for incubating the eggs. The female bird is responsible for incubating the eggs. The male bird occasionally visits the nest at first, but disappears without a trace after a few days.

As early as the long winter when the black-headed tragopans formed groups, they gradually formed mates, and later added varying numbers of male birds and young birds. The strong male bird in the group always follows the female bird and fiercely drives away other male birds in or outside the group that try to approach the female bird. Sometimes fierce fighting is inevitable. The dominant male bird is called the "dominant male". Of course, once a stronger male bird invades and defeats it, the latter will replace it. In the spring of the following year, this competition becomes more intense. In late March, the dominant male bird occupies a mountain forest. In the early morning, it makes loud sounds similar to the crying of a baby, "Wow, wow, ga ga ga ga", announcing that it is the owner of this territory, and sings fiercely with the neighboring male birds. Whenever it has free time, it will constantly perform complex courtship performances in front of the female bird: crouching in front of the female bird, nodding its head and neck up and down, suddenly the horns stand up, the skirt spreads out, and then quickly shakes its wings towards the female bird. At the climax, the body suddenly stands up, the wings are clamped, and a long "whoosh" sound is emitted. Such performances occur dozens of times a day, and can last for dozens of days. At first, the female bird is indifferent to this inexplicable dance, and often turns away halfway through watching. When the male bird, who is performing excitedly, encounters such an occasion, it is like being poured with cold water, and his mood suddenly becomes depressed, and the dance is abandoned halfway. However, after hundreds of performances, the male bird often eventually conquers the heart of the female bird and the two become partners.

The black-headed tragopan is a relatively rare species among tragopans. Only some populations have been found in northwest India and northwest Pakistan, with a total number of less than 5,000. There have been no new reports in China except for early records in the Shiquan River Basin in western Tibet. It has become extinct in China, and the time of extinction is unknown. The main endangered factors are deforestation in the habitat, egg picking and nest destruction, hunting, etc. The broad-leaved forest in the habitat has been replaced by artificially planted coniferous forests, which has also led to the deterioration or even loss of the habitat conditions of the black-headed tragopan.

Listed in CITES endangered level: Appendix I effective year: 1997

Listed in China's Red Book of Endangered Animals: Undetermined effective year: 1996

Listed in the "Red List of Endangered Species of the World Conservation Union" (IUCN) 2016 ver 3.1-Least Concern (LC).

Listed in China's "National Key Protected Wildlife List" (February 5, 2021) Level 1.

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Distributed in the northwest of the Himalayas, northern India, northern Pakistan and Kashmir, in China, it is only recorded in the Shiquan River Basin near Gegye in western Tibet and the Senge Zangbo Basin in the southwestern corner of Tibet, but there are no observation records after the 1950s.
The black-headed tragopan lives in the original coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests and coniferous forests at an altitude of 2000-4000 meters, and descends to about 2000 meters in winter. The main tree species in the typical habitat are fir, oak, maple, birch, as well as understory shrubs, bamboo forests and ferns.

The male black-headed tragopan is 68-74 cm long and weighs 1.5-2.2 kg. The head is black; the horns are blue; the crown feathers are also black with red tips; there is a large red bare area around the eyes on the face; the skirt under the neck is bright pink, with purple vertical stripes in the middle, and 6 light yellow patches with blue edges on the left and right; the lower part of the cheek is blue-green; the body feathers are mostly gray-black, full of white round spots, the upper body is smaller, and the lower body is slightly larger; the upper part of the neck, the sides and the throat, the chest are red, and there is a dark red patch on the shoulder; the tail feathers are brown and black mottled, with black tips. The female bird is 60 cm long. The upper body is light gray-brown and covered with black spots; the lower body is mostly gray with white spots.
There is a fleshy "apron" around the throat, called "meat skirt", also called "meat skirt".