Bird Watching – A Delightful Sight For All Bird Lovers

If you love to travel in the fresh, chilly wintery mornings, the season calls for much more than sight-seeing. The state of Rajasthan is a sight to many migratory birds and bird watching becomes a major activity in the peak months of December, January and February.

 

The IndiaBirdRaces is one such organization involved in bird watching activity. A unique event ‘Jodhpur BirdRace’ was organized on last weekend in Jodhpur. The entire day was well spent spotting more than 250 bird species in and around the blue city. The event was not only limited to bird spotting but also aimed at better understanding of our biodiversity and environment. Some sited species of birds were cinereous vulture, Eurasian griffon, steppe eagle, Egyptian vulture; Punjab raven, rosy starling, white pelican, purple moorhen, grey heron, shoveler, pochard and the list is endless.

Image Credit: www.indiabirdraces.in

The nearby places around Jaipur – Chandlai and Barkheda are also house to number of migratory birds. So, all the bird lovers, if you are finding any reason to experience the wintery morning chill – let bird watching be the perfect reason 😉

A treat for bird watchers

Jodhpur, a city with many sites of historical and heritage importance now plays host to bird lovers too.

 

Predominantly a desert, Jodhpur previously had some water bodies mainly used for fulfilling the aqua needs of its residents but arrival of Indira Gandhi Canal 25 years ago has changed the biodiversity of the area.

Indira Gandhi Canal which presently is major water source for the area has helped in improving the bio diversity of the area.

The water bodies created due to canal has become a second home for many bird species. Many rare and regular migratory birds flock in large numbers.

The congregation of birds on these water bodies attracts many bird lovers who double up the event of bird watching with regular tourism activities of sightseeing etc. The abundance of water has led to more than 2 fold increase in bird species which has gone up to 278 in comparison to 123 a quarter of century ago.

Out of the 124 migratory species visiting these spots 46 are rare ones while 32 are common migrants. Birds like Rosy pasture, Pochard, Shoveler, Coot, Goose, Flamingoes, Pied avocet, Black winged Stilt and many more species are regular visitors to these new water bodies along with the older ones as Soor Sagar, Akheraj Pond and Ummaid Bhawan.

It is essential for tourism based cities like Jodhpur to develop new attractions for tourists so that they do not feel monotony of visiting the same sites on every visit to the place. The bird watching sites developed on these spots will not only add more tourists who prioritize eco-tourism to conventional one.