Study area
Bhutan is a small landlocked country spreading over an area of 38,394 Sq. Km (Fig.1) and extending between latitudes 27° 31’ 53.11” N and longitudes 90° 26’ 9.07” E in the Eastern Himalayas which is bordered by China and India. The annual temperature ranges between 10 ◦C and 24 ◦C and annual precipitation between 300 m and 6000 m across Bhutan (Penjor et al., 2021). The territory of Bhutan is the home for 5500 species of vascular plants, 46 varieties of rhododendrons, 400 type of lichens, 430 varieties of orchids, and 200 types of forest mushrooms (Efremov, 2019). The population is 735,553 of which 62.2% lives in rural areas, and their livelihoods depend on agriculture and livestock farming(Namgyal et al., 2021). Additionally, more than 95 % of Bhutan remains vegetated, of which approximately 70 % constitutes natural forest cover(Rajaratnam et al., 2016). The bird species of the country stands at 748 species of which 31 are globally threatened and 18 are part of the 37 endemic bird species which makes stronghold of bird diversity (Norbu et al., 2021). The protected areas system of Bhutan comprises five national parks, four wildlife sanctuaries, and one strict nature reserve(Tshewang et al., 2018).
Figure 1: Location map of the study area with occurrence location of species