Birds Spotted in the Dhela Zone, Jim Corbett Park, Uttarakhand

Dhela village and the Dhela Zone of the Jim Corbett Park is a treasure trove of birds, especially the little ones that seem to be rather elusive and difficult to capture on camera in the plains. I was particularly drawn by the activities of  Sunbirds, Bee Eaters and Scaly Breasted Munia Birds while staying in the Corbett Treat Resort in Dhela Village. Most of my time was spent photographing the antiques of these birds. Of great interest was the sight of a female sunbird feeding her chick.

I have never been able to get really close to the Sunbirds pictured above in the plains more so because I have never seen them sit still for a second! At the Resort, I was able to take quite a few photographs of these rather twitchy birds (I used a 55-250mm lens for all of my bird shots).

Munnia Birds are the cutest birds I have seen. They are so 'cute' and so playful. The ones that I saw at the Resort seemed to belong to a closely knit community, and they seemed to be very expressive of their emotions.

The Female Sunbird doesn't have the bright purple hue of its male partner and it might be difficult to distinguish it from the green warbler.

The sight of a Green Warbler Mother feeding her chick was an amazing sight. The mother seemed to have brought her chick an insect that was too big for her chick.

The Green Bee Eaters seemed to be present in large numbers, though they seemed to be shyer than the other birds and kept particularly away from the Resort Fence.

The Green Pigeon also found in the plains of North India, and Delhi NCR Territory can be seen in the forest area. They like their cousins could be found perched high up in the tree branches of the Dhela Village forest area.

Doves are commonly found in the farmlands in the Dhela Village. This one seemed to be not very shy of my camera and me.

Fly Catchers can be found in abundance and this might also because of the abundance of insects in the area. When my family and I visited the Dhela Village in the Jim Corbett National Park it was in the second week of  June, and surely the weather was very hot. It was perhaps for this reason that I was able to spot these birds mostly in the mornings before the sun had reached its Zenith.

A Trip to Dhela Gaon in the Jim Corbett National Park

This year too, the summer vacations were a long-awaited moment for us to chill out. Like always, we decided to visit someplace that would not be overcrowded like the major towns in the hill stations. One spot we have been visiting almost every year is the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand. Thus, we started looking for resorts that would offer us comfort, adventure and perhaps the chance to spot a tiger! Our choice turned out to be a resort called the Corbett Treat Resort in Dhela Village a little before Ramnagar. It was a 300 kilometres journey from Gurgaon and the morning drive was refreshing. We started at 4:30 a.m. and reached at 12:45 p.m.

At the reception, we were greeted by the G.M., Mr Kapil Mehta who wasted no time in making us comfortable by accommodating us in four suites in the same block. The USP of the resort is that it is bang in the middle of the Jhirna portion of the Jim Corbett park and the resort itself is fenced off from the forest with an electrified fortification similar to the one in the film, Jurassic Park although less tall. 

Well, the big question, did we see a tiger? The answer to that question, hovering on the tongues of many is 'Yes!' It was on the third day of our stay, that we spotted one. No, I couldn't take a photograph as I was driving and it happened rather abruptly! We were returning from Ramnagar at about 12:30 p.m. when just 1.5 kilometres from our resort, my brother Sanjay shouted, 'Tiger!" I applied brakes and reversed the car just in time to see a tiger ambling in the jungle just to our left even as it entered into some bushes. That was an amazing moment for all of us, and our first sighting of a tiger in the open from the road itself. We were later told that tigers have been sighted at that spot a number of times. Mr Kapil later told us that we had been very lucky to have sighted one. He told us that there was a shrine close by and that tigers could often be seen close to it. Incidentally, the movie, Kaal had been shot in that vicinity.

On the second day, we went for a 'Nature Walk' in the jungle accompanied by Nitin, one of the employees at the resort. We were able to spot some deer in the distance and a mongoose, not much else, although Nitin did point out to a spot where the ground had been scratched by a tiger according to him-little did we know that we would spot a tiger the next day!

The rest of the days we just chilled out in the swimming pool or taking photographs of the exotic birds in the resort itself. We were able to spot Munnia Birds, Purple Sunbirds, Bee-Eaters, and Green Warblers, besides some of the largest Chameleons, and Bumble Bees too!

Yes, we did take candy with us! One of the reasons why we chose the resort was that it is pet-friendly.

To enjoy the natural beauty of the surroundings, you need to wake up early in the mornings so that you might catch the Munia Birds playing around, or perhaps capture one of the most amazing sights of the rising sun with a backdrop of mountains towering in the distance!

One of the most amazing sights was to see a mother Green Warbler bird feeding her chick food. The grub was probably too big to fit into her chick's beak, but then it was a sight that brought out the tenderness of feelings that a mother has for her children!

We were left feeling fulfilled and satiated by our three-day visit to the National Park. We'd left Gurgaon on the 11th of June and returned on the 14th, back to a dusty environment with all that mad pace that has become the very essence of Gurgaon. Strangely enough, there is so much that we have lost sight of in Gurgaon. The humble Sparrow, the bumblebee with its rather loud buzzing sound - all of this is reason enough to visit the Jim Corbett National Park!