Although primarily a tiger reserve, Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar, Rajasthan, is a delightful spot for bird lovers, too. If you travel to the park in the peak season, the sheer music of chirrup, squawk, screech and coo will delight your heart.
More than 200 other species of birds call Sariska home. If you’re going, look out for the Great Indian Horned Owl or the Tiger Owl – a species native to America.
Know Before You Go:
- The owl lives in deeply scored ravines and gullies. The indiscriminate use of pesticides is rendering it infertile and reducing its life-span, so it is an endangered species.
- You’ll know it by its arresting orange-yellow eyes. During the day, it sits motionless in a cleft in a rock face or under a bush, relying on its cryptically coloured plumage for camouflage. At dusk it sets out, and you can hear its distinctive ‘who-whooo’ call, which is not loud but reaches far.
- The owl breeds between December and April. Usually, the largest chick kills and eats its younger siblings. Not much more is known about the natural history of this bird, but if you spot one in Sariska, you’ll know you’ve seen something special.
And you knew, of course, that Sariska also attracts a lot of migratory birds from Siberia and China during the winter months. Watching these beautiful, carefree creatures living a life in their natural setting, gives you a fresh perspective on life.
Wikipedia Says: Sariska Tiger Reserve is a tiger reserve in Alwar district, Rajasthan, India. It stretches over an area of 881 km² comprising scrub-thorn arid forests, dry deciduous forests, grasslands, and rocky hills. This area was a hunting preserve of the Alwar state and was declared a wildlife reserve in 1955.
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