Best Places for Bird Watching in North India (2021)
Looking for the Best Places for Bird Watching in North India?
Today, Your search will end as I bought the list of best places for bird watching in North India.
As you know that India is home to thousands of bird species making it a paradise for bird watchers. Also, India’s diverse geographic and rich natural landscape attracts several migratory birds. Winter is known to be the best time for Birding as one can find many migratory birds that are coming from warm places.
The preferred timing for the bird watching from Nov – March, so plan accordingly if you want to go for the birding.
Here is the list of the 5 best places for bird watching in North India that you can’t afford to miss.
Before jumping on the list, we have the following questions for you.
When was the last time you saw a bird closely? Or listened to a beautiful bird song? With this list of the best places for bird watching in North India, it’s time to wake up the bird watcher in you and go explore.
If you remember the childhood days when you got up in the morning to the call of a variety of birds in your neighborhood? The koel’s mesmerizing song and the crow’s disturbing caws? That was much before we became surrounded by concrete on all sides and waking up to honking cars became the norm. The only bird songs that many of us listen to now come out of alarm clocks!
So if you want to treat yourself to the mesmerizing music of birds, you can check out the following places in North India.
Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur:
India’s best-known bird sanctuary — Keoladeo Ghana National Park, or Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary as it was formerly known, is known for being a “bird paradise.” An extremely popular tourist destination, Bharatpur is famous for the many exotic and endangered birds that migrate there during winter every year.
Located at: on the Agra-Jaipur road, the park is just a three-hour drive from Delhi and if you are traveling with public transport, you can take an auto from the bus stand to ghana national park. they will charge you 50rs max.
The sanctuary is a delight to be in. Trained cycle rickshaw pulling guides make sure that you take back the best experience, and the paved walkways are helpful for an easy trek. It is a man-made wetland and the national park has also been declared a world heritage site. Several species of cranes, pelicans, geese, ducks, eagles, and a lot more birds are found there. August to November is the ideal visiting months to find resident breeding birds and October to February for migrant birds.
For more information check here
Pangoot & Sattal:
Pangot and Sattal is a well-known place for bird photography in north India. It is a short drive from Nainital. While you go deep down you will find 200 plus species and fantastic views of the western Himalayan range. Mixed forests dominated by oak, pine, and rhododendron cover most of the area and surrounding hills.
Some of the birds that are found here include Rufous Sibia, White-browed Shrike-babbler, Spot-winged & Black-throated Tits, White-tailed Nuthatch, Slaty-backed & Little Pied Flycatcher, Long-tailed & Short-billed Minivet, Rufous-bellied & Small Niltava, Green-tailed & Black-throated Sunbirds, Griffons & Lammergeiers, Streaked & Striated laughing thrushes, Grey-hooded & Golden-spectacled Warbler, Indian Blue & Orange-flanked Bush Robin, Slaty-backed & Little Forktail, Eurasian & Black-headed Jays, Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon, Hill Partridge, Red-billed Blue Magpies, Slaty-headed Parakeets, Himalayan or Great Barbet, Spot-winged Starlings, Hill Prinia, Chestnut-bellied Thrush, Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler, Himalayan, Black & Ashy Bulbuls, Tickell’s Thrush, Greater & Lesser Yellow-naped Woodpeckers, Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo, White-throated & Chestnut-crowned Laughing thrushes, Green-backed & Black-lored Tits.
National Chambal Sanctuary:-
National Chambal Sanctuary, also called the National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary, is a tri-state protected area in northern India for the protection of the Critically endangered gharial, the red-crowned roof turtle, and the Endangered Ganges river dolphin. Located on the Chambal River near the tripoint of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh
The National Chambal Sanctuary is also listed as an important bird area and is a proposed Ramsar site. At least 320 species of resident and migratory birds inhabit the sanctuary. Migratory birds from Siberia form part of its rich avian funna. Vulnerable bird species here include the Indian skimmer, Sarus Crane, Pallas’s fish eagle, and Indian courser. The pallid harrier and flamingo are near threatened. Winter visitors include black-bellied tern, red-crested pochard, and bar-headed goose. Other species include great stone-knee, greater flamingo, darter, and brown howl owl
Tal Chappar sanctuary:-
Tal Chappar is a flat saline depression locally known as a “tal” that has a unique ecosystem in the heart of the Thar Desert. It is a short drive from Bikaner. The sanctuary is a bird watcher’s paradise as it is home to birds such as the eastern imperial eagle, black ibis, demoiselle cranes, skylarks, ring doves, and more. One can also spot the desert fox and desert cat here.
Delhi and surrounding:-
It might sound strange but yes, it’s true. From Aravali hills to lakes and drylands, Delhi/NCR offers you everything throughout the year.
Even in summers, there are many places like Sultanpur National Park, Dhanauri wetland, Okhla bird sanctuary, Yamuna biodiversity park, Surajpur bird sanctuary, Basai wetland, Arabali biodiversity park, etc where you can go for birding. Delhi/NCR is rich in flora and fauna and has a huge count of 400+ species like Rosy starlings, Purple sunbird, plum headed parakeet, brown-headed barbet, coppersmith barbet, Rose-ringed parakeet, Alexandrine parakeet, Yellow-footed green pigeon, Common hoopoe, Black drongo, and Sarus crane.
These are my favorite destination for Bird Photography in North India. If you have any questions please let me know in the comment below and if you like the blog feel free to share on social media.
