Annual Calender 2015-The Avian Treasures  of Sikkim, the official annual calendar of Sikkim Ornithological Society is all set to hit  the market soon. This is the 4th edition ever since its inception  in  2010 and has managed to create quite a stir among the nature lovers and birding enthusiast around the country. Bird lovers  can place their orders through prepayment and consignments will be sent  through Indian Post. The design and layouts has been improvised and improved to a considerable extent, Birders have already started ordering copies through facebook and other popular mediums.......only  250 copies are left for sales in market. (even before the official launch)The calendar is priced at Rs.150 , the profits will be used in conservation of birds and in promoting awareness of birds conservation among  locals. If you are bird lover and wantsto order copy of it then you can drop mobile no.in the comment box SOS sales committee will contact you.

Highland Bird Survey II

Like last year,this year too members of SOS(Sikkim Ornithological Society) organised highland bird survey to Tsomgu lake and zuluk,East Sikkim on 9^th march 2013..It has became the tradition for SOS member to go for highland bird search every year.Last year we did survey of Gurudogmar lake area and lachen and they recorded one the species called Terek sandpiper which was recorded for the first time in sikkim.

This year Niraj sir,Karma sir and myself  voluntar  in the survey and we were able to record some total of 33 species of highland bird in their list.Among them were Blood Pheasant(male and female),Kalij Pheasant,white winged grossbed,coal tit,Rudy shelduck,upland buzzard,grey creasted tit,mallard,grey wagtail,Eurasian treepcreeper,large billed chow,tufled duck,winter wren,shikar and many more.some of birds  like Pink browed Rosefinch,ruddy shelduck,white browed,winter wren and white winged grosbeak were common in surveyed area.Himalayan monal,national bird of Nepal which is found area like zuluk was in top of the list this time but they could find it because the weather was not in the good mood this time.

 During our visit we  interacted with the locals regarding the status of birds in their area .At last it was a wonderful experience.

TRIP REPORT BY Pempa Tshering Bhutia.

Sikkim Ornithological society has launched 2nd edition calendar.

 

After the runaway success of the classic calendar”Rare Birds of Sikkim in 2012,Sikkim Ornithological Society(SOS)has launched its second edition called Feathery friends of Sikkim 2013 in simple function in presence of its chief patron ,retired IFS officer shri KC Pradhan  at his residence at Tadong 6th mile.The album consist of twelve extremely beautiful birds of Sikkim and with this SOS hopes to promote and arouse interest in birds among younger generation of sikkim.

 SOS has discovered a new species called 'terek sandpiper' at gurudongmar lake,north sikkim which was recorded for the first time in this region, the picture of this rare bird also highlights in this edition,

this international standard  calendar cost a mere rs 150/  per piece and can be available from the 6 th of jan at various leading outlets of gangtok

for advance bookings and information you can contact the following members

Mr Pempa Tshering  9547558545

Mr Niraj Thapa  9434867082

Mr Karma Tempo 9933442275

Mr Chewang Bonpo 9735900165

5 day long training on Bird Watching Guiding held

Sikkim: 5 day long training on Bird Watching Guiding held

Gangtok, 31 May, 2012:

Realizing the high demand of bird watching guides in the tourism sector, the Sikkim Biodiversity Conservation and Forest Management Project (SBFP) assisted by JICA organized a five day residential training programme on bird watching guiding at Okherey, West Sikkim from 22 May to 27 May.

The training had a total of 30 participants (unemployed youth) belonging to village clusters of Hee Gaon, Dzongu, Kitam, Pakyong, Fambongla Ribdi, Sombaria and Okherey . The training was delivered as a part of the capacity building of the villages chosen under the SBFP- JICA assisted project. The resource persons were invited from WWF- India, Wild life Institute of India,  Sikkim Ornithological Society and the National Eco Tourism Consultant of the SBFP project. It was coordinated by the Eco Tourism Marketing Cell of the project.

An elaborate practical class on the field guides was provided to all the participants along with theory classes held at Sherpa Bhavan Okherey. The training ended with a two day trek to Barsey Rhododendron Sanctuary in which participants had a garbage collection competition.

It was ended formally on the 27th of April with the distribution of bird books and training certificate by the DFO ( Eco Tourism ) Dr. S Anbalagan .

This is the first set of trainings which will also be imparted throughout Sikkim to build the capacity of local stakeholders in guiding, home stays, trekking, bird watching etc.
SOURCE:http://isikkim.com/