Visiting –Tilyar Lake in Rohtak

Visiting –Tilyar Lake in Rohtak

Panoramic view of Tilyar lake in Rohtak

       This year the winters had set in late in Delhi and its affect, which is usually felt by mid November was not palpable till about middle of December, when the temperatures plummeted after a bout of heavy rains.  We had planned to visit any small destination in the vicinity of Delhi.  After weighing in all the options available to us, we decided to visit Tiliyar Lake in Rohtak as we had never visited this place earlier.   We started at around 9.00 A.M. as the notorious Delhi fog had set in overnight and the driving conditions were not all that good.  Having started cautiously, cutting across the village landscape after going past Najafgarh, we drove on till we reached the Highway near Bahadurgarh.

Having Pakoras in Bahadurgarh

Having crossed over to Haryana at Bahadurgarh, we stopped over at one of the sweetmeat shops to have ‘Pakoras’ that are famous for this destination and ordered a pack full of assorted ‘Pakoras’ (a salty fried snacks) and had our Sandwiches and Coffee alongwith for B’fast, while sitting in the Car and enjoying the green fields set around.  Thereafter, we moved on towards Rohtak and reached our destination in about 40 minutes or so, as the road was well maintained and without much of traffic, maybe because of the cold weather.  Having reached our destination for the day, we walked around the entire parameter of the lake, trying to have a look at every ‘nook & corner’ and photographing whatever winged variety we could lay our eyes on.  Having completed the trek along the perimeter of the lake, we headed for some light lunch in the Restaurant and thence headed for a visit to the Zoo.  We roamed around the Zoo for around and hour or so as it is well spread out, after that we returned back and had a cup of hot tea and then commenced our journey back towards Delhi.

Ducks wading in Tilyar lake

A Rose Ringed Parrot looking up a nesting hole

A winter visitor - Kashmir flycatcher

Cormorants flocking on a tree top 

A Peacock graces the lake

Tilyar Lake is situated at a distance of 42 Kms from Delhi Border at Bhadurgarh and about 55 Kms from the Peeragarhi Chowk in Delhi.  Tilyar Lake is located in Rohtak District of Haryana and is spread over132 acres of land. The Tilyar lake forms a perfect green belt in surroundings area and thus an attraction for the Delhites, as weekend getaway and picnic spot.  The destination boasts of a well maintained restaurant and bar run by the Haryana Tourism and also has an added attraction for kids in form of a Mini zoo with animals like Tiger, Panther, Deer, Birds and Monkeys etc.  Apart from the above, the destination has a broad lake for boating and large green lawns for sitting and playing etc. One can ensure a wonderful time as weekend getaway from Delhi amidst the natural wealth.  However, if the boating part is restricted during the winter season, more seasonal migratory birds would definitely prefer this destination akin to nearby Bhindawas and Sultanpur.

A Red vented Bulbul seeking out its food

Little Grebe or 'Pankauri' in Tilyar lake

Night Heron 

Entry gate to Rohtak Zoo

          The extended waterway of the Tilyar lake is surrounded by a well paved pathways, with small bridges built across to visit the smaller islands in the middle of the lake and thus, makes an perfect destination for nature lovers and walkers alike.  There is no entry fee for the lake but a small token amount of Rs.10/- per person is charged for entry into the Rohtak Zoo that forms part of the lake periphery.  Although the destination is nothing spectacular, but at the same times it is a pleasant day picnic destination.

Here is the link to the video for the destination

Sultanpur National Bird Sanctuary

Sultanpur National Bird Sanctuary

Brown headed Barbet in Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary

     I had last visited Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary near Gurgaon way back in 2007 and that too without having any knowledge about the place and hence could not get very many pictures of the destination.  Having visited Rankhet region in January and due to pre-occupation in the office, I could not find time to visit any of the winter birding sites near Delhi during the winters.  Therefore, when the weekend offered some respite from the office work, I immediately made announcement of the forthcoming trip to Sultanpur on the last Saturday of 2013 and made preparations likewise.  However, on the ensuing night of travel, I was suddenly jolted out of my slumber by a thunderous thunder clap, caused by a thunder that had struck nearby, rattling the window panes et al.  It started pouring cats n’ dogs, but the optimist in me reassured that in Delhi such thunder showers are only passing phase and it would settle down in a hour or so.  Slowly, as my ears got used to the repeated thunder claps, I gradually receded back to sleep.  However, as my alarm clock buzzed, I found that it was still raining outside.  By this time my wife also had got up and started getting the food stuff etc. organized for the picnic, we were to embark upon.  Even the driver rang up on the dot, seeking advice regarding his reporting time, which I promptly postponed by an hour and informed him that I would be calling him up, as and when we were ready to leave or inform him if the trip was off.  But I could not find any signs of the sky relenting and slowly the pessimist in me took over and I went back to my bed.  My wife, however, refused to take the matter lying down and she started surfing the internet and searched the weather sites, looking for the exact weather conditions prevailing in Sultanpur.  Suddenly, she called me out aloud and informed me that the weather would remain overcast, but the chances of rainfall in Sultanpur were very scarce till 2.30 P.M. in the afternoon.  Her argument was that in any case I would have covered the park by that hour even if we reached there by 11.00 A.M, I reluctantly got out of the bed, only partly convinced and thus, the credit for this entire trip goes to her optimism.

Overcast Dwarka

Entering Gurgaon

Sheetala Mata temlple in Gurgaon

             We started almost two hours late than the originally scheduled time of 7.00 A.M. and started a little after 9.00 A.M. from Dwarka and found that the roads were empty and conditions heavily overcast as the drizzling continued.  We got past Dwarka and headed towards Gurgaon.  On the Old Gurgaon road, after going past the Bijwasan crossing & then past Kapashera, we finally crossed over to Gurgaon.  Being a Saturday, it was working day for many a factory workers and the road till the Maruti Company was awash both with a sea of people alongwith that of the actual kind i.e. Water logging.  The progress was slow, but as we headed away from Delhi the drizzling stopped and by the time we had got past Gurgaon, there were patches of blue sky visible.  We reached Sultanpur at around 10.30 A.M. and immediately headed for the ticket counter and luckily we were one of the first to reach there.  The ticket price is reasonable with an entry fee of Rs.5/- per person, parking fee @ Rs.10/- , Still Camera @ Rs.25/- and any Video Camera (professional or otherwise) @ Rs.500/-, since we were carrying all the articles listed, I purchased tickets worth Rs.560/- for entry to the Sanctuary.  Thereafter, we head our B’fast in the car itself, properly arranged by my better half and then headed into the Sanctuary.  But as we were about to enter, it started drizzling and I immediately covered my gear with weather cover provided in the Lowepro Camera Bag and took out my Umbrella, a wee bit skeptical as to whether we would have smooth or a rough time inside.  My negative thoughts were blown away along with the drizzle by a strong gust of wind and despite being overcast, we had a fairly comfortable visit to the Sanctuary.

Countryside on way to Sultanpur

Had rained earlier but blue patches of sky appear in distance

         Sultanpur National Park is located 16 kms from Gurgaon, on the Gurgaon-Farrukhnagar stretch, off the Delhi - Jaipur Highway (NH-8).  Sultanpur National Park falls in the Gurgaon district of Haryana, surrounded by Kaliwas village in the North, Sadhrana village to the South, Sultanpur village to the West and Chandu village to its East. Typical of the area, the geography is semi-arid (it borders Rajasthan), and has been notified as an Eco Sensitive Zone by the Govt. of India (Ministry of Environment & Forests).  The Sultanpur Lake was a seasonal lake and originally used to fill up in the monsoons only, but is now fed with water from the Yamuna River. It is surrounded by marshes around it, and lush greenery, especially in the monsoons. The area surrounding the lake is filled with reeds and grasses, but no large trees.  Although the name of Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary has been associated with the great Indian ornithologist Dr. Salim Ali, but the credit of actually identifying the place goes to Mr.Peter Jackson, a keen bird watcher and the then Honorary Secretary of the Delhi Bird Watching Society.  Mr.Peter Jackson, along with his friends, used to frequent the Najafgarh Lake to watch birds in the early 1950s. This lake was created as a result of excessive monsoons and a blocked drain into the Yamuna. However, by the mid 1960s, the govt. of Delhi had cleared this blockage in the drain and the Najafgarh lake had disappeared, and so had the birds. Jackson traveled further north to see where the birds could have moved on to and discovered another lake created by the monsoons. This was the Sultanpur Lake. The lake was full of fish and insects and had lush surroundings, all of which attracted birds from all over the region.

On the way - Indian Roller

On the way - Grey hornbill

On the way - Alexdrine Parakeet

On the way in Dwarka - Black Eastern Redstart

On the way - A Kingfisher

 Over the next few years, Jackson took many bird lovers, including Dr. Salim Ali to this lake. Finally, in 1970 Mr.Jackson approached the then Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, with a request to convert the lake and its surrounding areas into a bird sanctuary. Ms.Indira Gandhi, who was also the founder of the Delhi Bird Watching Society, took keen interest in this proposal and instructed the Govt. of Haryana to undertake the project. Thus, in 1972, the Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary was created from the 359 acres of land surrounding the lake.  Twenty years later, on the 13th of July 1989, Sultanpur was upgraded to the status of a National Park.  The Govt. of Haryana took many steps to ensure the long term sustainability of the sanctuary. While the lake was originally a monsoon-fed lake, the Govt. made arrangements from the Yamuna River to ensure that the lake now functioned through the year. Additional trees such as Neem and Acacia were planted along the lake, as these trees are known to attract birds. Few artificial islands were also created in the lake, to facilitate the roosting of the birds.

In Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary - a bill board

Right at the entrance - White wagtail

A huge bee hive

Water birds galore

Black & white - A cormorant & an Egret

Common Moorhen

Cheetals resting

Close up of a Cormorant

Eurasian Spoonbill landing & a Kingfisher on the branch watching

Spoonbill in flight

Neelgai or Swamp Deer

Norther Pintails

Norther Pintails in flight

A Northern Shoveller in flight

Purple Moorhen

Birds roosting

             Today Sultanpur National Park offers visitors a glimpse to over 250 different bird species, bulk of which (150+) are the resident avian population and the remaining (100) are migratory birds, which come in from as far as Siberia, Turkey, Afghanistan and East European countries.   Amongst the resident Bird Species, a few are - Purple Sunbird, Eurasian Thick Knee, Common Hoopoe, Black Headed Ibis, Little Egret, Great Egret, Cattle Egret, Common Hoopoe, Painted Stork, Paddyfield Pipit, White Ibis, Black Headed Ibis, Crested Lark, Eurasian Collared Dove, Laughing Dove, Red Collared Dove, Little Coromorant, Indian Cormorant, Common Spoonbill, Gray Francolin, Rock Pigeon, Magpie Robin, Weaver Bird, White throated Kingfisher, Red Wattled Lapwing, Plover, Indian Roller, Red Vented Bulbul, Rose Ringed Parakeet, Common Mynah, Bank Mynah, Green Bee Eater, Greater Coucal.   Although, the Bird Sanctuary once boasted of hosting the Siberian Crane, it was last recorded in 2009 and amongst the other Migratory Bird Species that visit the lake every year are - The Demoiselle Crane, Greater Flamingo, Common Teal, Yellow Wagtail, White Wagtail, Northern Shoveler, Black Winged Stilt, Ruff, Common Greenshank, Spot billed Pelican, Rosy Pelican, Spotted Greenshank, Starling, Bluethroat, Spotted Sandpiper, Eurasian Pigeon. Striped Snipe and Brahminy Duck are also visible in winters, though not very often.   Apart from them, there are other wild life of four legged variety that can be seen in the National Park, namely - Striped Hyena, Leopard, Blue Bull, Nilgai, Black Buck, Four Horned Antelope, Wild Dog, Mongoose, Hedgehog, Caracal, Indian Porcupine, Wild Cat and Rattle Badger. Not all of these are originally from this habitat; some of them were introduced by the Govt. to create a better overall balanced ecosystem habitat in the area.  However, as far as flora of the region goes, the area is a dry deciduous forest with primary vegetation is grasses like Savannah, and trees like Jamun, Khair (Acacia), Ber, Tendu, Banyan and Dhok.   However, the forest surroundings are covered with small grasses and bougainvilleas that have been entirely created by humans and leave an evident touch of human hands intervening in the pristine natural vistas.   We enjoyed every bit of our sojourn to this place, till we were brought back to the city environs by a large group of ladies of all sizes & shapes strutting around the perimeter talking & conversing loudly.  I thought that I would have the place to myself after they go past, but in came a cacophony of primary school students, led by their teachers and I realized that my trip for the day was all but over and as I moved out of the nature zone, it had started to drizzle, as aptly forewarned by the weathermen for the day.

Here is the video for the destination -

BHINDAWAS BIRD SANCTUARY

BHINDAWAS BIRD SANCTUARY

Panoramic view of the Bhindawas Lake

Bhindawas Bird sanctuary is situated at a distance of about 15 Kms. from the township of Jhajjar in Haryana. This Bird Sanctuary has recently been upgraded as a protected wildlife sanctuary under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 through a notification issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Environment & Forests dated 3^rd June, 2009. The place has become more ecologically important, as the water inflow in the world famed Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary in Rajasthan has been diminishing over the past years and thus, the migratory water birds have started nesting in this man made lake at Bhindawas. This place now attracts over 35,000 varieties of migratory water birds belonging to over 250 species.

Mustard fields in bloom

Having gathered some basic information about the destination, we started off for this place at 8.00 A.M in the morning after partaking some light breakfast. We took the Najafgarh Road and after passing through some nondescript villages like Mitrau, Jafarpur etc., we entered Haryana through the Dhansa village border. The road upto Jhajjar was very poorly maintained with the top layer of the surface almost peeled off and the answer to this antipathy was evident, as truck loads or over-loads of them, were seen carrying crushed stones from Dadri area, meant for the ongoing Yamuna expressway project road connecting Greater NOIDA with Agra. Thus, this part of the road takes a much longer period to traverse, as compared to normal circumstances. After having reached Jhajjar, one has to take to the Bye-pass connecting Jhajjar to Rohtak and take a turn towards Rohtak. After traveling for a kilometer or so on this highway, the road is bisected by another highway leading towards Mahendergarh and one has to take this road for reaching Bhindawas. This stretch of the road is very well maintained, except for an occasional road-breaker, constructed in a rather haphazard and unscientific manner, as and when one passes through a small nondescript village situated on the highway. After having traveled around 14-15 Kms. on this road, we sighted a big signboard announcing way to Bhindawas Lake, towards the right hand side. After having turned towards this rather narrow lane, we found ourselves in village Kasni, which is in the outer periphery of the sanctuary.

Peacocks resting

The road gradually gets worse as one approaches’ the lake side and when you finally leave the village road, the road ahead, which runs around the lake periphery, is a mud path and not suited for smaller vehicles, especially during the rains. However, for an urbanite seeking some close proximity with the nature, despite all the above discomforts, the effort is well compensated for with all the glimpses of the natural surroundings & sights of birds nesting. I will try to visually portray the route, supported by a few photographs & videos sprinkled in. As you leave the urban landscape behind, initially you start getting glimpses of the village life once you get past Najafgarh, however, the Delhi villages now getting urbanized largely, you only catch small glimpses of the natural yonder. After getting past the Delhi border, gradually either side of the road appeared to be engulfed in a sea of yellow as mustard plants sown all around were in bloom, with patches of deep green vegetation in between, which were identified as Wheat cultivation.

Panoramic view of the out canal

As you take a turn towards the right from the highway leading to Mahendergarh towards Bhindawas, the harmony of humans dwelling with nature becomes evident as a flock of nesting Peacocks made an appearance at Kasni village itself. As we drove past towards the Bird Sanctuary, we saw a plethora of birds like the Kingfisher, Peacocks, Bulbuls, Common Hoopoe making a cacophony of sounds and the feeling was enthralling. Having reached the embankment, we turned right and after traveling for about 500 meters reached the ‘Forest Inspection’ Rest House and having got past the lake we took a left turn along the feeder canal which drains the water out from the Bhindawas. This canal was overflowing with the ‘Water Hyacinth’ and the canal was all but choked. However, here too there were a plethora of birds ranging from the Greater Cormorants spreading their wing spans to gather some heat from the sunrays in the morning and a big flock of purple swamp hen etc. As you proceed further, the lake appears towards your left hand side and after taking another left hand turn you reach the bird observations post constructed by the forest department.

Purple swamp hens roosting in the out canal

This man made lake spread over 1074 Acres is a man made lake used to trap the excess water during power failures from the Jawaharlal Nehru Canal. However, now this place has gained immense importance due to its notification as a National Sanctuary. The shimmering lake is a treat for the tired eyes, with an area under inundation that exceeds all imagination. There are small islands within the lake and most of birds nest there and thus, it is very difficult to photograph them except, if you have lens with your Camera with above 600 mm or higher. But nothing takes away the natural beauty and the quintessential aura of this upcoming Bird Sanctuary, albeit we conserve & nurture this place.

Cranes flying over Bhindawas Lake

View of distant cranes roosting in Bhindawas

A video link of the visit -