In an annual general meeting of Sikkim Ornithological Society (SOS) held in Kitam, SOS have planned to organize 'Bird Fest' on November 12, this year.

Namchi, 30th July, 2023: Sikkim Ornithological Society (SOS), in their annual general meeting, held in Kitam Senior Secondary School, formed a new executive body by dissolving the old one today. In the said new executive members, Chewang Bonpo is the new president of SOS and Subash Mangar is the new vice president, whereas, the chief advisors of SOS are, Dr. Peter Lobo and Nosang Limboo. The other members of the newly constructed executive body of SOS were, Ukelia Bhutia as Secretary I and Lakpa Tenzing Sherpa as Secretary II, Urgen Tamang as Treasurer and Debyendu Ash as Joint Treasurer, and also has the district coordinators for six districts of Sikkim including Yuksom. The annual general meeting of SOS saw the presence of the newly selected executive members of the society, and the stakeholders; mainly the bird watchers, ornithologist and the owners of homestays from inside Sikkim only. The annual general meeting of SOS was organized in the chairmanship of its chief advisor, Dr. Peter Lobo. While speaking to the media, the chief advisor of SOS, Nosang Limboo, have said that SOS is going to organize a 'Bird Fest' on November 12 this year, and are going to include 'butterfly watching' too for the event. The structure and venue of the fest, will however be decided through executive meetings in the coming days. He have also stated that the society will approach the state government to request for the support for the said event, and have said that they will always carry out their activities in close consultation with the state government. Whereas, the president of SOS, Chewang Bonpo, have said that the Society, in the coming days will continue organizing awareness programme on bird watching, and will focus mainly in generating employment for youths of Sikkim as bird watching guides. However, chief advisor, SOS, Dr. Peter Lobo, (Env. Sci.), of Kalimpong, who is also the proprietor of Adventure Gurudongma, and All India Birding Tours, which is the only bird watching agency recognized by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, when giving his expert suggestions to SOS, said that Sikkim is one of the top 100 hotspots for bird watching in the world, and for that, the Society is required to make the access for the bird watchers much smoother than what it is now. He have also stated that 'bird calling' which is open only to the ornithologist, in Sikkim, is actually not harmful to the birds, and must be open for the bird watchers too, with strict rules of local tour guides included for bird watching, in the future. It is worth mentioning, that Sikkim Ornithological Society (SOS) is the only registered body under State Government, for bird watching tourism, and was registered in the year 2006. During the annual general meeting of SOS, the Society also launched their new logo, and witnessed the new members, who were either bird watchers or were bird watching guides in their locality, joining the Society from all parts of Sikkim.