India GO
Bird · Phoenicurus fuliginosus
Plumbeous water redstart
IUCN LC · Least concern
A small slate-blue bird of fast mountain streams, bobbing on a midstream boulder and flicking a rusty-red tail open and shut.
How to recognise it
The constant tail-fanning is the giveaway. The male is slate blue with a chestnut tail; the female is grey with white underparts and a white rump.
Where to see it
Dehradun
A reliable indicator of clean, fast water: where the bird is absent from a Himalayan stream, the stream has usually been altered.
Robber's Cave (Gucchupani) · Shikhar Falls · Maldevta
Rishikesh
Together with the white-capped redstart, this is the bird you will see on every boulder in every side stream around Rishikesh. The pair is a reliable sign of clean, fast water.
Neer Garh Waterfall · Patna Waterfall · Garud Chatti Waterfall