Birding Bliss: Bharatpur Sanctuary 2023

I have returned to India from Paris to visit the captivating nesting bird zones at the Bharatpur bird sanctuary located in the state of Rajasthan, also known as Keoladeo National Park or Ghana National Park. This is one of my favourite destinations. Every year, at the end of December, I come to Bharatpur to capture the beauty of its exotic bird species. This year marks my fifth visit to this sanctuary. It is home to approximately 370 birds species, including Mongolian migrating geese, parakeets, golden orient parrots, falcons, purple swamp, hens, spotted owlets, white-cheeked bulbul, Kingfisher, ibis, and many more. Winter brings in an additional number of migratory birds making this sanctuary an unadulterated gem for nature lovers. In this article, I will discuss my experience of this trip in chronological order, starting from our road journey from Delhi and our accommodation in Bharatpur, followed by a discussion of all expenses until the end of the trip. Most importantly, I will focus on monitoring the number of bird species found at this time of the year and comparing it to the previous years.

My friend, who is Bangladeshi, and I started our journey from Delhi at 10:00 am from the Vasant Kunj area of Delhi. This time, I took my own car Hyundai -i20 with a driver. The day before the trip, the car was serviced. We filled up the car’s fuel tank, which cost us 4200/- Indian Rupees (INR), and started our journey to Bharatpur. The route we took was from Delhi to Mathura via National Highway Number-19. The first toll tax we paid was 64/- INR at Badarpur Sarai Toll Plaza, and the net one we paid 220/- INR at Godpuri Toll Plaza. Just before reaching Mathura, we had a brunch at small Dhaba which cost us 380 /- INR. For brunch, we had one aloo and paneer paratha, which is a stuffed Indian bread along with Dahee (Curd) and Chai (Tea). The food was tasty and very satisfying. After this break, we continued on our journey.

On reaching Mathura by-pass road, we took a right turn from the National Highway-19 (NH-19). The right turn is on the bridge itself but on the opposite side. So, we had to take a U-turn after getting down the bridge. Again we get onto the same bridge and took a left turn on the bridge to enter the Bharatpur road. The time was around 1:00 pm, and the bridge was always congested with traffic, with lots of trucks on it. It took us 30 minutes just to come out of the bridge and get onto the Bharatpur road. Finally, after 3 hours and 30 minutes, we reached Bharatpur at around 2:15 pm. My friend booked a room in Hotel Pratap Regal, Rajendra Nagar Bharatpur, which cost us 1500/- INR per night. At the time of check-in, the hotel receptionist refused to give us a room, because my friend was carrying a Bangladeshi passport , the hotel administration had to take permission from local police to allow Bangladeshi citizens. And it was also 31st December night, checkings will happen so he refused to give us a room. But the hotel receptionist suggested the Hotel Clarks Inn Express, which was just beside the Regal Pratap hotel. Luckily, we got one room there, but it was expensive which at 5000/-INR per night per person. For the Bangladeshi friend, we used his time we gave him his Delhi office Identity card, and I used my Indian voter’s ID card, which worked perfectly fine. We got into our room, which was like a 2-star hotel room, pretty decent.

Anyways, we checked into the hotel room at 2:45 pm. We quickly freshened up and, in ten minutes, rushed to the entrance gate of Bharatpur wildlife sanctuary because the sanctuary is going to close at 5:30 pm in the winter season. At around 3:00 pm, we reached the entrance of the Bharatpur Sanctuary. There, what we saw was full of a crowd of locals who came to enjoy their picnic and, expectedly, a big queue at the ticket counter. I found too much noise and haphazardness in that place. I wondered how the birds could stay in the sanctuary if there was so much of chaos.

Somehow, we managed to purchase the entrance tickets for Bharatpur National Park. For Indian Nationals, the cost is 126/- INR, while for foreign nationals, it is 760/- INR per person. Since my friend looked like an Indian, we bought an Indian ticket for him. Afterward, we hired a guide-cum-government rickshaw wala (Id No. 95) to take us around the Bharatpur bird sanctuary. It cost us 600/- INR for three hours, and we also gave him an extra tip depending on his ability to spot birds. The rickshaw Wala’s prices have increased by 50/- INR per hour. Earlier it was 150/- INR per hour, now it is 200/- INR per hour.

Day 1, Afternoon at Bharatpur Sanctuary on 31st Dec 2022

As we entered the wildlife sanctuary, we spotted a few parakeets and bulbul. Parakeets were seen sitting on the top of the trees while the bulbuls were hovering around the bushes on both sides of the road. We moved around rickshaws to take pictures of these birds as they are commonly seen in Delhi-NCR regions. After going a few meters into the sanctuary, we stopped and get-off from the rickshaw. We went to the point where we saw a baby Python sleeping behind the bushes. Neither the tail nor the head was visible, as the Python had spiraled herself, probably resting. I took a few pictures, but photographically, they are nothing great. We then headed further on the rickshaw and saw many green Pigeons resting on the trees. I took a few pictures of them. This time, I was excited to take pictures of the Pelicans. Last year bird sanctuary trip in October 2022 and no migratory birds were seen. At least, I thought that this time, I would be able to see them. However, the rickshaw Wala told us Pelicans especially come in mid-to-late January and stay till March to mid of June for breeding. So, missed again seeing them. I was a little disappointed, but it was okay since many other migratory birds came, and I concentrated on them. Then we spotted Swamp Hen also known as the Kashmiri indigenous bird. These birds were abundant this time. Next, we spotted the Darter, a snake bird. Generally, Snake birds are seen a lot in this bird sanctuary, but this time, very few were around. In the evening, the darter birds rest on top of the trees after fishing the whole day. Comparatively, during the last few visits to this sanctuary, I have never seen such a low count of darter birds. It was a little surprising for me and even my friend also observed the same. I have already collected good pictures of this Snake bird earlier. Last year, I tried to take darker fishing pictures, but I could capture a few pictures and didn’t get a perfect shot. However, this year we would try our luck. It was already 4:30 pm in the evening, and the light was bad, so we had to head back to the room. Therefore, we hurried up a little to spot more birds. Luckily, we spotted Nightjar for the first time. It was sleeping on the horizontal solid branch of a tree. The Nightjar bird was dark brown in colour and textured just like a tree branch. It was almost 90 % camouflaged with the tree branch, and the nightjar was barely visible. It was fascinating to watch. We also saw many Painted stork juveniles in their Nests. Bar-headed geese were also seen, but they were very far and we could not get a good picture of them. This year, I found very few egrets too. In the evening time, all the egrets assemble into various groups and sit together near some water, and in the backdrop, you see the sunset. So, last time, I was able to capture very nice silhouette shots of egrets, which came out very well. However, this year very, very few egrets were present, and slight smog was present, I couldn’t capture good silhouette shots. At around 6:00 pm in the evening, we came back to the entrance of the bird sanctuary. Initially, we thought not to give any tip to the rickshaw wala as he was not so enterprising, but he demanded and started arguing with us. So, We gave a minimum of 100/- rupees tip for the namesake.

After coming out of the bird sanctuary, we had some snacks that cost us just 100 rupees for both. The street food stall, which we call “Tthela” in India, was just opposite the entrance of the bird sanctuary. We headed towards our hotel Clarcks Inn Express, which is just a 5 minutes walk from the sanctuary. During this walk, a man named Man Singh he is a Sardar, approached us and wanted us to hire him for the rickshaw ride for the next day's National Park trip. He introduced himself, saying that he had 43 years of experience in the bird-watching field and spoke little English. My friend and I were tired, so we took a nap in our hotel room. This small nap lasted for 2 hours.

We needed to withdraw cash from the ATM, so at around 8:30 pm, we dragged ourselves out into Bharatpur city and took out some money. We also bought a few common medicines and returned to the room in just 30 minutes. At 9:30 pm on the 31st night, we had dinner in the hotel restaurant itself. We had to take buffet as there was no A la carte option available. The dinner buffet cost us 1500/- INR for both of us, but the food was average, with very few items to choose from. We did not enjoy the dinner at all. Anyhow, we finished our dinner at around 10:30 pm and went off to sleep. We knew it was New Year’s Eve, but we had a lot to do the next day, so we slept very early.

Day 2, New Year, New Adventure at Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, January 1st, 2023

First, let me explain how we woke up. Yesterday, as you all know by now, we were both very tired, so we could not wake up until the receptionist called us on the phone. The receptionist called us because of the Rickshaw Wala Sardarji, was waiting for us. Actually, we were supposed to be ready by 7:00 am but we weren’t awake until 7:30 am. Anyhow, we were ready by 8:30 am, with our complimentary breakfast done. The breakfast was pretty good, and they had a good number of varieties on the food menu. We both had a heavy breakfast to survive until evening. So, at 9:00 am, we reached the entrance and bought tickets for Bharatpur National Park. We had already booked Sardarji’s rickshaw, which had a government number is 05. He was also very excited to explain the details of the Bharatpur sanctuary. Luckily, there was not much fog in the sanctuary and, importantly, no local crowd either. Initially, we spotted a few Peakocks and Parakeets on the top of the trees, and also the Bulbul birds which were hovering around the roadside bushes. We were not interested in taking pictures of all these common birds until and unless they were photographically positioned with the right amount of sunlight falling onto them and good contrasting background. Along the road itself, near the bushes, we spotted a rare bluethroat bird. It had a blue colour ring on its neck area which looks like it is wearing a blue neckless. The bluethroat is not an indigenous bird; it is commonly found in Alaska and Europe and migrates to India and Africa in the winter season. During my first trip to Bharatpur, I could capture only a few pictures of this bird. However, this time, I took close-up pictures of the bird, with well-lit bluethroat bird with sunlight and low-angle shots. This time I was very much satisfied with these shots. We reached the point where Indian Jungle nightjar was spotted on a branch of a tree. This morning the sunlight was directly falling onto the nightjar, brightly lighting it up. A few steps next to the nightjar, we spotted owlet triplets and were able to capture good close-up pictures of them. I also made videos of the spotted owlets,.The camera was stabilized by putting my camera on the bicycle seat. Although I was carrying a tripod, for quick access, I had to use a bicycle seat. At the next point, we saw a single Swamp hen actively cleaning herself on tree bark. It was fascinating to watch, and for this, I set up my tripod and took videos. They came out well. There was also a Purple Heron focussing on catching fish. It was moving very slowly with his head very still, so I started to make a video of that movement. After some time, the Purple Heron finally turned its head to the other side, so I stopped the video. I hoped that I could get the footage of Heron catching the fish, but I was not so lucky enough.

In another area, we saw one Purple heron strongly pulling out something from the grass. It seemed like the beak of the Purple heron was stuck. However, according to the rickshaw wala, he said fish is stuck in the roots, and the Purple heron is pulling that. So we waited for 15-20 minutes, but it was still stuck, so we just moved on. I also took a few videos of the juvenile Painted stork that was gazing by the lake looking for insects.

At 10:00 am, we reached the second canteen of the Keoladeo National park. We took a break and had tea, patties, and chips. Next to the 2nd canteen, you have a few areas to look at. One is the Bats point, where many bats were hanging upside down on trees. Just adjacent to the Bats point, there is one lake, which is actually a Snakebird (Darter) fishing point. Close to the fishing point, there is a Shiva temple. In front of the temple, a Scops owl was spotted sitting on a tree, and at the back of the temple, we could spot a full-grown Indian Python. After taking pictures of bats, Scops Owl, and Indian Python, we sat down at the darter fishing point for 30-40 mins. In these 40 minutes, luckily I could capture the pictures of the darter with fish. I must say that it requires a lot of patience. The Darter can stay in the water for 45 minutes, and when the Darter’s neck goes inside the water, it does not show any trail of its movements. Whenever the darter finds a fish, it comes out of the water, with its beak tosses up the fish so that the head of the fish comes downwards and smoothly goes into the Darter’s mouth. This is very fascinating to watch. Now, It was already 11:00 pm, and we also wanted to do boating as well. It was our first boating experience in Bharatpur Bird sanctuary so we hurried to reach the boat riding point. We hired a boat, costing us 450/- INR per hour. The boat ride was calm and soothing. I was only carrying a 200 mm - 500 mm lens, so could not capture any landscapes. From the boat, we captured pictures of a spotted Deer with her fawn. Then, I took close-up, low-angle pictures of a Wood Sandpiper bird with a bokeh effect in the background. I also captured images of Chuck-will’s widow, a bird from the nightjar family native to northern America. Additionally, I got shots of the Great Shrike tyrant, which was at the top of a tree. Finally, while going back on the boat, we were able to get good shots of the long-tailed shrike, also called the rufous-backed shrike. We also spotted Silver bills, but they were hiding behind the bushes. At the end of the boat ride, we gave 150/- INR tip to the boat rider Ramesh. While heading back to the entrance of the Bharatpur sanctuary, we saw a golden eagle only the back was visible. The rickshaw wala made an eagle sound, then the golden owl looked back, and we got nice shots of it. At around 1:30 pm, we came out of the sanctuary. To the rickshaw fellow, we gave in a total of 2000/- INR: twelve hundred rupees (1200/- INR) for 6 hours for his rickshaw service and 800/- INR as his tip. We reached the hotel Clark inn express where our car was parked and immediately, headed toward Delhi at 2:00 pm. Google maps estimated that we would reach Delhi in 4 hours and 20 mins, but it actually took us 5 hours to reach there.

In Conclusion, despite some minor issues during the trip, overall it was a pleasant experience. Although the visit to the sanctuary on the first night was not very productive due to fatigue and the crowd, the next day was much better with the help of the rickshaw driver, Man Singh. It was surprising to observe a lower density of Bird species than in previous years, especially the low count of Darters and Egrets. However, the trip still offered a good variety of species and enjoyable sightings. Despite some challenges, the trip was a worthwhile experience for any birdwatching enthusiast.

Bharatpur National Park’s Top Spotted Species in January 2023: A vibrant display of Diversity