Keoladeo National Park

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In the Keoladeopark in November
Sunrise in the national park
Heller Tiger Python, well camouflaged in the vegetation and lurking for prey in the Keoladeo National Park

Keoladeo ( Hindi : केवलादेव , Kevlādev ) is a national park in the Indian state of Rajasthan , also called Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary or Keoladeo Ghana Bird Sanctuary . Size: 29 km². Location: 55 km west of Agra near Bharatpur .

Keoladeo was originally the private duck hunting ground of the Maharajas of Bharatpur . Many waterfowl from Afghanistan , Turkmenistan , China and Siberia overwinter in the swampy landscape . Over 364 species of birds including the rare barnacle crane have been observed.

history

The park's ecosystem was created by human hands:

The city of Bharatpur was regularly flooded during the monsoon season until the Ayan Dam was built in 1760. By removing the earth used for the construction of the dam, a hollow was created that filled with water and became Lake Keoladeo.

At the turn of the century, Lake Keoladeo was prepared as a hunting ground. The shallow lake was divided with dams. The water level could be adjusted to the desired level using locks. Firing ranges, hiding places and paths were created. Keoladeo has become one of the best duck hunting areas in the world.

The hunt stopped in the mid-1960s. In 1981 the area was declared a national park.

Since 1985, the park is part of the UNESCO - World Heritage .

Birds

Cranes , pelicans , geese , ducks , eagles , falcons , water striders , sandpipers , wagtails , warblers , wheatear , flycatchers , bunting , larks and water pipit overwinter in the park .

A special guest is the barnacle crane , which has only three wintering areas worldwide. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, nun cranes still overwintered in several places in the Ganges basin. With the increasing expansion of agriculture, the nun cranes withdrew more and more to this marshland 60 kilometers upstream from the Taj Mahal. In 1964, 200 specimens wintered in India near Bharatpur. Almost 10 years later there were only 76 left. The last time a nunnery was observed in the park was in 2002. In the meantime, this population has probably become extinct.

Birds that breed in the park over the summer: lapwing , partridge , quail , peacock , bankiva chicken , pigeons , kingfishers , mainas , woodpeckers , oriole , herons , cormorants , darter , storks , ibis , shoveler .

Visit to the park

The best time of year to visit is in winter, that is between November and February when the wintering migratory birds are in the park.

documentary

  • Bharatpur - Bird Paradise of the Maharajas (1996), directed by Jens-Uwe Heins and Holger Schulz

Web links

Commons : Keoladeo National Park  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 27 ° 10 '  N , 77 ° 31'  E