Migratory Birding Destinations in India for Bird Lovers

Chilika Lake 

Chilika Lake is India’s largest and the world’s second-largest saltwater lake, covering 1100 square kilometres. This lake contains many little large islands, the most notable of which being Honeymoon Island and Snack Island. The Chilika Lake, shaped like an apple, has grown from Bhusandpur in Puri district to Rambha-Malud in Ganjam district in the south.

This lake is separated from the Bay of Bengal by a few marshy islands and a 60-kilometer-long beach strip. Around Chilika Lake, there are around 132 villages. This lake is fully dependent on the livelihood of 1,50,000 people in these settlements. Local locals here provide boating services to tourists visiting the lake, and fishing is also a source of income for them.

Chilika Lake was designated India’s first wetland area in 1981 as part of the Ramsar Convention. This lake’s climate makes it ideal for migrating birds and fauna to migrate throughout the winter season. This lake, which is located in the Indian subcontinent, offers a highly favourable climate for migratory birds throughout the winter season.

As a result, Chilika Lake is home to one of the greatest breeding colonies of migratory birds such as flamingos. Many unique sea species found in saltwater are also found in the lake due to its saline salinity. 

Nalbana Bird Sanctuary is a world-renowned bird sanctuary located on the island of Indraprastha in the centre of Chilika Lake. This bird refuge covers an area of approximately 06 square – kilometres (15.53 km). The Nalabana Bird Sanctuary was designated a bird sanctuary under the Wildlife Protection Act in 1972.

The majority of the migratory birds in this bird sanctuary arrive to breed in the winter because the island is entirely submerged during the monsoon. Following the monsoon, the island begins to emerge as the island’s water lowers, attracting a significant number of migratory birds.

In Odisha, a grass-covered island is referred to as a nalbana. Migratory birds from Iran, Himalaya, Mongolia, Caspian Sea, Central and South-East Asia countries, Russia, and the Aral Sea visit Nalabana bird sanctuary to finish their breeding and migrating periods.

This bird refuge is a great place to see migratory species like greylag geese, herons, white-bellied sea eagles, spoonbills, cranes, Goliath herons, black-headed ibis, and flamingos. The Nalabana Bird Sanctuary also has many uncommon bird species, including spot-billed pelicans, Dalmatian pelicans, Asiatic dowitchers, and spoon-billed sandpipers.

The island also features colonies of breeding birds such as river turn and gull-build turn, as well as the largest colony of birds such as flamingos. In 2002, The Bombay Natural History Society undertook a survey that identified 540 sites for river tern species. This nesting colony of river tern species was the largest in Southeast Asia at the time.

Keoladeo National Park 

The Keoladeo National Park is a migratory waterfowl wetland of worldwide importance, where birds travelling down the Central Asian flyway concentrate before dispersing to other locations. It was the wintering area for the Critically Endangered Siberian Crane at the time of inscription, and it is now home to a considerable number of resident nesting birds. The site has been home to 375 bird species, including five Critically Endangered, two Endangered, and six vulnerable species. Around 115 bird species breed in the park, including 15 water bird species that create one of the region’s most stunning heronries. The property’s ecological mosaic supports a great variety of species in a limited space, with 42 species of raptors reported.

Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan is an important wintering habitat for Palaearctic migratory waterfowl and is well-known for its big concentration of non-migratory resident breeding birds. A green wildlife oasis inside a densely populated human-dominated terrain, this mix of grasslands, forests, wooded swamps, and wetlands of only 2,873 ha has been home to 375 bird species and a rich array of other living forms. This ‘Bird Paradise’ was created in a natural depression wetland that served as a duck shooting reserve at the end of the nineteenth century. While hunting is no longer permitted in the area, which was designated a national park in 1982, its continued existence is dependent on a regulated water supply from a reservoir beyond the park boundary. The well-designed system of dykes and sluices in the park provides areas of variable water depths utilised by various avifaunal species.

Large flocks of ducks, geese, coots, pelicans, and waders arrive in the winter due to its strategic location in the middle of the Central Asian migratory flyway and the existence of water. The park was the only known wintering habitat for the severely endangered Siberian Crane’s central population, and it also serves as a wintering area for other internationally vulnerable species such as the Greater Spotted Eagle and Imperial Eagle. During the breeding season, the region’s most impressive heronry is produced by 15 species of herons, ibis, cormorants, spoonbills, and storks, where over 20,000 birds nest in a well-flooded year.

Conclusion

It may be concluded that the Keoladeo National Park is not only a site of great avian biodiversity, but also a site of significant intraspecific variation among species, due to the richness of resources in and surrounding the park.