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Indian Roller Was Documented in Chail Wildlife Sanctuary for the First Time

Indian roller holding a large insect in its bill in West Bengal, India
Conservation · Population & status

An Indian roller (Coracias benghalensis) was documented in Chail Wildlife Sanctuary in Himachal Pradesh for the first time during wildlife monitoring, according to reports published on 23 August 2026. The record was made by a monitoring team including Forest Block Officer Neelam Thakur and other field staff.

The sighting is notable because Chail Wildlife Sanctuary lies at roughly 2,100–2,600 metres above sea level, while Indian rollers are generally associated with plains, open landscapes, agricultural areas, grasslands and lower elevations. Contemporary reports described the record as a new addition to the sanctuary’s documented bird diversity. Unusual high-elevation records had previously been reported elsewhere in Himachal Pradesh, including Sangla in 2014 and Kaza in 2023, so the novelty of this observation is specifically that it is the first known record from Chail Wildlife Sanctuary.

Wildlife officials highlighted the value of regular monitoring for building a stronger record of bird diversity and movements in Himachal Pradesh. The Chail observation adds a documented occurrence from a protected, high-elevation landscape where the species had not previously been recorded.

Sources and image credit

  1. Himachal's Chail Wildlife Sanctuary records Indian Roller recorded for first timeUNI India. (2026, August 23). Himachal's Chail Wildlife Sanctuary records Indian Roller recorded for first time. Contemporary report based on a wildlife-monitoring record by sanctuary field staff; identifies the observation as the first documented Indian roller record for Chail Wildlife Sanctuary and notes the sanctuary's approximately 2,100–2,600 m elevation.
  2. Indian Roller Recorded for the First Time in Chail Wildlife SanctuarySharma, P. (2026, August 23). Indian Roller Recorded for the First Time in Chail Wildlife Sanctuary. Supporting contemporary report naming the monitoring team and quoting Dr Shahnawaz, IFS, DCF Wildlife, Shimla, on the value of regular wildlife monitoring.

Image: Anjan Kumar Kundu — Indian Roller (Coracias benghalensis) with prey on the outskirts of Kolkata, West Bengal, India, photographed 10 November 2021; Wikimedia Commons. Representative species image, not the Chail bird. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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