Himalayan Bird Count is a birding event that encompasses the entire Himalayan region covering three countries - India, Nepal, and Bhutan. Last year in 2022, it was organized for the time by Bird Count India and this was the 2nd year event for this extravagant program. 

Seven states from India, which are part of the Himalayan region had a participation level of 227 individual birdwatchers. Amongst that, the smallest state of Sikkim had 22 birdwatchers. 

Dibyendu Ash from Sikkim Birds and Sunita Khatiwara from Sikkim Forest Department were the coordinators for the Himalayan Bird Count of Sikkim for the year 2023. 

For Himalayan Bird Count on a single day, we came across 106 different species covering elevation ranges between 2,700 ft and 13,400 ft; where Crested Kingfisher and Indian Pond Heron had been sighted along with Red-billed Chough and Plain Mountain Finch. 

The trail that we covered during this single-day birding event!

The itinerary for the single-day birding event had to be chalked out very strategically. On 12th May 2023, we stayed overnight at Rongli at an elevation zone of 2,700 ft from MSL. We started from the night; sharp at 12:01 AM we started counting and made some 2-3 initial checklists for the night; listing on Mountain Scops Owl and some vocalizing Cuckoos around. On the next day early morning, we did birding along Rongli Khola for half an hour and later we drove up by 8 AM onward. We decided, since we have very few hours left in hand, we must cover the high elevation and would cover the mid-elevation zone of Phadamchen Nimachen would be covered in the afternoon. However, Almost the entire day had been spent in high elevation due to the long drive. So we couldn't enter any babbler species as such in the list. However, we came across some fascinating duck species, some pheasants, and finches as major highlights for this single-day birding. At night we did a search for Owls and listed some pretty ones. 

 

Satyr Tragopan male	Himalayan Shortwing male

The most spectacular was the sighting of a Himalayan Red Fox during this birding event. It had been sighted and photographed for the first time (except camera trap) from this area. 

The preliminary report for this event can be found at Bird Count India portal at: https://birdcount.in/hbc23-prelim-results/ 
A more detailed precise report would be published by BCI soon.

Trip Report from Sikkim Birds' checklists can be found here at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/129396