Monday, December 7, 2015

Birding in Kolkata Chintamony Kar Bird Sanctuary

Our visit to Chintamani Kar Bird Sanctuary was accompanied by  nature lover and close friend of ours SwarnamberChoudhury.







Chintamani Kar  bird sanctuary is actually a garden  (kayaler bagan). Growing up in kolkata, I never knew that there is a bird sanctuary in the busy streets of Kolkata.So with our gear ready we headed for the sanctuary-We reached there in the afternoon at 1pm.


Direction to Chintamani Kar Bird Sanctuary: This bird sanctuary is in Rajpur. You need to cross Narendrapur Ram Krishna Mission and at Rajpur Mor you need to turn  right .( ask any small shop at that point, they will show you the direction.)
Metro: Garia Metro
Auto is also easily available.
Ps.Small Pan shop can be a great help in asking  direction.

Entry time - 6 am -5pm
Ticket -50 rs

I feel that 50 rs for such a tiny  sanctuary ( rather Mango garden)for only  residential bird is not worth.The place is not maintained. The small pools and water area(pond) were dry, no one bothers to fill it with water for birds. The Guards were sitting and chatting around. Bird lovers dont mind  paying 50 rs for the ticket, but its complete robbery.
 Bharatpur Bird sanctuary charges 50 rs for their exotic birds and that is meaningful and well maintained with water and various grass and algae for their foreign friends.


The jungle was quiet dense, but full of Mosquitoes.  photography was impossible.  Odomos or something similar to it is a must to keep mosquitoes away
Its a tropical forest therefore spotting birds was next to impossible..Even with my binocular I could not spot them.
One of the rare bird I saw was Night Jar,
Lighting Condition was extremely poor , out of 20 shots, 2 came good of the Nightjar. Mosquitoes were the main reason.!!!
I could hear the birds but couldnt spot them.  At one point of time I gave up (Huge neck pain)


You might encounter with snakes too, therefore  its good to go during winter.
Monsoon should be strictly avoided.
By 4 pm  we came out of the sanctuary and on the way in my car I kept scratching my feet.  Finally returned home with sore red feet and  hand.

Some Common Bird  _

Bee eater
Barbet ( different kind)
Wood Pecker
Jungle Babbler
Owl
NightJar
Paradise Fly catcher (rare sighting)
Golden Oriole
 Sun bird
Drongo

One needs to have Minimum of  250 mm lense and a 50/50 binocular for birding in this kind of tropical forest.

Book reference for identifying the birds

http://www.flipkart.com/birds-ind-subcontinent-2-rev-ed-2nd/p/itmczyt8ck3x2ape

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