GBBC -Great Backyard Bird Count (CBC - Campus Bird Count) at Sikkim Zoological Garden, Gangtok, East Sikkim, Sikkim on 19th February 2023

Before Event Synopsis:
GBBC program at the Sikkim Zoological Garden on 18th February 2023 organized by Bird Count India and simultaneously powered by eBird India, Birdwatchers’ Society, and Sikkim Birds.

Acknowledgments:
We are grateful to the Asst. Prof. of Zoology Department from Nar Bahadur Bhandari Govt. College Mr. John Bhutia for his thorough cooperation in organizing this awareness drive for bird watching. Three participants namely Sapana Limboo (Tour Operator – Camp Teenjuray), Raksha Mukhia (Dept. of Botany, Sikkim University) and Dewas Chettri (Dept. of Zoology, NBB Govt. College, who joined this bird walk.

About GBBC:
The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is an annual event that brings bird enthusiasts, students, and nature enthusiasts together to watch and count birds they see around the places where they live, work
or study. This year's event will take place from 17th to 20th February 2023, and is open to everyone, regardless of age or experience. In 2022 GBBC, India stood second in terms of the number of checklists uploaded, behind the United States, and third in terms of the number of species reported, behind Colombia and Ecuador.

About CBC:
Campuses are expected to take part in the sister event Campus Bird Count – CBC, an effort to monitor birds that make their home in educational and institutional campuses. Outside protected areas such as
national parks and wildlife sanctuaries such habitats are becoming increasingly important for our wildlife. Students and teachers from over 100 campuses across India register for this event every year. In India, the GBBC is coordinated by Bird Count India, an umbrella group of a large number of birding, nature, and conservation organizations.

From Sikkim, the Bird Count India’s GBBC state coordinator is Mr. Dibyendu Ash; who had been conducting bird walks and bird awareness programs across north-east India for the last 12 years. Dibyendu Ash is the founder of GoingWild LLP (a nature wildlife tour operator from Kolkata, since 2012), a full-time bird guide of Sikkim Birds (A commercial venture to conduct bird-watching tours in Sikkim); an active member of BWS (Birdwatchers’ Society), active member of BNHS (Bombay Natural History Society) and volunteer member of HEAL (Human Nature Alliance League).

Further details of which are available at https://www.sikkimbirds.com/post/great-backyard-bird-countsikkim-february-2023 and https://birdcount.in/event/gbbc/. The basic activity is to list all bird species seen/ heard at a particular location over a period of 15 minutes or more, at any time during the four days, and upload the list to the bird recording platform eBird www.ebird.org/india. This can be repeated as often as possible.
More information about the GBBC, Campus Bird Count, and other associated events in India can be found at www.birdcount.in. The Global GBBC is organized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society in the USA.

About Sikkim Birds:
Sikkim Birds was founded by a lady entrepreneur of Sikkim – Mrs. Nisha Sharma Dhungel to provide logistics specializing in Bird Watching Tour conduction. Apart from the commercial venture, a part of the profit is used to philanthropic activities like forest surveys, and wildlife awareness drives in the state. For the past four years since 2019, GBBC is partly sponsored by this organization. Read about Sikkim Birds at www.sikkimbirds.com

About Bird Count India:
Bird Count India is a consortium of organizations and groups working together to increase our collective knowledge about bird distributions and populations. The partnership conducts periodic bird-related events and activities, offers support and resources to birding groups for conducting their own events, and provides information on bird monitoring. Read about Bird Count India at www.birdcount.in

After Event Synopsis:

Program:
The program consisted of multiple bird walks around the Ganesh Tok area and Sikkim Himalayan Zoological Garden and a bird talk seminar was presented at a residential place just adjacent to Zoological Garden. The bird walks took for 2 hours around in the above-mentioned areas and the bird talk was for 30 minutes. The interaction with participants made the 3rd day of GBBC in East Sikkim very much worthwhile. The event ended with the certificate distribution among the participants.

The Bird List:
Bird lists from the bird walk around Ganesh Tok:

1. https://ebird.org/checklist/S128521700
2. https://ebird.org/checklist/S128521831

Bird lists from Sikkim Himalayan Zoological Garden:

1. https://ebird.org/checklist/S128847090
2. https://ebird.org/checklist/S128858753
3. https://ebird.org/checklist/S128858677

Bird lists in the morning from Pangthang village, near Fambong Lho WLS in the morning birding session

1. https://ebird.org/checklist/S128858071
2. https://ebird.org/checklist/S128823197

Image Gallery:


Bird talk with the participants at a relative’s place near Gangtok Zoo

Overnight stay at Fambong Lho Wildlife Sanctuary in a tented facility

The list of participants presented from Bird Talk & Bird Walk:

1. Sapna Rai, Proprietor of Camp Teenjuray, Pangthang
2. Raksha Mukhia, Department of Botany, Sikkim University
3. Dewas Chettri, M.sc Zoology, Sikkim State University, Tadong

Contact:

• Email: info@sikkimbirds.com 
• Web: www.sikkimbirds.com 
• WhatsApp: 9681417974 / 7003389381