They nest on the vast central plains of Asia and winter in inhospitable places like Iraq and Pakistan, and rarely visited places like the White Desert of Kutch in Gujarat. In India, everything takes about three times longer than you expect it to. MORE

Also, if the count is ever going to go worldwide – and I assume that someday that is the goal – what are the odds of getting Pakistan or Saudi Arabia to hold a Christmas Bird Count? The annual Christmas Bird Count is a venerable tradition and this year’s will be the 113th. The oft-told tale of its start in 1900 as an alternative to the “side-hunt” which was itself a long tradition in many families warms many a birder’s heart. MORE

Such is the case of the Saudi Arabian prince who, a few months back, took a hunting junket to Pakistan. After the fact, Houbara Bustard hunting was tentatively banned in one of Pakistan’s provinces, which is nice, I guess, but cold comfort to those concerned about the dwindling numbers of these birds. News bustard Houbara Bustard hunters hunting Pakistan As has often been said in these quarters, in general us bird bloggers don’t have many quarrels with hunters. MORE

Once this species inhabited wide steppes of India and Pakistan, but nowadays remain in ever smaller and more isolated habitat fragments. There are some seven birds among the 100 most endangered species on the planet on the list of fauna and flora listed as the rarest by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Zoological Society of London – and this morning, I am after one of those! MORE

The other part of its attractiveness may be coming from the fact that it breeds in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan – countries seldom visited by foreign birders. Grey Hypocolius is a Holy Grail of Middle Eastern birding. Not because it is rare – it isn’t, just widely scattered and ill-numbered. Or because it is endangered – it isn’t. Part of its attraction lies in it being a monotypic bird in the family Hypocoliidae – there are no other bird species in its genus and family. MORE

Beside India, Lynx Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of South Asia covers Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Mammals of South Asia (Paperback) Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka Pages 173 Dimensions 14 × 22.8 MORE

India and Pakistan are mostly left to get on with their conflict with little intervention from the outside world. This week however, it appeared that the conflict may escalate after India targeted terrorist activity within Pakistan and had one of their aircraft shot down in the process. The dispute over Kashmir has been rumbling on since Partition in 1947. MORE

This pigeon is the national bird of Maharashtra and remains so after the officials rejected the proposal by conservationists that the rare and endemic Forest Owlet , found only in this state and nowhere else in the world, should replace the pigeon that inhabits the entire India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. February 2013. In front of us, in the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve one wild Grey Junglefowl runs across the road. It is one of the ancestors of domestic fowl. MORE

Its name pays homage to the bird that shares much of its distribution across North Africa, The Gulf, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Out into the Atlantic Ocean, 400 miles from the coast of Senegal, lies an archipelago of islands known as Cape Verde. On the most popular tourist island of Sal, I was lucky to encounter the Hoopoe Lark , a bird of desert and dune. MORE

Anyway, India is appealing to its other neighbors which would include Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. They have been pretty frustrated with China, who really doesn't give a rip about tigers.unless they can raise them on farms for "medicinal" harvest and other capitalist pursuits. MORE

Tags: wildlife smuggling wildlife crime pakistan thailand tortoises MORE

But he’s got stiff competition, including peers working to save Tree Kangaroos in Papua New Guinea, Sumatran Orangutans in Indonesia, and Snow Leopards in Pakistan. Sparrowhawk photo by Freek Verdonckt, Batumi Raptor Count. The Whitley Awards , bestowed by the UK-based Whitley Fund for Nature, have been dubbed the “Green Oscars” for their role in recognizing and supporting grassoots-based conservationists in developing countries. MORE