India Birding Destinations

Birding in Arunachal Pradesh means birding right in the middle of an ecological hotspot. Proximity to the Himalayas and bountiful natural resources make Arunachal Pradesh in the north-eastern tip of India a biodiversity haven with an irresistible pull for any nature lover out to do the best birding tours of India.

Arunachal Pradesh is naturally gifted with a huge expanse of green cover, comprising of tropical forests, temperate forests, pine forests, and subalpine forests. As many as ten rivers cut through the mountainous terrain of this hilly state to create five river valleys. These forests and rivers support an incredible variety of flora and fauna, and particularly impressive is the bird diversity of Arunachal Pradesh.

Think of birding in India, think of Assam. The green and hilly state, located in the northeast of the country, boasts the highest diversity of birds in India, making it a mecca for birders from across the world.

India, with its 1300 different species of birds, holds out an excellent bird-watching prospect, and Assam, home to about 935 of these birds species, is where most of the action is centred. The region’s incredible biodiversity makes it a thriving avifauna habitat, and the range and variety and beauty of the birds spotted here – both endemic and migratory – make the Assam birding tour worth every cent and second spent. Hardly an hour goes by on our birding trip of Assam when you don’t spot something interesting.

Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh sit cheek by jowl at the head of India, but the birding experiences they offer are worlds apart.

Kashmir is hailed in India as ‘paradise’ for its incredible scenic beauty. The Great Himalayas tower in the north and east of Kashmir and separate it from the high-altitude Tibetan plateau. The Pir Panjal mountain range envelopes Kashmir from the west and runs along its southern fringe to cut it off from the great plains of India. The geography we thus get is that of a verdant land of fairy-tale valleys, lush forests, glassy lakes and rolling meadows.

Arunachal Pradesh and Assam may be reckoned as the big boys of birding tourism in Northeast India, but the tiny state of Nagaland is no underdog.

It is here, in Nagaland, that an international team of ornithologists observed about a million Amur Falcons roosting in the autumn season a couple of years ago, and were inspired to dub Nagaland as ‘the falcon capital of the world.’ Few places on our wonderful planet see such huge gatherings of falcons at a time. It is in Nagaland that one still stands a chance to watch one of the world’s rarely sighted birds: Yellow-throated Laughingthrush.

Some of the world’s best birding hotspots are located in the lee of the Himalayas, where the climate is pleasant and geography perfectly suited for flora and fauna to thrive.

The north Indian state of Uttarakhand boasts just such conditions to make it a choice destination for birding in India.

A traveller entering the state from south will firstly come upon the plains in what is called the terai region. Moving northwards, the landscape begins to show the first bumps of the outermost Himalayas. This fertile region, called Bhabar, is where the Indo-Gangetic plain meets the Himalayas.

Gujarat is the preferred wintering ground for numerous migratory birds and many Indian endemics that draw birders from across the world every year.

What makes birding in Gujarat special are the diverse bird habitats found in this coastal state in the west of India. To the northwest in Gujarat is the Rann of Kutch, a vast swathe of marshy, salt-crusted flatland with ecosystems as varied as mangroves, scrub forests, deserts, wetlands and grasslands. To the east are the Kathiawar-Gir dry deciduous forests, which support enormous wildlife and avifauna diversity. To the south are the green hills of the Western Ghats. And spread throughout Gujarat are a number of rivers, reservoirs, lakes, forests, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.

When it comes to birding in South India, you can’t choose a better location than Kerala. The coastal state is hailed as the richest bird habitat in peninsular India and is home to 516 species of birds.

What makes Kerala a biodiversity haven is its ideal location on the southern tip of India. To its west lies the boundless Arabian Sea and to its east rise the Western Ghats or Sahyadri mountains that trap the south-westerly monsoon winds coming in from the sea to cause heavy downpour for four to five months every year, thereby creating a hotspot of diversity for both flora and fauna. Within this fertile, verdant and river-streaked region, one finds an interesting variety of bird habitats: lowland forests, lakes, wetlands, bluffs and backwaters.

Our Rajasthan birding tour is an experience complete in itself. We cover both the desert and hilly regions, the dry and wet parts of the north western state of Rajasthan to help you see some of the rarest and highly sought-after resident and migratory birds of the Indian subcontinent.

The largest Indian state in terms of area, Rajasthan is a land of contrasting geographies. The Aravalli mountain range cuts the state diagonally from southwest to northeast in a roughly 60-40 ratio, the larger portion being the arid desert scrubland to the west and the smaller being the fertile plains to the east. These diverse ecosystems – desert, hills, and plains – are home to about 633 species of resident and migratory birds.