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The Asiatic golden cat, Catopuma temminckii, is a medium-sized felinae distributed throughout South Asia. It is currently categorized as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List and listed in Appendix I by CITES and Schedule I of the Forest and Nature Conservation Act of Bhutan, 1995. The six colour morphs of Asiatic golden cats have been recognized from their geographic range. The present study (2014-2015) was conducted as a part of the third nationwide tiger survey and wildlife monitoring assessments (2017-2021) in the Trashigang Forest Division. We used camera traps as a tool for the survey. The camera trap photographs confirmed the occurrence of five morphs of Asiatic golden cat from the present locality. All five morphs were photographed at altitudes ranging from 2200-3800 m. The results highlight the importance of conserving eastern Himalayan landscapes to ensure the safe refuse to globally threatened felids, including Asiatic golden cat.

Birds are ecological indicators of ecosystem health. Baseline information on bird diversity are, therefore, important for ecological monitoring. Such information is, however, sorely lacking for many areas outside the protected areas. Here, we explore the avian diversity and present a comprehensive checklist for the non-protected regions of Trashiyangtse District in northeastern Bhutan. We also categorise the bird species by their residency pattern, feeding guilds, abundance, and IUCN Red List status. We conducted an avifauna exploration for a period of four years from 2017 to 2020, mostly through opportunistic encounters coinciding with regular field visits. We recorded a total of 273 bird species belonging to 173 genera, 69 families and 19 orders. Passeriformes was the most dominant order with 41 families and 174 species and Muscicapidae was the most dominant family with 12 genera and 32 species. Most birds were altitudinal migrants (39%), insectivorous (45%), and occasional (44%) in terms of residency pattern, feeding guild, and abundance, respectively. Only one species (Ardea insignis) was listed as Critically Endangered and one (Haliaeetus leucoryphus) as Endangered. Our study identified the non-protected regions of Trashiyangtse District as an important bird diversity area in Bhutan.

Herminium longilobatum S.N. Hedge & A.N. Rao is reported here as new record to Bhutan. With the documentation of this species, the total number of species belonging to this genus in Bhutan adds up to 20. Short description, phenology, ecology and colour images are provided for the same.

This paper presents the results of a study conducted on the species composition of serpent fauna in Trashigang Territorial Forest Division (TTFD), Bhutan. The survey was conducted from August 2019 to September 2020. The study aimed to assess the diversity, conservation threats, and distribution of both venomous and non-venomous snakes in different habitat types using time constrained visual encounter survey technique. A total of 34 species of snakes belonging to five families and 23 genera were recorded. Of the total observed species, nine were identified as venomous species. These include four species of Elapidae, four species of Viperidae, and one Colubridae. Geographically, snakes occurred throughout the landscapes, although species composition and their geographical distribution differed notably amongst various localities. We documented survival threats to local snakes where deliberate killing and road mortality were found to be the most common cause of death. The increasing trend of diversity, species richness, and relative abundance of serpent fauna was noticed as the radial distance increased from urban residential areas towards less disturbed landscapes such as rural agricultural land and natural forests indicating that the habitat mosaic plays an important role in the structure and composition of the snake community. Considering the limited information currently available on diversity and geographical distribution of the serpent fauna of the region, the present study can be considered very significant.