BIRD
SANCTUARIES
Birds of the Thar desert
West of Aravalis lies the great Thar Desert. It covers the
districts of Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Barmer and Bikaner completely,
while districts of Pali and Jalore are covered partly. the
deserts have plains of seven grass at some place and depressions
of saline water can be found at other places. Moving sand
dunes and the geographical differences result in a variety
of fauna here.
Numerous animals and birds can be found in the desert. 4-5
months prior to March, flocks of demoiselle crane arrive in
Khican village near Phalodi. They are a spectacular sight,
every year. Due to the protection given by the villagers thousands
of birds flock here and return in March to their breeding
grounds.
The desert has an abundance of spices and large population
of avifauna. the sight of flocks of hundreds of sand grouse
gathering at any Talab, Nadi or other water points is extremely
fascinating. After the sunrise, flights of majestic spotted
pintail and Indian sand grouse to the water points.
The morning calls of grey partridge, blue tailed and green
bee-eaters, drongos, common and bush quail and Indian rollers
echo around these water-holls. They attract many resident
and migratory birds of prey.
Tawny eagle, steppe eagle, laggar falcon, honey buzzard. long
legged buzzard, shikara, goshawk, kestrel, oriental hobby,
lanner and peregrine falcon are the commonly seen birds of
prey in this desert. White-back long-billed Egyptian vulture,
which generally don't stay in flocks, scavenge dead cattle
and fauna. The king vulture is present in small numbers, mostly
in pairs.
The tall, heavy but still graceful, the great Indian bustard
is the most spectacular birds among all. It can be spotted
in the desert, walking with confidence and grace. The male
birds are comparatively larger than female birds. 5-6 big
and small birds, generally can be seen near the water-holes.
In winters Houbara can be spotted here too. But demoiselle
cranes and common cranes are amongst the most common visitors.
These cranes mostly seen in grassy depressions and along salt
flats which are passing-through the deserts on their way to
and from winter migration spots.
heron, little cormorant, Indian shag, egret, a few grey and
purple heron and night heron etc are the main breeding birds
of Jaisamand lake. The breeding of the resident birds is soon
followed one after the other by migrant birds. Pastor and
starling all amongst the earliest to arrive among the other
visitors are ducks like pintail, teal, mallard, shoveler,
pochard, gadwall and even some few geese. The lake is also
inhabited by ducks like comb duck or nukhta duck. The sanctuary
is also visited by larger migrants like rosy and Dalmatian
pelicans.
In and around the sanctuary you will also shot a number of
ground birds like the peafowl, spur fowl, grey. Prey birds
such as eagles, buzzards, hawks, falcons and kestrels also
are attracted to this sanctuary.
Birds of the Southern Region
In the center of India lie the forest areas of Sitamata-Pratapgarh,
Bhainsrodgarh and Darrah which spread through the Aravali
hills. Wide variety of birds are found here, which are not
found anywhere else in Rajasthan. Like, the Lorikit bird of
central India is only found in Sitamat-Pratapgarh.
Spotted owl
 Alexandine
parakeet of Darrah is also very famous. A large number of
water birds are found in the forests of Bhainsroadgarh since
they are around the Chambal river.
In the forests you can generally spot even the rollers, hoopoes,
hornbills, barbets, bee-eaters woodpeckers, orioles and drongos.
In these deciduous forests you can also find raptors like
the shikra, white-eyed buzzard, tawny and spotted eagle and
other inhabitants of these forests are black Nocturnal raptor,
the owl, spotted owlet, scops owl, collared scops owl, dusky
horned owl, brown fishing owl and the biggest of all these,
the great horned owl.
Bird Paradise - Bharatpur
Bharatpur houses an incredible 376 species of birds in an
area of 29 sq. kms only. Every a year a new specie is added
to the 132 species that breed in Keoladeo Ghana National Park.
Just before the onset of the rains hundreds of these birds
roost and and start building their nests on the babul trees.
The lush green park starts getting water through the Ajan
Bandh, filling its lakes.. with plenty of food available,
it becomes a courting and mating season for hundreds of large,
medium and little cormorant, darter, purple and greyheron,
various species of egret such as little, intermediate and
large; painted, open-billed, white-necked and black-necked
stork, white ibis, spoonbill, night heron and other birds.
The breeding activities of all species differ and most species
male and female birds share the hatching nests. A single tree
houses almost 50 to 60 nests where birds look after their
young ones.
Golden-backed woodpecker
 The
nests of the Sara crane can be noticed fully exposed in the
open. While hatching both the male and the female share the
responsibility. When they are changing their incubating duties,
both the partners come together, and in unison give out shrill
trumpeted calls after raising their necks. At the same time
the birds fan their feathers. when the chick is born it is
just about 10 cms in size but attains a height of 1 metre
within a year. Being amongst the tallest flight bird it grows
as tall as 1.6 metres. Migratory water fowls and the cranes
including the Siberian crane form an integral part of the
park. In the month of October thousands of water-fowl flock
here. The first to arrive are the Rosy starling. Bar-headed
and greylag geese are the most prominent water-fowls coming
to the park. Are some of the ducks that are seen here pintail,
common teal, ruddy shelduck, mallard, widgeon, shoveler, common
shelduck, redcrested pochard, gadwall etc.
The abundance of water-fowls is a great attraction to the
predatory birds like imperial eagle, steepe and tawny eagle,
spotted eagle, marsh harrier and laggar falcon. The short-toed
eagle, lesser spotted eagle and Shikra reside here. Every
year from November to March two pairs of ring-tailed fishing
eagle have been breeding here. Spotted owlet, ducky horned
and collared scops owl also breed here. Other breeding birds
of the park are grey and black partridge, common and jungle
bush quail, red and yellow-wattled lapwing etc.
This endless story of bird paradise is better seen than told.
It is a place worth visiting.
Birds of Sariska and Ranthambhor
Situated in the Aravali mountain range are the Sarika and
Ranthambhor National Park which are endowed with thick forests
and waterfalls. The dhok, typical with the tropical dry deciduous
forest are found in abundance here. These forests dominated
by dhok are rich in bird-life.
The specialty of Sariska forest is the density of population
of Peafowl, which is higher than any other reserve in India.
If You drive along the road of sariska you feel it is a breeding
centre or a form of grey and black partridge, bush and quail.
You can easily notice the flocks of bulbul, green pigeon,
rosering and blossom-headed parakeet feeding on berries. In
the pleasant night here you can often see the horned owl,
fishing owl and spotted owlets.
Situated in the Aravalli and Vindhyachal mountain ranges is
the Ranthambhor Sanctuary housing almost 300 species of birds.
The availability of natural water is the reason for the presence
of rich avifauna Number of lakes and tanks like Manasarovar,
Galai Sagar, Padam Talab, Rajbag, Malik Talab are present
here with a few which are full throughout the year. Like the
Baghola there are some rock pools and puddles along the valley.
The most common residents here are ground birds like red spur
fowl, peafowl, three varieties of parakeet, bee-eater, shrike,
quail, partridge, kingfisher including rare stork-billed kingfisher,
woodpecker and bulbul.
Painted storks
Migratory birds like sandpiper, the black stork, lapwing,
duck, the geese and others, flock here during the winters.
Crested hawk eagle, short-toed eagle, bonelli's eagle, crested
serpent eagle and laggar talcon are amongst the prey birds
here. Black eagle is amongst the rare and exotic birds of
prey found here.
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