Range extension records of Tibetan Snowcock, Tibetan Sandgrouse, and Western Tragopan in Uttarakhand, India

The study reports photographic evidence of range extension for three avian species: Western Tragopan Tragopan melanocephalus (Gray, 1829), Tibetan Snowcock Tetraogallus tibetanus (Gould, 1854), and Tibetan Sandgrouse Syrrhaptes tibetanus (Gould, 1850) based on camera trap surveys conducted in the Bhagirathi Basin, Uttarakhand. These detections represent a noteworthy eastward range extension for all three species and refine the current understanding of their biogeographic distributions in the western Himalaya. The Western Tragopan, previously known to extend eastward only up to the Govind National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary in the Garhwal Himalaya, lacked photographic confirmation until now. Similarly, the Tibetan Snowcock and Tibetan Sandgrouse were historically regarded as trans-Himalayan specialists, confined primarily to the high-altitude regions of Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, and Sikkim. These records, obtained through systematic camera-trap sampling conducted over a five-year period, suggest the existence of populations of these species within Uttarakhand. Their distribution appears to be limited to remote and ecologically distinct high-altitude habitats.