Keoladeo Ghana National Park (Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary), Bharatpur, Rajashthan, India
Just about 55 Kms from Agra, one of the finest areas for observing wintering birds in their best plumage and activity ranges is the Keoladeo Ghana National Park or the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary in Rajasthan, India. It has also been declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO and is notified under the Ramsar Convention.
Spreading over about 28.7 square kilometers, the habitats range from wetlands, dry grass woods, wood lands and wood land swamps with almost 1/3rd being a wetland system with a diversity of micro-habitats including trees, mounds, dykes and open water. Once a hunting ground for Maharajahs, who converted it later into a bird sanctuary, the main attractions are the migratory birds, which come to spend their winters. Local migrants present an array of breeding activities starting late summers.
The park is a beauty for bird lovers. It was once the wintering ground for the rare Siberian crane also. Cranes, ducks, storks, hawks, pelicans, geese, Eagles, warblers, fly catchers, bee-eaters, cormorants are present in plentiful. It also houses a rich variety of other fauna including spotted deer, swamp deer, blue bull, mongoose, monitor, lizards, Python, cobras, turtles etc.
Also see https://youtu.be/jBg-3rtSgEI(An Instinct Denied), https://youtu.be/evPQBDq0CBk (Kya Banega Phir Se Gharaunda. A Hindi Version of “An Instinct Denied”) for a fuller film produced by Srimaa Communication which discusses the breeding activity of water birds and the failure of nesting because of scarcity of water. It has studied the painted storks, the open billed storks, the darters, cormorants, cranes, egrets and the baya weaver bird in their wetland surroundings at Keoladeo Ghana National Park.