The Most Threatened Birds Of India (Critically Endangered Birds)

India houses around 1,300 bird species, representing about 12% of the world’s bird species. Among them is a group facing an immediate risk of disappearing from the wild. They are just one step away from extinction on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. They are the Critically Endangered (CR) birds living in India.

Based on the current published global IUCN Red List classifications, 13 Critically Endangered bird species occur, or have historically occurred, in India. This includes resident species and those for which the possibility of disappearance from India is a serious concern. This list includes four vultures, three bustards, highly range-restricted species, and birds that have become exceptionally rare or may have already become extinct.

The Critically Endangered Birds of India

1. Great Indian Bustard

Scientific Name: Ardeotis nigriceps

The Great Indian bustard. Image credit: Original: SVKMBFLY; this edit: MPF, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The Great Indian Bustard is one of India’s most threatened grassland birds. It is associated mainly with open arid and semi-arid landscapes, particularly in western India. Rajasthan has the largest remaining population, with around 100 to 150 birds.

The species is affected by the loss and alteration of grasslands, disturbance, and infrastructure development. Deaths due to collisions with overhead power lines is another serious problem.  

The Wildlife Institute of India has therefore incorporated power-line mitigation, population monitoring, habitat management, and conservation breeding into the national recovery program of this species. The Bombay Natural History Society is also working to protect the species through habitat conservation and recovery initiatives.

The Great Indian Bustard is one of India's most threatened grassland birds. It is associated mainly with open arid and semi-arid landscapes, particularly in western India, and Rajasthan holds the most important remaining population.

2. Lesser Florican

Scientific name: Sypheotides indicus

The dancing display of a male lesser florican. Image credit: Parth Kansara, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The Lesser Florican is the smallest bustard species and is closely associated with grasslands and agricultural landscapes. Unlike the Great Indian Bustard, it is a local migrant, moving between areas at different times during its annual cycle. It is found mainly in western and central India, particularly in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra.

The male’s breeding display is the most recognizable behaviour of this species. During the breeding season in the monsoon, a male suddenly launches itself above the surrounding vegetation, beating its wings rapidly before dropping back into the grass.

Loss and degradation of grasslands, changes in agricultural practices, grazing pressure, and development are the important concerns.

3. Bengal Florican

Scientific name: Houbaraopsis bengalensis

Bengal Florican at Orang Tiger Reserve, Darrang, Assam, India. Image credit: Nejib Ahmed, CC BY-SA 4.0  via Wikimedia Commons.

The Bengal Florican is another grassland-dependent bustard. In India, the species is associated particularly with the floodplain grasslands of Assam and parts of the Terai. It also suffers from grassland conversion, changes in land management, invasive vegetation, and other alterations in floodplain ecosystems. Both the lesser florican and this species have only a few hundred surviving individuals.

4. White-bellied Heron

Scientific name: Adrea insignis

White-bellied heron. Image credit: Rajkimar99, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

This large heron species is associated with riverine and wetland habitats in forested areas. It occurs in the foothills regions of the eastern Himalayas in Northeast India, with its range extending into Myanmar and Bhutan. Habitat alteration, disturbance, destruction of nesting sites and other pressures have contributed to its decline.

5. White-rumped Vulture

Scientific name: Gyps bengalensis

White-rumped vultures. Image credit: Mahmudul Bari, CC BY-SA 4.0  via Wikimedia Commons.

This species was once one of the most abundant large birds of prey across the Indian subcontinent. Its population collapse is one of the most dramatic declines ever documented in a bird species.

The veterinary drug diclofenac was the primary cause of its decline. Cattle treated with the drug could die with residues remaining in their tissues. Vultures feeding on those carcasses suffered acute kidney failure and died. The discovery of this link led to the ban on veterinary diclofenac in India in 2006. Later, several other veterinary non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like aceclofenac and ketoprofen were also banned as they posed a similar risk to the vultures.

Today, work is going on by the Government of India and the BNHS to revive vulture populations across India through captive breeding and release programs.

6. Indian Vulture

Scientific name: Gyps indicus

Indian vulture. Image credit: Shantanu Kuveskar, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

This vulture species, also called the long-billed vulture, suffered the same fate as the white-rumped vulture. Its severe population decline was also associated with the use of the vulture-toxic veterinary drugs.

7. Slender-billed Vulture

Scientific name: Gyps tenuirostris

A slender-billed vulture. Image credit: Mike Prince from Bangalore, India, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

This species, found primarily in the northern and northeastern parts of India in the sub-Himalayan region, also suffered a similar collapse.

As with the other Gyps vultures, safe (vulture toxin-free) carcasses are central to its survival.

8. Red-headed Vulture

Scientific name: Sarcogyps calvus

A red-headed vulture male with white-rumped vultures. Image credit: Suyesha-Pooja, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Although from a different genus, the red-headed vulture, also called the Asian king vulture, suffered the same fate as the three Gyps species mentioned above. Once found across much of the Indian subcontinent, today its population is confined to small pockets in northern India.  

9. Manipur Bush Quail

Scientific name: Perdicula manipurensis

Illustration of a Manipur Bush Quail. Image credit: Ogilvie-Grant, WR, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Manipur Bush Quail is one of India’s least-known threatened birds. It is associated with grassland habitats in northeastern India, particularly the Assam Plains region. For decades, the species has been poorly documented. Its restricted range and lack of recent reliable records have made it difficult to estimate its population accurately.

10. Bugun Liocichla

Scientific name: Liocichla bugunorum

A Bugun Loichichla. Image credit: Muk.Seh, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

This species is one of India’s most geographically restricted birds. It is endemic to a small area in Arunachal Pradesh. It was first recorded in 2003 by scientist Ramana Athreya and was named after the Bugun tribe of the region.

Its highly restricted range places it on the IUCN's Critically Endangered list. However, there is hope for the species as the local communities in its habitat have taken up the responsibility to protect its future.

11. Jerdon’s Courser

Scientific name: Rhinoptilus bitorquatus

Camera Trap photograph of the Jerdon's Courser. Image credit: PJeganathan, CC BY-SA 3.0  via Wikimedia Commons.

Jerdon’s Courser is an endemic bird found only in the Eastern Ghats region of Andhra Pradesh. It is a nocturnal species found in dry scrub and open ground habitats. Its highly restricted habitat and nocturnal nature make population surveys extremely difficult. It was last visually recorded around 2008 to 2009, but it was acoustically detected by its confirmed call on August 24, 2025.

12. Himalayan Quail

Scientific name: Orphrysia superciliosa

Illustration of Ophrysia superciliosa by Edward Lear. Image credit: artist : Edward Lear  - book by John Gould, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Himalayan Quail is one of India’s most enigmatic birds. Although still listed as Critically Endangered, this bird is possibly extinct. It was last reported in 1876 near Mussoorie hill station. It was historically known from parts of the Western Himalayas, including areas around Mussoorie and Nainital.

13. Pink-headed Duck

Scientific name: Rhodonessa caryophyllacea

A taxidermied pink-headed duck. Image credit: Geni via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Pink-headed Duck, like the Himalayan Quail, is possibly extinct. It once occurred in the wetlands and floodplains of the Ganga and Brahmaputra systems and neighboring parts of South Asia. The male’s bright pink head made it one of the most distinctive ducks of the region.

For many decades now, there has been no confirmed record of the bird. It was last seen in 1949. Hunting and wetland loss contributed to its decline.