The Indian region is incredibly rich in birdlife.
Over 1200 of the world's 8650 species of birds are found in the region. This
number rises to over 2000 with sub species included, which makes the Indian
check-list twice the size of those of Europe and North America. This abundance
is due to the variety of habitats and climate. Altitude ranges from sea level
to the peaks of the Himalaya, the world's highest mountain range; rainfall from
its lowest in the Rajasthan desert to its highest in the north-eastern town
of Cherrapunji in Meghalaya, one of the wettest places in the world.
Birding in India
" A bird does not sing because it has
an answer. It sings because it has a song"
The Indian region is incredibly rich in birdlife. Over 1200 of the world's 8650
species of birds are found in the region. This number rises to over 2000 with
sub species included, which makes the Indian check-list twice the size of those
of Europe and North America. This abundance is due to the variety of habitats
and climate. Altitude range
s
from sea level to the peaks of the Himalaya, the world's highest mountain range;
rainfall from its lowest in the Rajasthan desert to its highest in the north-eastern
town of Cherrapunji in Meghalaya, one of the wettest places in the world. Unlike
more temperate zones, the climate of large areas of the Indian region encourages
continuous plant growth and insect activity-abundant sources of avian nourishment
throughout the year.
Himalayan Birding
The northernmost of these areas is the Himalaya, which form an arc some 2500
kilo metres long and 150 to 400 kilometres broad across the top of the sub-continent.
The Himalayan mountains form roughly three parts,the foothills or Sivaliks to
the south, the Himachal, or lower mountains, and the Himadri or high Himalaya
to the north. The Ladakh plateau, with an average elevation of 5300 metres,
occupies a large portion of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and consists
of steppe country with mountain lakes where birds like the Bar-headed Goose
and Brown-headed Gull breed in summer. The state of Himachal Pradesh, and the
Kumaon and Garhwal regions of the state of Uttar Pradesh lie to the west of
Nepal, which falls almost entirely within the central Himalaya. Further east
the rainfall increases giving the Eastern Himalaya of Bhutan and Sikkim a very
different range of species from those in the west.
North West Birding
The
north west covers the bulk of Pakistan, the flat plains of the Indian Punjab
and the semi-arid and arid plains of Rajasthan in the west. The Punjab (divided
now between India and Pakistan) is watered by the five rivers, after which it
takes its name, and efficient farming on fertile soil means that it produces
an immense surplus of wheat and rice. Further west, wherever irrigation has
been possible the desert has bloomed. Mountains of red chillies,for example,
can been seen drying next to the fields around,Jodhpur, while there are verdant
paddy fields in areas irrigated by the great River Indus in Pakistan's Sindh
province.
Areas without irrigation have to rely on the perennially deficient rainfall,
but local grasses have adapted to this, and after a monsoon shower even the
desert sprouts rich pasture. Much of the area is in fact thorn scrub rather
than true desert. Among the numerous desert birds found in this area are many
which are related to species further west. The shifting sands of the desert
join ultimately with the Rann of Kutch, a large salt waste which runs into the
sea, and are bordered to the south-east by the Aravallis, India's most ancient
mountains.
North India Birding
North
India comprises the Gangetic plain, enriched by thousands of years of alluvial
deposits brought by the River Ganga and her tributaries from the Himalaya. The
Gangetic plain is densely populated and highly fertile. This region extends
up to an altitude of 1000 metres in the north, which also means it includes
the low foothills of the Himalaya, and the terai of India and Nepal, once a
marshy area covered with dense forest. Much of the terai area has been cleared
for farming but some of the forests which still exist reveal the fantastic variety
of birdlife which these forests must once have supported.
Peninsular India Birding
Peninsular India, bordered on the north-west by the Aravallis and the north
by the Vindhya mountains, on the west by the Arabian Sea and the east by the
Bay of Bengal, makes up the largest physiographic division of India.
The central plateaus of this area, which is also known as the Deccan, rise to
over 1000 metres in the south, but hardly exceed 500 metres in the north. The
peninsula has some wonderful landscapes, hills and huge boulders littering the
countryside, and large areas of forest. Great rivers like the Narmada rise in
the heart of the peninsula and flow into the sea. The steep escarpments of the
Western Ghats, the mountains which stand between the plateau and the low-lying
coastal strip, catch the full force of the monsoon.
South West India Birding
The south west region lies within the peninsula, but due to the particularly
humid climate and the height of the hills here, its birds, like spiderhunters
and laughing thrushes
bear strong affinities with those found in the north-east and Burma. The highest
of the hills here are the, Nilgiris or Blue Mountains, much of whose characteristic
downland and shola forest is now under eucalyptus, tea and other plantation
crops. Tea is also the main crop of the Annamalai or Elephant Mountains of Kerala,
while cardamom and other spices are grown lower down. Perhaps the most ornithologically
fascinating part of this area are the forests of the Wynad, where Kerala, Karnataka
and Tamil Nadu meet.
North East India Birding
The north east and Bangladesh region consists of the delta of the Ganga and
Brahmaputra, with its tidal estuaries, sandbanks, mud-flats, mangrove swamps
and islands. Further upstream are .lands drained, and occasionally flooded,
by these great rivers and their tributaries. The north-east region also extends
northwards to include all the forest regions of the states of Arunachal Pradesh,
Mizoram, Meghalaya and Nagaland, as well as the Kingdom of Bhutan. As you progress
eastwards, the bird life has increasinly strong affinities with the IndoChinese
sub-region.
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