Satyr Tragopan (Tragopan satyra) belongs to Galliformes order and Phasianidae family. It is resident in moist oak and rhododendron forest with dense undergrowth and bamboo clumps, mixed forest, scrub and densely vegetated ravines in gentle and steep slopes. It is solitary or in pairs. The birds feed on young leaves and other edible parts of plants like Berberis and Rhododendron. This is in addition to mosses, grasses and insects, lichens and quartz fragment. Individuals feed actively in the morning and late afternoon. The breeding season is believed to be in May-June and occasionally into July. Satyr is partly arboreal; nests have been found in trees and also on the ground. Clutch size is 2-3 eggs in the wild and 4-6 in captivity. Satyr Tragopan occurs in the Himalayas of Nepal, India, Bhutan and China. In Nepal it is scarce resident and reported from 2500-3800m in summer and down to 2100m in winter. This bird is reported from Khaptad, Shey Phoksundo, Langtang, Sagarmatha and Makalu Barun National Parks, Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve, and Api Nampa, Annapurna, Manaslu, Gaurishankar and Kanchenjungha Conservation Areas. Major threats for this bird include hunting for local consumption as well as habitat clearance and degradation due to timber harvesting, fuelwood and fodder collection and livestock grazing. Extraction of bamboo also poses problems for habitat of the species, given its association with bamboo undergrowth. The world population is below 20000 individuals and the Nepal population is estimated between 600 and 1000 individuals. The bird is Near Threatened (NT) according to IUCN Global Red list category but the regional IUCN status is Vulnerable (VU) for Nepal. The legal status of this species in Nepal is Protected (Appendix I) under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1973. For Nepal, it is listed at Appendix III in CITES law.
For more information:- Inskipp et al. 2016.
