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India Jammu Kashmir

White-breasted Kingfisher Halcyon smyrensis ŠDr Bakshi Jehangir

In the west Kashmir is a beautiful Himalayan valley with breathtaking mountain scenery, clear lakes, lush vegetation and magnificent forests. The capital city Srinagar (1,730m) is famous for its canals, houseboats and Mughal gardens. India`s best-known ornithologist Salim Ali once called Kashmir a heaven on earth for migratory birds. Indeed the local folk are much more aware of the migratory visitors rather than the resident species and organised birding in the Valley is virtually non-existent even though it is home to a rich biodiversity which includes a large number of bird species, many of which are unique to Kashmir. Number of bird species: 550+

To the east Ladakh is a cold high altitude desert cut off from the monsoon clouds by the Great Himalayas and a host of subsidiary ranges. The wind, water from the minimal winter snows and chemical reactions within the rocks themselves have carved a fantastic, and in places grotesque, landscape referred to as the moonscape. Ladakh lies at altitudes ranging from about 9,000 feet (2,750m) at Kargil to 25,170 feet (7,672m) at Saser Kangri in the Karakoram with the capital city Leh at 3505m. It has a number of high-altitude lakes and is the only breeding ground for the black-necked crane outside China. Number of bird species: 300+

Some of the very best birding locations are listed below.

top sites

Dachigam National Park

This one-time exclusive hunting preserve of the Maharaja of Kashmir was declared a national park in 1951. Dachigam contains the last viable population of Hangul or Kashmir Stag in the world. The two sectors of the Park - Upper and Lower Dachigam are spread over an area of 141-sq-km. and altitudes vary between 1,700 and 4,300m. Two steep ridges enclose the Park with its great topographical variety - deep ravines, rocky outcrops, steep wooded slopes and rolling alpine pastures. The Dagwan stream flows from the Marsar Lake (4,300m) through Lower Dachigam. Avifauna: Over 150 species of birds have been reported including Crimson Tragopan, Monal Pheasant, Blood Pheasant, Koklas Pheasant, Golden Eagle, Lammergeier etc. Status: Theatened by human encroachment.

Dal Lake

The famous Dal Lake of Srinagar has been described as hardly what one would expect a lake to be like - it`s a maze of intricate waterways and channels, floating islands of vegetation, houseboats that look so firmly moored they could almost be islands and hotels on islands which look like they could simply float away. The famous Dal Lake has shrunk from an area of 16 sq. kms in the 1980s to about 9 sq. kms today. Avifauna: All the lake birds on the http://www.birdsofkashmir.com site have been photographed in and around the lake. Status: Theatened by pollution, siltation, human encroachment and overgrowth of vegetation.

Gulmarg Biosphere Reserve

Gulmarg is located at a distance of 48-km to the south-west of Srinagar. It is a major tourist destination and a world-class Ski resort.Avifauna includes pheasants and upland birds amongst other resident and migratory species. Avifauna: Griffon Vulture, Monal Pheasant, Snow Cock, Koklas Pheasant, Blue Rock Pigeon, Kashmir Roller, Eurasian Hoopoe, Jungle Crow etc. I have observed the Himalayan Greenfinch and Yellow-billed Blue Magpie. Status: Theatened by increased tourism.

Kashmir Wetlands [Hygam, Hokersar, Shalibug, Mirgund]

Migratory birds from Siberia and Central Asia use the wetlands in Kashmir as their transitory camps between September and October and again around spring. Avifauna: Greylag Goose, Ruddy Shelduck, Pintail, Teal, Mallard, White-Eyed Pochard, Red-Crested Pochard, Shoveller, Brahminy Duck, Wigeon, Snipe, Garganey, Lapwing, Kingfishers, Herons, Little Bittern. Hygam, Wular Lake [Ramsar site no. 461] A number of wetlands, such as Malgam, Hygam and Nawgam are located on the fringes of the Wular Lake, which is the largest freshwater lake in India with extensive marshes of sub-water tubers and floating vegetation, like the water chestnut. These wetlands play a vital role in sustaining a large population of wintering, staging and breeding birds. The Hygam wetland located some 50kms from Srinagar has shrunk from 4.5 sq. kms to less than 1.5 sq. kms. Status: Theatened by siltation and human encroachment. Hokersar [Notified Wildlife Sanctuary, Ramsar notification under process] Hokersar, 14 km north of Srinagar is another world class wetland spread over 13. 75 sq kms including lake and marshy area. It attracts birds from Siberia, Central Asia, China, North Europe and the Indian sub-continent. A record number (over 400,000) migratory birds were estimated to have been spotted at the Hokersar Wildlife Sanctuary this winter. Status: Threatened by siltation from the Doodh Ganga river. Shalibug is Kashmir`s largest bird reserve. Status: Theatened by siltation and human encroachment.

Tso Morari Lake, Ladakh [Ramsar site no. 1213]

This freshwater to brackish lake lying at 4,595m above sea level is the world`s highest Ramsar site. Avifauna: The lake is the only breeding ground outside of China for one of the most endangered cranes, the Black-necked crane Grus nigricollis, and the only breeding ground for Bar-headed Geese in India. A small northern offshore island forms the main nesting site for the Bar Headed Geese and the Brown Headed Gull. Status: Threatened by increased tourism. A Tso Morari Conservation Trust has been recently formed with the help of the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) Leh office for conservation of the lake.

contributor

Dr. Bakshi Jehangir
(Srinagar - Kashmir)
cyberdoc@rediffmail.com
http://www.birdsofkashmir.com

useful reading

* Field Guides & Bird Song

For a comprehensive list of recommended titles covering India as a whole - please see the main India page of Fatbirder

Birds of Northern India

by Richard Grimmett and Tim Inskipp Helm Field Guides 2003 RRP ?19.99p
See Fatbirder Review
ISBN: 0713651679
Buy this book from NHBS.com

The Breeding Birds of Kashmir

R.S.P. Bates, E.H.N. Lowther Hardcover - 390 pages (27 June, 1991) OUP India
ISBN: 0195625625
Buy this book from NHBS.com

useful information

State Bird

Black-necked Crane

reserves

Dachigam National Park

http://www.ladakh-kashmir.com/wildlife-kashmir/dachigam-national-park.html
Colourful pheasants include the crimson tragopan, the iridescent monal pheasant with its glittering plumage, the blood pheasant and the koklass pheasant. The golden eagle and the bearded vulture or lammergeier are seen circling the brilliant blue skies.

Jasrota Wildlife Sanctuary - Kashmir

http://www.1upindia.com/sanctuaries/jasrota.html
Jasrota Wildlife Sanctuary has an area of 10 sq km, it houses an appreciable variety of bird and animal life, most notably cheetal or axis deer.

Kishtwar High Altitude National Park - Jammu

http://www.kashmirhub.com/kashmir-wildlife-sanctuaries/kishtwar-high-altitude-national-park.html
When in a sanctuary or national park it is important to dress in camouflage colors (khaki, green etc). Do not make undue noise and avoid littering the forest floors with paper, tins and food leftovers. while photographing take due caution not to disturb the birds and animals.

trip reports

Travelling Birder
http://www.travellingbirder.com
The Travellingbirder.com birding trip report search engine guides you to 7,000+ birding trip reports on the Internet. You can search for trip reports from a specific country and time of year. Not all these reports are in English. So, if you cant find the trip report you want on this Fatbirder page give them a try!

2000 [April] - Otto Pfister

http://www.princeton.edu/~vivekt/trips/Ladakh00.html
Our late winter-early spring visit to Ladakh from 20 March to 9 April 2000 was conducted primarily to observe the changes in bird species distribution during the change of the cold to the pre-spring season.

2003 - Susan Myers - Ladakh

http://users.wired.net.au/susan/Ladakh.htm
...The region of Ladakh in the state of Jammu Kashmir is one of the most sparsely populated and remote places in India...

tour operators

Ladakh Tours

http://www.leh-ladakh.com/ladakh-wildlife.html
Ladakh-Described as "The land where snow never melts and only corn ripens" by its discoverer, Fa-hian, a chinese traveler, who traveled across its inhospitable terrain in 399 A.D. Known for centuries as the 'land of passes' (La-pass; Dacha-land), Ladakh is a mysterious land shrouded in myth and legend and much of its ancient history is known only through the mythology of its people...

places to stay

Hotel Jammu Ashok

http://www.indiahotelsandresorts.com/jammu-hotels/hotel-jammu-ashok.html
Hotel Jammu Ashok is a modern & comfortable hotel & is an ideal setting for the discovery of Jammu, the winter capital of Kashmir. It is also a convenient base for a pilgrimage to the VaishnoDevi shrine.

Birds of Kashmir

http://amberhabib.tripod.com/Birds/ladakh.html
In July 1987, I spent 3 weeks in Kashmir on a group tour/trek organized by the Youth Hostel Association. We spent a week in Sonmarg and the rest of the time in Ladakh. Because of the nature of the trip, there was not much time to devote to proper bird-watching. Most of the sightings below had to be picked up while struggling to keep up with the group, or from the window of a bouncing bus...

Checklist

http://checklists.delhibird.net/internal/jammu&kashmir/jammu&kashmir.htm

delhibird - The Northern India Bird Network

http://www.delhibird.org/
Site guide, recent sightings, photo gallery, checklists and more...

Wildlife Tourism

http://jammukashmir.nic.in/tourism/ladakh/wiltr-2.htm
Apart from the wild animals, almost 169 varieties of birds have been identified in Ladakh. These birds too, like the animals, make the best use of whatever shelter they can find. However, because of Ladakh`s inhospitable climate, very few are permanent residents. The Himalayan and Tibetan snowcocks-large majestic birds much hunted for their meat, and partridges breed at a height about 5,000 meters. The rest are visitors, moving down to the foothills in autumn in an annual ritual of altitudinal migration. Other birds move still further, horizontally following ancient routes of global migration.