This friday evening an office friend planned to visit Okhla Bird Sanctuary and plan was to go there Sunday morning. And the day proved to be the best day to visit this beautiful place near Noida. This Photo Journey shares some photographs of Okhla Bird Santuary and some information about the place like timings, charges, terrains, migratory birds, machans & some basic tips.
We started from home at 7:30am and it was awesome to see clear sky outside. Crystal-clear azure sky welcomed us at Okhla Bird Sanctuary. This was first time that I saw a very different color of the water inside the sanctuary. It was blue instead of muddy color. Sunrise hues were also there when we entered into the sanctuary.
At the entry gate, one needs to get entry tickets. If you are in a car, you also need to pay for that. This time, they were also asking for the camera fees, which was extremely high - 500 Rs. Here are more details about the ticket fees -
* Entry Fee (per person) - 30 Rs
* Two Wheeler - 20 Rs
* Jeep/Car - 100 Rs
* Bus - 200 Rs
* Still camera (SLR Zoom) - 500 Rs
* Movie camera - 1000 Rs
There were quite a good number of joggers, birders and nature lovers inside the sanctuary. At one time, I was also wondering if authorities should allow cars inside or not. Don't they disturb the birds? Not sure. Although most of the folks drive sensibly and don't honk, but still. Any thoughts?
It seemed that most of the migratory birds have not yet come, so planning to go there in Jan again. But Okhla Bird Sanctuary is definitely a good place to spend some peaceful time around these natural beauties. I was sharing this my friend that usually we see lot of kingfishers and green bee eaters around the trees, but this time we couldn't locate even the single one.
We spent good amount of time around 2 of the machans inside Okhla Bird Sanctuary and loved watching birds flying from one place to other. The long grass region of the sanctuary has lot of small sized birds with melodious sounds. There is also a probability to see some blue bulls around this long grass region. And at times few buffaloes and cows as well :). This time, we hardly spent time clicking these winged wonders and preferred to experience their flights.
A photograph showing some of the multistory building on the other side of Okhla Bird Sanctuary. This region is part of Delhi. Few months back, there were lot of discussions around restricting constructions around the sanctuary to ensure that more birds feel comfortable around this wetland.
We had good time walking around the wetland and at times went closer to water. It's always a good experience to watch these birds playing in water, flying high and jumping back to the water.
Black drango sitting on a high tree around one of the machans.
After spending 3 hours walking around the sanctuary we headed back. It was definitely a good start of the day and whole day went very well.
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