North India Birding Tour will take you to some of the best birding locales in North India. In this bird watching tour you will visit some of the best birding hotspots of North India. Keoladeo Ghana National Park in Bharatpur (UNESCO World Heritage Site) one of the finest heronries in the world that supports about 425 species of birds, wintering ground for large numbers of water fowls from Siberia, Europe and higher Himalayan region. Uttarakhand one of most bird rich region of India and of course birding in second most bird rich capital of the world “Delhi” is not less interesting.
Day 01 – Arrive Delhi
Arrive Delhi, met by our representative and transfer to hotel.
Day 02 – Delhi
Today we will take morning easy to recuperate from long international flight. In the afternoon we will visit Okhla Bird Sanctuary.
Tucked in the border of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh on the bank of the Yamuna River this 4 Sq. kilometer wetland is home to over 300 species of birds including many winter migrants. One should expect to see good number of water fowls, waders, raptors, owls and woodland birds here.
Okhla is a very good place to see Yellow-bellied Prinia and Striated Babbler Striated Grassbird.
Overnight at hotel.
Day 03 – Delhi to Bharatpur
Morning drive 170 Km to Bharatpur stopping by en route checking fields and village ponds. Arrive Bharatpur and check in at hotel.
Afternoon birding in Keoladeo Ghana National Park. A world Heritage Site, Keoladeo Ghana National Park covering an area of 28 sq. km of wetlands is home to over 400 bird species that includes large number of migratory birds wintering here.
Some of the bird species one should expect to see the wetland residents and migratory such as Northern Shoveler, Common Teal, Northern Pintail, Knob-billed or Comb Duck, Eurasian Wigeon, Cotton Pygmy Goose, Great Crested Grebe, Common Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, Spotted Redshank, Temminck's Stint, Kentish Plover, Northern Lapwing, Sarus Crane and Pheasant-tailed Jacana etc. Amongst the terrestrial Blue Cheeked Bee-eater, Wryneck, Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker, Oriental Skylark, Marshall's Iora, Striated Babbler, Cetti's Bush, Clamorous Reed, Blyth’s Warblers, Rain Quail, Chestnut Bellied Sandgrouse, Bluethroat and nightjars like Savanna and Indian Nightjar are seen here. Some of the raptors seen here are Greater and India Spotted Eagle, Eastern Imperial Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Marsh and Montagu's Harrier, Falcons and Kestrels also seen here.
Bharatpur is also a refuse for endangered avifauna like Black-necked Stork, White-bellied Heron, Greater Flamingo, Spotbilled Pelican, Greater Adjutant, Red-necked Grebe, Pied Avocet, Curlew Sandpiper, Ruddy Kingfisher, Spotted Crake etc.
Overnight at hotel.
Day 04 – Bharatpur
Morning and evening birding in Keoladeo Ghana National Park.
Overnight at hotel.
Day 05 – Bharatpur
Morning and evening birding in Keoladeo Ghana National Park.
Overnight at hotel.
Day 06 – Bharatpur (Day return excursion to Chambal River)
Morning drive 90 Km (one way) to explore the river especially for Indian Skimmer, Black-bellied Tern. Chambal is also a very good place to see highly endangered Gharial (the fish-eating crocodile) and Gangetic Dolphin.
Return to Bharatpur by early evening.
Overnight at hotel.
Day 07 - Bharatpur to Delhi
Morning birding in the nearby villages of Bharatpur to look for Indian Courser, sandgrouse, larks, pipits and wheatears.
Afternoon drive back to Delhi. Arrive Delhi and check-in at hotel.
Overnight at hotel.
Day 08 – Delhi to Kathgodam and Pangot
Early morning transfer to railway station to board the train for Kathgodam the nearest railhead for Pangot. Arrive Kathgodam and drive to Pangot (60 Km) stopping by enroute for birding. Arrive Pangot and check in at hotel.
Overnight at hotel.
Day 09 to 11 – Pangot
Full day birding around Pangot area.
Altitudinal variation of Uttrakand attributes largely to habitat diversity which in turn results to supporting a large variety of birdlife. Ranging from an altitude of 800 to almost 26000ft. one can find every possible bird habitat in Uttrakhand resulting to supporting almost half of the bird species found in India. However, our birding will be mostly restricted between 1000 to 8000ft.
Located at an altitude of 6500ft., Pangot area supports moist Oak, Rhododendron and Bamboo forests. Higher elevation of Pangot area called Cheer Point that supports big rock faces and open grassland making it a good place for watching soaring raptors. As the name suggest Cheer point is considered one of the best place to see Cheer Pkeasant.
Our target birds in this area will be Koklass, Khaleej Pheasant, Crested Bunting, Upland Pipit, Hill Partridge, Himalayan Quail (though there is no confirm sighting of this bird over last 100 years, IUCN has not declared it an extinct species – therefore, keeping the faint hope of sighting this bird some day we have not taken it out of our target list), Speckled Wood Pigeon, Rufous/ Himalayan/ Brown-fronted/ Fulveous-breasted Woodpeckers, Fire Capped Tit, Himalayan Rubythroat, Common Buzzard, Steppe Eagle, Common Kestrel, Lammergeiers, Himalayan and Eurasian Griffon, Brown Wood Owl, Golden Bush Robin, Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler, Rufous-chinned Laughingthrush, Pink-browed Rosefinches etc. Other birds one can expect here are Plum-headed and Slaty-headed Prakeet, Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon, Bar-tailed Treecreeper, Alpine and Himalayan Swiftlet, White-rumped Needletail, Plain-backed and Mistle Thrush, Mountain Bulbul, Goulds Shortwing, Blue-winged Minla, Whiskered Yuhina, White-browed Shortwing, Blue-capped Redstart, Black-lored Tit, Black-chinned Babbler, Green-tailed Sunbird, Fire-fronted Serin, Altai Accentor, Alpine Accentor etc.
Day 12 – Pangot to Corbett National Park
Morning depart Pangot by road for Corbett Landscape (85 Km) with birding stopover en route. Arrive Corbett and check at hotel with rest of the day at leisure or free for optional activities.
Overnight at hotel.
Day 13 – Corbett National Park
Morning and evening game viewing drive in the day zone Corbett National Park.
Named after Jim Corbett the legendary hunter of man eaters of the region who became a conservationist later, Corbett National Park has the glory of becoming the first National Parks in India and first park where Project Tiger initiative begun. The national park is spread over an area of 520 sq. km. of outer Himalayas and terai with altitude varying from 1000 to 4000ft.
Altitudinal variation has attributed to the rich biodiversity of Corbett. While forest type here is mostly tropical broad-leafed Sal, there are river valleys and massive grasslands serving as grazing fields for the wildlife.
Tiger is the main predator here followed by Leopard and lesser cats like Leopard, Jungle Cat and Dhol (wild dog) etc. Herbivores recorded in Corbett include the Hog Deer, Muntjac, Spotted Deer and Sambar. Savanas are dominated by herds of Indian Elephants and other mammals seen here are Indian Pangolin, Sloth Bear, Himalayan Black Bear, Wild Bore, Otters, Martins etc.
Corbett National Parks richness in avifauna is matched by only few other national parks. It is a very good place to see raptors with specialties like fish eagles, fish owls, vultures. It is also a good place to see woodpeckers, hornbills, flycatchers, nuthatch, thrush and laughingthrush.
A unique park of Corbett is that you can stay overnight in the core of zone of the park and explore the buffer zone on foot.
Day 14 – Corbett to Delhi and Depart
Morning game viewing drive in the day zone of Corbett National Park. Later in the morning drive back to Delhi to connect international flight.
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