Exploring the Avian Wonders - Part 2: A Birding Adventure at Buxa Tiger Reserve (West Bengal)

Ashit Gandhi
Dec 31, 2024
2 min read

Updated: Jan 3

Buxa Tiger Reserve is a tiger reserve and national park in northern West Bengal, India, covering an area of 760 km2 (290 sq mi). It ranges in elevation from 60 m (200 ft) in the Gangetic Plains to 1,750 m (5,740 ft) bordering the Himalayas in the north. At least 284 bird species inhabit the reserve. Mammals present include Asian elephant, gaur, Sambar deer, clouded leopard, Indian leopard, and Asian golden cat.

We visited the Samrat Saha's Hide at the Buxa Tiger Reserve. He & his wife Indrani Banerjee have done a fantastic job maintaining a very well organised hide - there is no feeding of birds, just water baths. And they accompany the guests while maintaining a log of all the activity during the day.

One amazing instance - We were informed by another guest that the Lesser Shortwing would arrive at 4:45pm in one corner of the hide. And to our utter surprise, the bird made its appearance at 4:44pm on the dot.

This photo album is a collection of images of Bird and Wildlife during our Birding trip to Buxa (2nd Stop in our itinerary) in 3rd week of December 2024

We were a group of 4 Birding enthusiasts travelling to Assam (Manas National Park) & West Bengal (Buxa & Latpanchar) in the search of adding quite a few new species to our Check List (called "Lifers" in birding terms). And we were not disappointed. I added more than 60 lifers to my Checklist.