rajasthan

Sarus cranes are large non-migratory cranes found in parts of the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Australia. They are the tallest of flying birds, growing to a height of around 5ft 11″ (1.8m). These cranes usually forage around open wetlands, marshes and agricultural lands. Their beautiful, bright red head and necks are a standout feature distinguishing them from other cranes. Sarus cranes forage on marshes and shallow wetlands for roots, tubers, insects, crustaceans, and small vertebrate prey....

Sarus cranes are beautiful, majestic birds found in parts of the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Australia. They are one of the tallest of flying birds, growing to a height of around 5ft 11" (1.8m). Usually found foraging around open wetlands, marshes and agricultural lands, these birds are considered as ‘Vulnerable’ species owing to the rapid urbanisation and vast depletion of its habitat. Sarus cranes are known to form long-lasting pair-bonds and maintain territories....

The amazing wetlands of Bharatpur support a wide variety of wildlife. Birds, among them, being the most numerous. Come winter and the migration season, scores of birds throng to this place to enjoy the abundance of food, water and locations to breed. This place, then, turns into sheer magic. The cold, foggy mornings, when the sun just refuses to come out till it is quite late in the morning, the ear soothing orchestra of the very busy flocks of water birds, the incessant squabbles of the highly territorial rose-ringed parakeets, the occasional howls of the wandering jackals, the whooshing-whirring sounds of the many cycle rickshaws ambling along, laden with people, make the Keoladeo National Park, an experience unlike any....

This happened sometime back. However, it is one of those sightings that stays with you for years and one, which you reminisce upon over time. This was in November of 2012, the place, the wonderful grasslands of Tal Chapar, in Rajasthan. Was on a birding trip there, with Shreeram of Darter Photography. My first outing to the northern part of India for birding. It was on the second or the third day of our stay there, if I remember correctly....

Tal Chapar, is a laid-back little town in the Churu district of Rajasthan , where-in lies, a wonderful grassland sanctuary, called the Tal Chapar Wildlife Sanctuary. This place seems to have become the hotbed of nature, with some amazing diversity of animal life, turning it into one of the most preferred destinations, for a whole bunch of migratory and non-migratory birds. Even a few of them, whose migratory path doesn’t pass through Chapar at all, somehow seem to stop over from time to time… :-)...