The Advisory Boar

By Abhijit Menon-Sen <>

Munsiari, April 28—May 09 2009

I had a productive summer bird-watching trip to Munsiari, Uttarakhand. I hiked up to Khalia Danda (3747m) with a group of NOLS students who were learning about the alpine habitat.

Read more…

Morni/Sukhna wildlife sanctuary, January 2009

An unofficial report of a two-day checklist review birding event near Chandigarh.

Read more…

Sat Tal, March 2009

Some highlights of a relaxed weekend trip to the mountains. (Delhi—Ramnagar—Nainital—Kainchi dham—Sat Tal and back.)

Read more…

Books about Indian birds

I am often asked to recommend a field guide, usually by beginners, or people who have just started to get interested in serious bird-watching. There aren't many available; and since I've used all of them at one time or another, here are some notes about the ones I like best.

A Field Guide to the Birds of India

By Krys Kazmierczak, illustrated by Ber van Perlo.

Published in 2000 by Pica Press (UK).
Reprinted in 2006 by Om Book Service (India).

If you have to pick just one book, this is the one I recommend.

Read more…

Vinayak/Pangot/Sat Tal, February 2008

My friend Gaurav Rai and I went to Uttaranchal for five days last week with a new tent (mine), a new rucksack (his), and a new camera (mine). This is a slightly delayed report.

Read more…

Palam Vihar: bird checklist

This is a list of bird species I have identified in Palam Vihar, wedged between the borders of Delhi and Haryana. It is no longer actively maintained.

Read more…

Differences between the IOC and Clements bird checklists

This page is a summary of the changes between the International Ornithological Congress's "Birds of the World: Recommended English Names" (Gill, F., and Wright, M., 2006), and the recently-published sixth edition of "The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World" (Clements, J. F., 2007).

Read more…

Sultanpur National Park

Sultanpur is a nice place to go bird watching.

The Park is open from 0630 to 1800 from April 1 to September 30 (it closes at 1630 during "winter", from October 1 to March 31). You might have some trouble getting in at 0630 (you can always sneak in through the Rosy Pelican (the next gate to the left), but I didn't tell you that).

Read more…

Okhla Bird Sanctuary

Directions

One way to get to the Sanctuary is to go straight down NH2 (Mathura road) from Ashram chowk, and turn left under the flyover just after passing Apollo Hospital to the left. Keep going straight on, turn right at the end of the road, then turn left onto the Okhla Barrage. The Sanctuary gates are to your left shortly afterwards.

The other route is to go through NOIDA, but due to ongoing construction, many of the exits off the main road may now be blocked. Thus the former route via the Barrage is to be preferred.

See this map for an overview of the area.

Read more…