Pampore: Parvaiz Yousuf, a young researcher from Saffron Town Pampore area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, has penned down a pictorial book on birds of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.
A resident of Lalpora Chatlam village of Pampore, Parvaiz is a certified birder, bird guide, writer, researcher, science journalist, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) expert (on-page and off-page).
The book contains over 2,000 coloured pictures of 677 bird species along with over 60,000 words of content. It contains pictures of all male, female, juvenile, breeding and non-breeding bird species.
This book offers scientific names, common English names, bird families, vernacular names in Kashmiri, Dogri and Ladakhi (wherever known), distribution, size, IUCN status, and short bird descriptions. It also provides detailed information on Important Bird Areas (IBAS) in all 3 regions, rare bird species found in the region, bird topography, the number of threatened birds in the region, and much more.
Talking to Kashmir Reader, Parvaiz, who is currently working as a researcher and Consultant for the Climate Reality Project, India and South Asia, said ‘Birds of Jammu and Kashmir including Ladkah’ is a first-of-its-kind book on birds of this region and will prove very beneficial for students, researchers and bird lovers.
The book was launched at an International Conference on Sustainability and Education (ICSE) at India Habitat Centre New Delhi on 20 September organized by Mobius Foundation in collaboration with The Climate Reality Project India and South Asia. Top personalities were present on the occasion and it was a great success.
“Until now, there hasn’t been any book in our region, including Jammu, Kashmir UT, and Ladakh, that documents the bird diversity,” he said.
Parvaiz added, “I was amazed when the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department organized the first-ever bird festival in Pahalgam last year, and I volunteered for it. While interacting with numerous children and people there, something struck me – there was no book available in schools or research libraries that could show what bird species we have in our region. It was a significant gap. So, after completing my master’s degree in zoology from the Central University of Kashmir last year, I decided to start working on this book.”
He said that during his research, he discovered that there are 677 different bird species in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh Union Territories. “I decided to document each of these species separately in the book. The book includes over 2,000 colour pictures and more than 60,000 words of content,” he said, adding that another important aspect of the book is that it includes the Kashmiri and Dogri names of the birds for the people of Kashmir and Jammu, as well as names in Ladakhi for the people of Ladakh.
When I started working on this book, I reached out to various bird photographers, and I collected photographs from them to include in the book, the researcher said.
“After completing the book, I published it on Amazon. The book launch event was a significant international conference in Delhi, attended by prominent figures from across India,” he said.
Parvaiz said he comes from a small village called Lalpora Chatlam, and in his village, there is a beautiful wetland where thousands of migratory birds from different parts of the world visit every year.
“Since childhood, I used to watch these birds, and their vibrant colours never ceased to amaze me,” he said.

BILAL HABIB