bya wang

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བྱ་ཝང
bat [IW]

night-hawk, goat-sucker, bat [RY]

white birds with a red crest and black tail often seen flying in flocks in east Tibet [JV]

(sman) White Ear Pheasant (Crossoptilon crossoptilon) (dGa' ba'i rDo rje 1995)

bya wang /.../ sman du sbyar bya dang ro nus/ (1) sha ro mngar/ zhu rjes snyoms/ nus pas skyugs pa gcod/ lus kyi zungs gso/ stobs skyed/ (2) brun ro kha/ zhu rjes bsil/ nus pas gdon srung / smyo 'bogs sel// (dGa' ba'i rDo rje, p. 368)

Illustrations : 'Phrin Las 1987 (30_052) bya wang sha. dGa' ba'i rDo rje (1995) ill. 818

The name bya wang is ambiguous according to sources.
dGa' ba'i rDo rje (1995) identifies and describes the White Ear Pheasant, a white bird with a red crest and black tail.
It goes approximately along with the image (rather generic) in the 'Medical Thankhas'. But the given english name here is 'goat sucker', refering to Caprimulgus, a genus of nightjars, which is bya glag for David Holler (tibetbirds.com) : 'In Tibet only the Grey Nightjar, Caprimulgus jotaka. For me bya glag. Hardly seen as nocturnal birds, but known by everybody due to their strange noises.' Furthermore, english names in the 'Medical Thangkas' are frequently doubtful.
Finally, 'Jam-dpal's notice bya wang describes and depicts in the Eye Ornament clearly a bat under the name bya wang, but gives the synonym pha wang, referring to bats.
One finds all trhee in Dawa's dictionary (1999) : bya wang 'Nightjar, bat, perdix sp.'
Johannes Schmidt (talk) 09:52, 26 May 2025 (EDT)