Sultanpur bird park to open for 1st time since pandemic began

Gurgaon: Shut since March 18 last year, Sultanpur National Park will open for the first time in nearly 19 months to visitors in November.
VS Tanwar, principal chief conservator, forest and wildlife department, said the decision was taken “after careful analysis of the situation”.
The national park, which recently became a Ramsar site, will be open from 6.30am to 4.30pm and visitors will be required to strictly maintain Covid-appropriate behaviour.To ensure there is no crowding inside or outside, the administration has decided that not more than 60 people will be allowed on the premises at a time, said a wildlife official.
The national park, one of Gurgaon’s most popular tourist spaces, used to shut from June 1 to September 30 every year and reopen on October 1. Before the pandemic, it had a footfall of 8,000-10,000 on the weekends.
At present, there are about 90 species of birds at the national park while migratory species have also started arriving. In all, the park has nearly 3,000 birds, with about 25 species of water birds. Visitors will be greeted by black-winged stilt, pond heron, pied kingfisher, purple heron, shoveler, white-breasted waterhen, white-throated kingfisher, munia, rosy starling, drongo, ring-necked dove, blue-capped rock thrush, canary-flycatcher, prinia, glossy ibis and orange-headed thrush, among others.
The migratory birds that frequent the park can be broadly categorised as waders (birds dependent on shallow water), ducks and warblers. As the park has an ideal habitat for birds, a large number of birds fly millions of miles every year to the wetlands for resting and feeding, said staff at the park.
There are more than 600 species of fauna, including birds, amphibians and butterflies, at the park, according to the Zoological Survey of India, which reported 417 species of birds, 16 of mammals, 40 of butterflies, apart from 16 reptiles and five amphibian species.
Birders welcomed the decision to reopen the popular national park. “We expect the bar-headed goose, greylag goose, northern pintail and mallard by November. Hopefully, the park will not turn into a tourist spot now. The authority needs to take precautions so that birds do not get disturbed because of the presence of people,” said Pankaj Gupta, a birder from Delhi Bird Society.