Birding in Gurgaon

A Pair of Pintail Ducks at the Sultanpur National Park

Come winter, and birds flock over to the few remaining wetlands in Gurgaon. The weather, however, can be a great disappointment, especially as the fog and smog can play spoilsport! Moreover, this time when I visited the Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary and the Chandu Budhera wetland it was a day after the rain. It was a pleasure to spot so many species of ducks at the sanctuary. What was even more surprising was to spot a large number of juvenile painted storks on the ground before the hide meant for photographers!

This Red-naped Ibis looked at me with curiosity

Some of the birds often spotted at the Chandu Budhera wetland include Gulls and Red-naped Ibis birds. It is surprising to spot Gulls that are supposed to be found on seashores.

Bar-headed Geese can be spotted in large numbers at the Chandu Budhera wetland. They can be spotted feeding in the new ploughed fields. These graceful birds have fascinated me for quite some time now. They are as graceful in flight as on the ground!

A One Day Trip to The Bharatpur National Park

Yes, you read it right, it is possible to do a one-day trip to the Bharatpur National Park from Gurgaon, provided you start early in the morning! We started from Gurgaon at 4:00 a.m. and were able to reach Bharatpur after driving a distance of 195 kilometres. We could have reached the National Park much earlier if it were not for the thick fog that made driving on the state roads hazardous. Driving on the Mumbai-Vadodara Expressway was a joy as always, and then came the KMP Expressway, which was a notch below the Mumbai Expressway. After driving for some distance on the Delhi-Agra Expressway, we had to take a U-turn and drive on a state road, which was a bit tricky because it was narrow, with a few potholes, and the fog made it even more treacherous with sleeper buses and trucks hogging the centerline. What is sad is that many road-users use the high beam throughout, often blinding oncoming drivers.

This is a Brahmini  Starling looking at something to eat

A Brahmini Starling looks for fruit

A Solitary Owl looks at me

A Tree

Cormorants looking at each other.

Spot-billed ducks

A Pond Heron

Greylag Geese

When we reached the National Park, known by various names, including the Ghana Bird Sanctuary or the Keoladeo National Park, it was still foggy. Thereafter, we proceeded to buy the entrance tickets and then hired a Guide, the Honourable Mr D.D. Mittal and an electric Rickshaw, both for three hours. E-rickshaws cost Rs. 800/- for two hours and Rs. 1200/- for three hours. The same goes for the guide. Unfortunately, I later realised that there was no need to hire a guide as most of the rickshaw drivers are equally capable of taking you to the correct spots. 

These Flying Foxes or Fruit Bats looked so like pet dogs, or perhaps, even foxes! Some of them had rather cute-looking eyes.