Bharatpur, Rajasthan Travel Guide

Bharatpur is a small city but what makes it special is the hunting preserve of the princes of Bharatpur, today, it is ranked among the world's best bird sanctuaries. Every year, this park is visited by over 400 species of water birds which includes exotic migratory birds from Afghanistan, Central Asia, Siberia and Tibet. The greylag and barheaded geese are among the important visitors but the star of this sanctuary is the rare siberian crane. If you're a bird lover, then this is your paradise, even if you have just a passing interest in birds you cannot fail to be impressed by the mind-boggling variety of birds that flock this park.

Bharatpur has an amazing species of birds. About 376 species of birds are found here and more than 132 of them breed inside the Keoladeo Ghana National Park and nearly every year new ones are added to the list.

Before the monsoon, hundreds of these birds roost and start their nests on the babool trees. With the onset of rains, the park turns green. Water coming through the Ajan Bandh starts filling the various lakes of the Park.When assured of food, 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 get busy courting and mating. Nests of hatching are shared by both female and male birds of most of the species, but different species differ in their breeding activities. One can see as many as fifty to sixty nests on one tree where different birds look after their young ones.

Fully exposed in the open are the nests of the saras crane. Both partners share the responsibility of hatching. While changing incubating duties, the two come together, raise their neck and give out shrill trumpetic calls in unison and at the same time fan their feathers. The new-born chick is about 10 cms. in size but grows to over one metre in height within a year. Soon it attains a height of 1.6 metres to become the tallest flight bird. Migratory water-fowls and cranes, including the rare Siberian cranes, are an integral part of the Park. Water-fowl come in thousands, every year during the month of October. Rosy starling mark the beginning of the arrival of migratory birds. Most prominent water-fowl coming to the park are bar-headed and greylag geese. The ducks spotted here are pintail, common teal, ruddy shelduck, mallard, widgeon, shoveler, common shelduck, redcrested pochard, gadwall etc.

The heavy influx of water-fowl attracts predatory birds like imperial eagle, steppe and tawny eagle, spotted eagle, marsh harrier and laggar falcon. Some of them, like short-toed eagle, lesser spotted eagle and shikra are resident here. Two pairs of ring-tailed fishing eagle have been breeding here every year from November to March. 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.

The story of the bird paradise ecosystem is unending where nature provides in abudance.

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