Bharatpur National Park
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Situated in eastern Rajasthan,
about 176 kms away from Delhi, and 50 km west of Agra,
is the Keoladeo Ghana or Bharatpur National
Park, one of the most spectacular bird sanctuaries
in India, nesting indigenous water- birds as well as
migratory water birds and water side birds. It is also
inhabited by sambar, chital, nilgai and boar. More
than 300 species of birds are found in this small park
of 29 sq. km. of which 11 sq. km. are marshes and the
rest scrubland and grassland. Keoladeo, the
name derives from an ancient Hindu temple, devoted to
Lord Shiva, which stands at the centre of the park.
'Ghana' means dense, referring to the thick forest,
which used to cover the area. While many of India's
parks have been developed from the hunting preserves
of princely India, Keoladeo Ghana is perhaps the only
case where the habitat has been created by a maharaja.
In earlier times, Bharatpur town used to be flooded
regularly every monsoon. In 1760, an earthern dam (Ajan
Dam) was constructed, to save the town, from this
annual vagary of nature. The depression created by
extraction of soil for the dam was cleared and this
became the Keoladeo lake. At the beginning of this
century, this lake was developed, and was divided into
several portions. A system of small dams, dykes,
sluice gates, etc., was created to control water level
in different sections. This became the hunting
preserve of the Bharatpur royalty, and one of the best
duck - shooting wetlands in the world. Hunting was
prohibited by mid-60s. The area was declared a
national park on 10 March 1982, and accepted as a
World Heritage Site in December 1985. |
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Siberian
Crane
Over
350 species of birds find a refuge in the 29 sq km of
shallow lakes and woodland, which makes up
the park. A third of them are migrants, many of whom
spend their winters in Bharatpur, before returning to
their breeding grounds, as far away as Siberia and
Central Asia. Migratory birds at Keoladeo include, as
large a bird as Dalmatian pelican, which is slightly
less than two meters, and as small a bird as Siberian
disky leaf warbler, which is the size of a finger.
Other migrants include several species of cranes,
pelicans, geese, ducks, eagles, hawks, shanks, stints,
wagtails, warblers, wheatears, flycatchers, buntings,
larks and pipits, etc. But of all the migrants, the
most sought after is the Siberian Crane or the great
white crane, which migrates to this site every year,
covering a distance of more than half the globe. These
birds, numbering only a few hundred, are on the verge
of extinction. It is birds from the western race of
the species, that visit Keoladeo, migrating from the
Ob river basin region, in the Aral mountains, in
Siberia via Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are only
two wintering places, left for this extremely rare
species.One is in Feredunkenar in Iran, and the other
is Keoladeo Ghana. The journey to Bharatpur takes them
6,400 kms from their breeding grounds, in Siberia.
They arrive in December and stay till early March.
Unlike Indian cranes, the Siberian crane is entirely
vegetarian. It feeds on underground aquatic roots and
tubers in loose flocks of five or six. |
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Spoonbill
Seventeen species of birds, namely, grey heron, purple heron, night heron, large egret, median egret, little egret, cattle egret, large cormorant, Indian shag, little cormorant, darter, painted stork, open-billed stork, black-necked stork, white-necked stork, white ibis and spoonbill are known to breed at
Keoladeo heronry and the heronry here, is said to be one of the finest in the world. Talking about the heronries of the world, Roger Tony Peterson wrote, "Perhaps the most impressive spectacle of all is the great assemblage at
Bharatpur, near Agra, India, where half a dozen
species of herons and egrets nest in association with
painted storks, spoonbills, ibises and cormorants..."
What is peculiar to Bharatpur, is that many of the species are specialist feeders, like the Siberian crane. Each helps itself to on e ingredient of the wetland soup. Flamingos sieve the water for plankton, spoonbills rake the mud with their lower mandibles for mollusks, tadpoles and weed, while egrets and herons spear their prey, and geese and brahminy ducks graze at the water's edge.
The Keoladeo heronry is full of fervent activity. Besides the avian fauna, a large variety of mammals and reptiles are also common in the park.These include the nilgai, sambar, chital, leopard and the wild boar. A bonus to reptile-lovers are the large rock pythons which can be spotted, sunning themselves, especially at Python Point, beyond the
Keoladeo Temple. The unique mix of marshes, pastures and woodland and the floral communities at Keoladeo is the key to the high density and diversity of flora and fauna.
The terrain is rugged and there are rocky ridges, hills and open valleys with lakes and pools. Ranthambhore is an oasis of dense dry deciduous forests amidst a vast tract of semi arid scrub and thorny desert vegetation surrounded by the hills of the Vindhyas and the Aravalis. Although latest reports show that the tiger population of Ranthambhore is on the decline, it’s still one of India’s best places to see the great cat in all its glory. |
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