GBBC or Great Backyard Bird Count is a global birding birdwatching and nature awareness event. Like the previous year, in 2024 as well Sikkim Birds Tours and Travels organized this birding event and this was led by Sikkim State Coordinator Dibyendu Ash, accompanied by Rozan Dhungel, Binay Thapa, and Saurav Dhungel. 

For this mega birding event in Sikkim, multiple birdwatchers and listers enrolled. The planning for the event was done by Dibyendu Ash, who meticulously designed the itinerary so that the team of four birdwatchers could cover as much as possible within 4 days enlist the maximum bird count for the state of Sikkim and put Sikkim in a bigger and higher data-statistical map.

On day 1 i.e. on 16th February, they started from the Rangpo region, mostly covering the riverine belts along the Teesta River (or Rangpo Chu). In the afternoon, they moved to Rongli following Rongli Chu. The whole day's coverage of the bird list can be seen here in the compiled day trip report here - GBBC DAY 1 TRIP REPORT

Day 2 began at midnight of the 17th, when they started putting down nocturnal bird calls in a few lists and slept for the night turns. Someone had to check for nocturnal bird calls or flight calls, thus this planning was done. In the early morning, when all woke up again, the team was again in the field and they started in the early morning at 6 AM sharp from Rongli, following the silk route to the upper elevations. For the entire day, they covered extensively between Rongli to Phadamchen, covering all possible habitats and jungle trails. For the night they planned to stay at Phadamchen at Takchi Homestay and rest for the night. The report for day 2 can be seen here - GBBC DAY 2 TRIP REPORT

On day 3, 18th February, they started very early in the morning at 5 AM and explored around Phadamchen village. Later as the day progressed, they moved higher up, changing the elevation. The hamlets in the silk-route complex - Phadamchen, Zuluk, Nagthan, Ganek, Thambi View Point, Lungthu, Dhupidara, Laxman Chowk, Gnathang Valley, Baba Mandir, Kyongnosla WLS were thoroughly searched for different bird species of the Sikkim Himalayas. Elevation wise, today they had covered 6,000 ft to 13,400 ft. Since it was winter month, thus the birdlife at higher elevations was lesser. They arrived at Gangtok in the evening. From here the team departed and Dibyendu continued for the last day of list building. The list of birds for day 3 is here - GBBC DAY 3 TRIP REPORT

As the participants returned back, Dibyendu also stayed back at his house at Central Pendam. He did some nocturnal bird count for the day from his village. On the next day, in the early morning, he had a birding tour with a guest from Bangalore, who accompanied him for the last day of the event and covered Central Pendam village thoroughly. The trip report for day 4 can be checked here - GBBC DAY 4 TRIP REPORT

Overall, they had covered from 1,100 ft to 13,400 ft in 4 days time with a combined birding effort of roughly 70+ hours listed 219 birds, and created 164 checklists. The entire trip report for the 4 days is here - GBBC 2024

From this birding event, Sikkim has increased 54% new birders in the birding forum. Sikkim also has increased its number of checklist creations to 259%, which is highest amongst all the states of India. Sikkim stood at 10th position by creating 136 checklists following the 15 minutes protocol. We feel proud enough for our standings, even after being such small state and having 0.04% of total population of India! Happy Birding! Cheers to Team Sikkim Birds!