Created by Pvmoutside
Last edited March 13, 2022


Endemic birds of South Asia are those birds that belong to or are native to South Asia, on the Indian subcontinent and adjacent islands of the north-central Indian Ocean.[1]

This article is one of a series providing information about endemism among birds in the world's various zoogeographic zones. For an overview of this subject see Endemism in birds.

Endemic Bird Areas[edit | edit source]

BirdLife International has defined two Endemic Bird Areas (EBAs) in the Indian subcontinent:[2]

Each area has its own set of endemic species, and there are further species shared between the two which are not found elsewhere.

In addition, the following are classified as secondary areas (areas with at least one restricted-range bird species, but not meeting the criteria to qualify as EBAs):

List of species[edit | edit source]

Species endemic to India[edit | edit source]

Species endemic to the Western Ghats and associated hills[edit | edit source]

Malabar parakeet
White-cheeked barbet
Nilgiri flycatcher

Other localised species endemic to peninsular India[edit | edit source]

Jerdon's courser

Species endemic to Sri Lanka[edit | edit source]

Sri Lanka wood-pigeon
Crimson-fronted barbet

Other localised species endemic to peninsular India and Sri Lanka combined[edit | edit source]

Species endemic to Sri Lanka and the Western Ghats combined[edit | edit source]


Other species endemic to the subcontinent[edit | edit source]

Indian peafowl
Indian black ibis
Common hawk-cuckoo
Indian grey hornbill

Species endemic to northern parts of the subcontinent[edit | edit source]

Rock bush-quail


Near-endemics and seasonal endemics[edit | edit source]

In addition, the following species are near-endemics i.e. only a small proportion of the population is found outside the subcontinent:

Grey francolin

The following species is endemic as a breeding species, but winters elsewhere:

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Endemic | Definition of endemic by Merriam-Webster accessed October 15, 2015 from www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/endemic
  2. del Hoyo, Josep and Collar, Nigel J. Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World, Volume 1: Non-passerines Jan 1, 2014

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