"If you love nature and birds, you cannot miss the Chilika Bird Festival happening between January 27-28 as its a birdwatchers paradise," says Debakirani Purty, tourist officer for the Odisha Tourism Development Corporation.
Speaking to Travel Bulletin at SATTE, Purty continued: "The state is also home to several Buddhist sites and relics. A Buddhist Conclave in March will be another major attraction to visit Odisha when travellers can experience the influence of Buddhism in the sociocultural life in the state."
Chilika lake, the largest brackish water lake in Asia, is known as the "Birds Paradise of Asia" as every winter it witnesses more than a million species of winter migrating birds.
The lake lies in the central Asian flyway and is a major stopover site for many migratory birds from the arctic and sub-arctic during their onward and return migration along the east coast. The diverse habitats such as mudflats, floating and submerged vegetation, reed-beds, open waters with varying depths and salinity attract a wide variety of migratory and resident bird species and has been recognized as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar convention and has been included in the Ramsar list.
Some of the bird species that visit the lake include: Ruffs, Godwits, Terns, Plovers, Sandpipers, rare Grey-headed Lapwings, Gulls, Pintails, Ruddy Shelducks, Skulkers like Ruddy-breasted Crakes, Baillon's Crakes, Slaty-breasted Rails and the Greater Painted Snipes, Black-tailed Godwits, Oriental Pratincoles and Pacific Golden Plovers.
Locally migrating species such as Spot-billed Pelican, Oriental darter, Painted Stork and Black-headed Ibis are in the near threatened category. Long distance migrant birds which are also in the list are Lesser Flamingo, Ferruginous Pochard, Black-tailed Godwit, Eurasian Curlew, Asian Dowitcher, Curlew Sandpiper, Great Thick Knee, River Tern (near threatened); Common Pochard, Indian Skimmer (vulnerable); Great Knot (endangered). Eurasian Wigeon (more than 100,000), Gadwall, Black-tailed Godwit, Northern Shoveller (about 100,000) and species like Garganey, Lesser Sandplover, and Brown-headed Gull, Common Teal are found in large flocks numbering in thousands.
Birdwatchers can also visit the Nalabana Bird Sanctuary, an island in the heart of Chilika, on the second day of the event to see the nesting birds (note. this sanctuary is only opened for nature lovers during the festival)
Chilika lake is around 71km from the Biju Patnaik International Airport, in the capital city of Bhubaneswar.
To find out more and register for the festival, visit www.odishatourism.gov.in/chilika-bird-festival
