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The winter months from November-March offers an excellent
opportunity for the school groups, corporate houses, family groups
and individuals to visit this renowned bird sanctuary and enjoy
the week end in the lap of nature. The shallow lake and scrubby
woodland is an ideal get away.
This park was
established in 1972 and upgraded to a National Park in 1991. Located just
50 kms from Delhi, on the Delhi-Jaipur Highway, in the Gurgaon district of
Haryana State. This reserve for the winged visitors has both winter and
summer migratory birds like Siberian cranes, demoiselle cranes, ruddy shel
duck, rosy pelican, mallard, pochard, teals, black winged stlit,
greenshank, yellow and white wagtail, wood and spotted sandpiper northern
pintail, long billed pipit, parakeets and many more. Other wild life
includes black buck, hog deer; stripped hyena; antelopes and money.
Inside
the park, Haryana Tourism runs a tourist complex that has air-conditioned
as well as general rooms. The facilities available there include bar,
restaurant, and cottages for the guests. One can also stay in any of the
large number of hotels at Delhi or Gurgaon and go to Sultanpur for a
weakened or day trip.
Sultanpur Lake is the point around which the Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary has
been developed. The lake is a picnic spot for the residents of Delhi and
boating facilities are also available here. The lake has a good number of
reptiles and it attracts a lot of migratory birds during winters.
The
Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary is home to a large range of birds, both resident
and migratory. Migratory geese and Siberian cranes spend the winter in
Sultanpur and there are also the demoiselle cranes, ruddy shelducks,
pelicans, flamingoes, bar-headed geese, grey lags, gadwalls, mallards,
pochards, shovellers and teals. Local species include plovers, red-wattled
lapwings, herons, cormorants, white ibises, spoonbills and painted
storks.Other wildlife in the park include blackbuck, nilgai, hog deer,
sambar, wild dog or dhole, caracal, wild cat, hedgehog, mongoose, striped
hyena, Indian porcupine, rattle/honey badger, leopard, wild pig, and four
horned antelope.
Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary is haunt of the birdman Late Dr. Salim Ali: And,
innumerable bird watchers who come in to observe bird antics. There are
hide outs, watch towers and a museum of sorts for those keen on serious
study.
It's not
just the nip in the air after sunset that is signalling the arrival of
winter. After several years, Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary wears a busy look
once more with the arrival of 5,000 migratory birds of various types. This
number is expected to increase considerably by the end of the season. The
flow of migratory birds to the sanctuary had dwindled drastically in the
last few years as the lake had dried up
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