Bird Watching Vacation, India

India- Ornithologist's Paradise
India offers a plethora of bird species of some 1250 species and 992 breeding species, some from India and other are migratory birds. There is something for everyone who's interested in birdwatching and enjoying nature. India has vast region along with a diverse climate. There is, thus, a great variation in physical and climatic conditions and consequently, in the character of vegetation. Such environmental conditions have greatly influenced the character of wildlife.

Feathery attraction in India
Birds of Rajasthan- Bharatpur National Park
Keoldeo Ghana National Park, more popularly known as the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary has one of the most prolific bird life in the country. Two-thirds of the Park lies under water and the remaining one-third is covered in dry deciduous forests and extensive grasslands. If you are coming in winter, ready for a sudden (though most unlikely) encounter with the elusive Siberian Crane wintering here. The fact remains that Bharatpur is one of the only two known wintering haunts of Siberian Crane. Birds come to this national park in waves.

Birds of Gujarat, Gir National Park
Gir is one of the few remaining forests comprising diverse habitats - open scrub country, dry deciduous and tropical thorn forest and an evergreen corridor along the riversides. The forest also harbours a variety of smaller animals and a large variety of birds. Other main predators are the powerful panther and the striped hyena. Sambar, the largest Indian deer, chital (spotted deer), nilgal (blue bull), chinkara and the unique chow singha (four-horned antelope) are among the ungulates found here.

Birds of Kerala, Thattekad Bird Sanctuary
Thattekad Bird Sanctuary is located in the Kothamangalam Taluk of Ernakulam district on the northern bank of the Periyar river. The sanctuary was notified in 1983 based on a recommendation made by Dr. Salim Ali many years previously. Ali described Thattekad in the 1930's as the richest bird habitat in peninsular India, comparable only with the eastern Himalayas. Since then much of the forest has been diverted to cultivation and teak and mahogany plantation but what survives gives a glimpse of the phenomenal bird diversity of the once widespread lowland forests of Kerala.

Birds Of Orissa, Nandankanan
Nandankanan Sanctuary and Biological Park is located about 20 kms from Bhubneshwar. It was established as sanctuary in 1979. Nandankanan or the Garden of Gods is famous for its White Tigers, one of the rarest creature in the world.

Birds of Uttaranchal, Jim Corbett National Park
Usually its the tigers of Corbett that take all the fame away, but if you get a chance to visit this sanctuary, do opt for bird watching and see the avian treasures residing in this Himalayan wildlife hub.

Birds Of Assam, Kaziranga National Park
The most renowned national park of Assam, Kaziranga has 450 species of birds. The park is almost a paradise of birds that helps preserving 25 species of globally threatened birds. The Park also has more than 450 species of birds, 18 of them are globally threatened species. Because of the varied habitat types that the Park comprises of, as also of the strict protection accorded to them, birding in Kaziranga is very special. The varied terrain provides habitat for wetland, grassland, and woodland species The Bengal Florican is the main attraction. You should also be able to see a good variety of raptors. You are not allowed to walk inside the reserve. Birding is by jeep and Elephant.