In June, I had visited Jim Corbett National Park. I had booked safaris for Bijrani, Jhirna, Garjia and Dhela zones as booking for these places were available a month in advance. I had stayed at Sparrow Nest Corbett Homestay for around 4 nights and done a total of 6 safaris. Everything was organized by Ramesh Suyal who is also the owner of the homestay. The trip from Dehradun to the homestay which is in Ramnagar took around 5 hours. I would recommend staying here for those who are planning to visit this national park as the meals are well cooked and feels like home.
Tag: birds
Birding at Assan Barrage
Assan Barrage is a small dam located around 40km from Dehradun. The dam is 287.5m long and has water all year round as it is fed water from the Asan river. This dam is responsible for creating of the Asan reservoir or also know as Dhalipur lake. This lake is a good location to view a number of water birds and migratory birds that arrive here in the winter months. The best time to visit between October and December as this attracts a lot of migratory birds to the lake.
November/December trip report to Rajaji National Park
My winter visit to Rajaji NP in terms of seeing much wildlife was very dry. It was not much of an exciting trip. I had done few safaris in Jhilmil Jheel conservation zone in the month of November and had then covered Chilla and Ranipur zones in the month of December. Even though, this particular trip to the national park was not all that great but we were still able to capture some wildlife. We did come across fresh paw prints of various animals such as tiger and sloth bear but to no luck, we were unable to spot them. Anyhow here a selection of images taken from the various safaris I done on those two visits.
Birding at Danda Lakhond
Danda Lakhond is a locality within Dehradun and I had recently visited the place for some bird photography last Sunday morning. I had spent a few hours here exploring the area and I photographed a number of small birds. The area is surrounded by forest and there is a small temple nearby. Therefore here is a showcase of birds I was able to photograph on that morning. I had used the Canon 7D and Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 L lens to photograph these birds.
Urban Birding in Dalanwala
Here is a selection of bird captures from my apartment in Dalanwala, Dehradun. Equipment used is the Canon 7D with the Tamron 150-600mm lens and Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 lenses. It is not an ideal place for bird watching or bird photography but it is amazing to see a number of bird varieties in an urban setting and that too without venturing far. It shows how birds adapt and thrive in urban surroundings inspite of noise, pollution etc.
Siberian Gulls at Patratu Dam
Since I was in Ranchi to meet with some family members, I wanted to visit a few places in and around Ranchi. One of these places was Patratu Dam which is a short drive from the main city. This is a good place to watch migratory birds however during my visit to this place, I only saw Siberian Gulls. Photographing these birds was a challenge due to shooting handheld from a moving boat.