Birds of Kaziranga National Park, Assam, North East India

My last post on Kaziranga was about its rich wildlife. But, it was not just a rich wildlife experience for me, but also a super rich birding experience. One can see all kind of birds at Kaziranga…the classic raptors, the scavengers, the migratory birds, waterfowl, terrestrial and others.



The diverse habitat at Kaziranga ensures that one can see a variety of birds in a short time. From the grasslands to the tropical forests and from the swampy marshland to the large lakes, Kaziranga has that special oomph factor that attracts a lot of avifauna species.



I was here at Kaziranga for 7 days and each day I came up with a rich birding haul. In fact, my experience was fantastic during each safari.



Every forest range of Kaziranga offers different insight to the avian world of Kaziranga. The Eastern range is great for raptors, fishing birds and waterfowl. The central range is ideal for grass land birds and migratory birds. The Western range is more like a healthy combination.



The most special bird species of Kaziranga is undoubtedly the Bengal Florican. I was lucky to see a couple of them on my final day at Kaziranga. They are quite an interesting sight. It is said that during the mating season, the male jumps up at least 20 feet in the air to win over the female.



This was also the time I saw the most number of raptor species in one national park. I got to see the Grey headed fishing eagle, Changeable hawk eagle, Brown Fish Owl, Spotted Owlet, Pallas Fishing Eagle, Black Shouldered Kite, Long Billed Vultures and the Crested Serpent Eagle.



This visit to Kaziranga also treated me to the unbelievable sight of a large group of Alexandrine Parakeets feeding ferociously on the fruits of the BER tree. Seeing so many alexandrine parakeets go crack crack crack at the BER fruit is a sight that will remain etched in my memory forever.



Every birding session was special and at the end of my seventh day and 15th safari, I had a very rich birding haul. The list includes: Greater Adjutant Stork, Lesser Adjutant Stork, White Breasted Waterhen, Long tailed Shrike, Darter, Open Billed Stork, Indian Roller, Common Stonechat, Black Drongo, Changeable Hawk Eagle, Bengal Florican, Crested Serpent Eagle, Little Cormorant, Purple Heron, Alexandrine Parakeet, Oriental Turtle Dove, Oriental Pied Hornbill, Black necked Stork, Spotted Owlet, Ruddy Shelduck, Black Headed Ibis, Spot Billed Ducks, Greenshank, Grey Headed Fishing Eagle, Brown Fish Owl, Bar Headed Geese, Lesser Whistling Duck, Bronzed Winged Jacana, Greater Cormorant, Intermediate Egret, Little Egret, Large Egret, Grey Heron, Red Vented Bulbul, Common Teal, Northern Lapwing, Grey Headed Lapwing, Black necked Crane, Stout Bill Kingfisher, White Breasted Kingfisher, Swamp Francolin, Red Junglefowl, Pied Starling, Jungle Myna, Common Mallard, Long Billed Vultures, Greater Coucal, Black Shouldered Kite, Pallas’s Fishing Eagle, Indian Pond Heron and Oriental White Ibis.