Sclater's Monal is a pheasant of the eastern Himalaya's high country. Males show iridescent blue-green plumage and a white terminal tail band. Detailed behavior has been recorded mainly from captive birds.
The male has iridescent blue-green plumage and a chestnut tail ending in a white band; the female is mainly brown.
Sclater’s Monals breed among high mountain rocks. At Gaoligong in China, nests occupy recessed, south-facing ledges on large cliffs. Females incubate dark-yellow eggs marked with brown spots of varying shapes and sizes.
Fieldwork in spring and early summer 2015 and 2016 found six nest sites at elevations of 3535–3892 metres. Three sites were active, including one used in both years. The four observed nesting attempts contained two or three eggs each.
Temperature records from three nests indicated that females spent an average of 97.2% of monitored time on the nest. Off-nest bouts averaged about an hour. One nest monitored throughout incubation had a 32-day incubation period.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The 2024 researchers suggest that suitable nest sites may be limited, partly because sites are reused. Identifying cliff ledges used for breeding can inform conservation alongside mountain grassland and shrub habitat. The influence of nest-site availability on local populations needs further study.