General species composition
Field surveys recorded 483 individual birds belonging to 15 species from the families Alcedinidae, Motacillidae, Muscicapidae, Cinclidae, Ibidorynchidae and Charadridae. This included two river chats, three wagtails, two forktails, a thrush and a dipper which are all widespread in the Western Himalaya (Fig. S3). The Plumbeous water redstart (Rhyacornis fuliginosa ) was the most abundant bird recorded in all the three river basins while Ibisbills (Ibidoryyncha struthersii) were recorded from just two river reaches in the Bhagirathi basin (Fig. S3). All 15 species were recorded from the Bhagirathi basins, while eight species were recorded in each of Amrut Ganga and Tirthan river basins. Sites with most species were from the Bhagirathi basin at elevations between 1000 m and 1500 m (Fig. S4).