Birdwatching at Manglajodi

There are quite a number of good birdwatching areas in India and a very good site for water birds in Eastern India is the Manglajodi site. This is one of the back-waters of the Chilka Lake and is located near the town of Bhubaneshwar in Odisha. Thus it is about six hours train journey from Kolkata and about an hour's journey by vehicle to reach there. It can well be combined with a visit to the temple city of Pur, which is not far away, and the archaeological sites near Bhunabeshwar. It was once a well-known site for poaching of birds but thanks to efforts of Shri Nanda Kishore Bhujbal, a local enthusiast, the poachers were persuaded to become conservationists and thus the Shri Bhagwan Mahavir Pakshi Raskha Samity was formed in 2010. Since then the birds have been provided with strict protection and many of the local men have become boatmen and guides. They have come to acquire excellent knowledge of the habits of birds and the habitat and can make a good living with the stream of bird-watchers and tourists coming to the location.

Thesew few pictures will convey the sense of the nature of the habitat of Manglajodi and the rich birdlife that it offers.