|Central coordinates||78o 4.28' East 30o 27.87' North|
|IBA criteria||A1, A2|
|Altitude||1,800 - 2,200m|
|Year of IBA assessment||2004|
Site description This IBA is located west and south of Mussoorie, a popular hill station of north India. Binog Sanctuary was notified in 1993 and included areas west of Mussoorie up to Bhadraj, the last peak in the Mussoorie range. Initially covering 1,082 ha, the sanctuary was called Mussoorie Sanctuary. Later, a large area was excluded and only the Binog block (338 ha) remained which was renamed as Binog Mountain Quail Sanctuary. Ten years later, the final notification remains to be issued. Jharipani is a sub-tropical area between Mussoorie and Dehra Dun, and a specimen of Himalayan or Mountain Quail Ophrysia superciliosa has been obtained here in the past. The Sanctuary was created to preserve a small patch of oak forest very close to Mussoorie, which is considered as Himalayan Quail habitat. The bird is still classified as Critically Endangered (probably not extinct), as the possibility of its existence in the area cannot be ruled out (BirdLife International 2001). The main forest of the area is Himalayan Moist Temperate (Ban Oak) type. The lower parts are covered with sub-tropical pine forests. Substantial areas have grass and scrub cover. The Sanctuary forms much of the catchment area of Kempty falls, a major tourist attraction of Mussoorie, and its forests play a crucial role in maintaining a good water flow in the lean summer months (Goyal 1999). The State owned area is covered with forests. There are a few large private estates having large tract of forests adjoining the Binog sanctuary and these are equally good bird habitats.
|Species||Season||Period||Population estimate||Quality of estimate||IBA Criteria||IUCN Category|
|Himalayan Quail Ophrysia superciliosa||-||2004||present [units unknown]||-||A1, A2||Critically Endangered|
|Cheer Pheasant Catreus wallichi||-||2004||present [units unknown]||-||A1, A2||Vulnerable|
|Protected area||Designation||Area (ha)||Relationship with IBA||Overlap with IBA (ha)|
|Mussoorie||Sanctuary||1,082||is identical to site||1,082|
|IUCN habitat||Habitat detail||Extent (% of site)|
|Land-use||Extent (% of site)|
|nature conservation and research||-|
|Notes: Nature conservation and research|
|Notes: Tourism and recreation|
Acknowledgements Key contributors: Dhananjai Mohan, S. Sathyakumar and Rahul Kaul.
Ali, S. and Ripley, S. D. (1987) Compact Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (Second Edition). Oxford University Press, Delhi.
BirdLife International (2001) Threatened Birds of Asia: The BirdLife Red Data Book. BirdLife International, Cambridge, U.K.
Dang, H. (1968) The Goral of Benog: An area - specific study of Nemorhaedus goral. Cheetal 2(1): 47-58.
Goyal, C. P. (1999) Management Plan of Binog Mountain Quail Sanctuary, Mussoorie, Wildlife Preservation Organisation, Forest Department, Uttar Pradesh.
Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C. and Inskipp, T. (1999) Pocket Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
Shafique, T. and Javed, S. (1999) Mountain Quail Ophrysia superciliosa. A review. Department of Wildlife Sciences, AMU, Aligarh.
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Recommended citation BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Binog Sanctuary - Bhadraj - Jharipani. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 21/12/2013
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