Sunday, March 4, 2012

Birds from Hauz Khas Village Lake, Green Park, Delhi || Main Places for Birding in Capital City of India (Bird Watching in Delhi :)


Hauz Khas Village aka Royal Tank of Delhi is one of the popular place for Birders around the capital City of India. During last weekend, we were at Hauz Khas Village region and thought of visiting the lake near Deer Park. Let's have this Photo Journey with different birds around the lake...After recent visit to Pong Dam, we planned this visit with some of the friends in Delhi. It was mainly a get together for us and thought of visiting Royal Tank, which is now known as Hauz Khas Lake. It was no doubt a wonderful decision to visit the place on weekend. The day was very well spent with these colorful Birds.I am still working on identifying actual names of these birds and will update this blog-post with appropriate details. If you know name of any of these birds, please put a comment with appropriate details here.It's impossible that a you roam around Delhi and don't find see these black pigeons :) ... There were thousands of pigeons around Hauz Khas Lake in Delhi and they looked awesome while flying on top this colorful lake...Curious eyes trying to figure out movements of our group which was standing around the lake boundary. Some of us were standing on top of the boundary wall and she was the one to track our movement, as others were having their lunch on the lake-side.Swans are birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. There are six to seven species of swan in the genus Cygnus, in addition there is another species known as the Coscoroba Swan, although this species is no longer considered related to the true swans. Swans usually mate for life, though 'divorce' does sometimes occur, particularly following nesting failure. The number of eggs in each clutch ranges from three to eight.Here is one of the Birds we also saw in Pong Wetland of Himalayan Ranges in India. Name of this bird is 'Red Wattled Lapwings'. The Red-wattled Lapwing is a lapwing or large plover which is a wader in the family Charadriidae. It has characteristic loud alarm calls which are variously rendered as did he do it or pity to do it leading to colloquial names like the did-he-do-it bird. Usually seen in pairs or small groups not far from water but may form large flocks in the non-breeding season, which is winter. For more about Red Wattled Lapwing check out - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-wattled_LapwingWe are really interested in knowing the name of this bird and there were lots of such colorful duck in Hauz Khas Lake. Not very sure but looked more like Northern Pintails... The Northern Pintail is a bird of open wetlands which nests on the ground, often some distance from water. It feeds by dabbling for plant food and adds small invertebrates to its diet during the nesting season. It is highly gregarious when not breeding, forming large mixed flocks with other species of duck.Hauz Khas Lake looks amazing and very well maintained. Delhi Development Authority to develop Hauz Khas village, the inlets to the reservoir were blocked and consequently the lake had gone dry for several years. To rectify the situation, a plan was implemented in 2004 to store storm water generated at the southern ridge of Delhi behind an embankment and then diverting it into the lake. An outside source has also been tapped by feeding the water from the treatment plant at Sanjay Van into the lake. With these efforts initiated by The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), the lake has been revived. More recently the Hauz Khas lake and the surrounding park has been actively developed e.g. the pavement area where people walk and jog around is being renovated currently...This duck's population is affected by predators, parasites and avian diseases. Human activities, such as agriculture, hunting and fishing, have also had a significant impact on numbers. Nevertheless, this species' huge range and large population mean that it is not threatened globally...We were roaming around the place in a group and place didn't look safe as some of the groups were fearlessly enjoying alcoholic drinks around boundaries of the lake. In fact we noticed some groups of boys chasing some of the couples roaming around the place. Anyways, thought of adding this information for readers to be cautious if they plan for this place.While searching about more information about Hauz Khas Lake, we came across some stunning photographs from the same place. If interested in some of the other photographs of Hauz Khas Lake, check out http://www.thedelhiwalla.com/2011/02/24/photo-essay-%E2%80%93-hauz-khas-lake-near-green-park/Apart from these colorful birds around the Hauz Khas Lake, there are some ruins on other side. Some of the Black and White Photographs of Hauz Khas Village Ruins can be checked at http://phototravelings.blogspot.com/2012/03/ruins-of-hauz-khas-village-around-royal.htmlSurprisingly this time we didn't see Peacocks around the place. We have been to Hauz Khas VIllage, Deer Park or Green Park earlier as well and saw Peacocks most of the times. Some of the beautiful Photographs of Peacocks around Green Park can be seen at http://www.greenparkdelhi.com/2010/05/peacocks-are-a-plenty/Various Heritage Walks are organized to Hauz Khas Village. Some of these walks are free and few of them charge very small amount of money which is mainly about facilitating guide and other stuff to make these walks more useful for people who are new to the place.Hauz Khas Village is a very different kind of place in Delhi with lot of Cafes, Restaurants, Art Houses and Travel Cafes etc. After spending some time around these ruins, Lake and Colorful Birds, we also tried some food at Yeti and Begals. Hope to visit Hauz Khas Village again and try some places to eat... We shall be sharing another PHOTO JOURNEY on Hauz Khas Village with more focus on Restaurants, Art Galleries and Cafes in this place.Here are few more Feral pigeons sitting on a tree in the middle of Hauz Khas Village Lake... Feral pigeons also called city doves, city pigeons, or street pigeons, are derived from domestic pigeons that have returned to the wild. The domestic pigeon was originally bred from the wild Rock dove, which naturally inhabits sea-cliffs and mountains. All pigeons are one species (columba livia). Feral pigeons find the ledges of buildings to be a substitute for sea cliffs, and have become adapted to urban life and are abundant in towns and cities throughout much of the world... Check out more about Feral Pigeons at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_Pigeon

Hauz Khas Village aka Royal Tank of Delhi is one of the popular place for Birders around the capital City of India. During last weekend, we were at Hauz Khas Village region and thought of visiting the lake near Deer Park. Let's have this Photo Journey with different birds around the lake...
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Saturday, March 3, 2012

Ruins of Hauz Khas Village around Royal Tank in South Delhi || Photo Journey to Ruins of Hauz Khas Village in Capital City of India

Last weekend, we had a meeting at Hauz Khas with some of the old friends and thought of exploring the ruins around Hauz Khas Village Market. This Photo Journey will take you through various ruins around this campus and a huge water tank or Lake. Let's start this Black and White Photo Journey...In the 1980s Hauz Khas Village was developed as an upper class residential cum commercial area in the metropolis of South Delhi, India. It is now a relatively expensive tourist cum commercial area with numerous art galleries, upscale boutiques and restaurant. Swans and ducks are among the attractions at Hauz Khas Lake - which is part of the attraction to visitors. During this recent visit to Hauz Khas Village, we saw various other birds around the lake. We shall be sharing a separate Photo Journey on birds from Hauz Khas Lake in South Delhi !!!Three pavilions inside the Tomb ... Hauz Khas Village has notable structures built by Firuz Shah on the eastern and northern side of the reservoir consisted = Madrasa (Islamic School of Learning), the small Mosque, the Main tomb for himself and six domed pavilions in its precincts...This Photograph shows North-South arm of the Madrasa and Mosque overlooking the reservoir...Hauz Khas Village Complex in South Delhi houses a water tank, an Islamic seminary, a mosque, a tomb and pavilions built around an urbanized village. It was part of Siri, the second medieval city of India of the Delhi Sultanate of Allauddin Khilji Dynasty (1296–1316). The etymology of the name Hauz Khas in Urdu language is derived from the words ‘Hauz’: 'water tank' (or lake) and ‘Khas’:'royal'- the 'Royal tank'. The large water tank or reservoir was first built by Khilji to supply water to the inhabitants of SirThe Hauz Khas village which was known in the medieval period for the amazing buildings built around the reservoir drew a large congregation of Islamic scholors and students to the Madrasa for Islamic education. A very well researched essay titled 'A Medieval Center of Learning in India: The Hauz Khas Madrasa in Delhi' authored by Anthony Welch of the University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, refers to this site as 'far and away the finest spot in Delhi not in the ingenuity of its construction and the academic purpose to which it was put but also in the real magic of the place'.Currently Hauz Khas village retains not only the old charm of the place but has enhanced its aesthetic appeal through the well manicured green parks planted with ornamental trees all around with walk ways... The tank itself has been reduced in size and well landscaped with water fountains. Hauz Khas village structure that gloriously existed in the medieval period was modernized in mid 1980’s presenting an upscale ambience attracting tourists from all parts of the world. The village complex is surrounded by Safdarjung Enclave, Green Park, South Extension, Greater Kailash. There are some of the India's most prestigious institutes situated in the neighborhood including Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, National Institute of Fashion Technology, and All India Institute of Medical Sciences.Here is a Photograph showing Pavilions adjoining the courtyard.Madrasa was one of the leading institutions of Islamic learning in the Delhi Sultanate. It was also considered the largest and best equipped Islamic seminary anywhere in the world. There were three main Madrasa's in Delhi during Firuz Shah's time. One of them was the Firuz Shahi madrasa at Hauz Khas. After the sack of Baghdad, Delhi became the most important place in the world for Islamic education. The village surrounding the Madarsa was also called Tarababad (city of joy) in view of its affluent and culturally rich status, which provided the needed supporting sustenance supply system to the MadrasaSeveral buildings (Mosque and madrasa) and tombs were built overlooking the water tank or lake. Firuz Shah’s tomb pivots the L–shaped building complex which overlooks the tank. More information about Hauz Khas Village can be seen at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauz_Khas_Complex

Last weekend, we had a meeting at Hauz Khas with some of the old friends and thought of exploring the ruins around Hauz Khas Village Market. This Photo Journey will take you through various ruins around this campus and a huge water tank or Lake. Let's start this Black and White Photo Journey...
READ MORE =>>
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