Kulik (Raiganj) Bird Sanctuary: "KULIK BIRD SANCTUARY RAIGANJ Uttar Dinajpur district is newly formed district of West Bengal. The district has been formed..."
Monday, June 20, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Kulik Bird Sanctuary
KULIK BIRD SANCTUARY
RAIGANJ
UTTAR DINAJPUR
Uttar Dinajpur district is newly formed district of West Bengal. The district has been formed with two sub-divisions of the then West Dinajpur which was bifurcated from Dinajpur during partition of Bengal. The major part Dinajpur falls in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh and the other part West Dinajpur falls in West Bengal in India. West Dinajpur now divided in two parts, Dakshin and Uttar Dinajpur. Uttar Dinajpur district was created on 01/4/1992.
Raiganj was a village in ancient Dinajpur district. The British gave it status of a police station which was one of the 12 police stations of Dinajpur sadar subdivision. One Munsif used to hold periodical sittings at Raiganj to dispose of criminal cases and disputes about land. It was an important trade centre, exporting a large quantity of jute.
The district has very peculiar geographical features. Most of the district passes along a long narrow stretch of land from Darjeeling in the north, Bangladesh in the east and Bihar on the west. At many places the breadth of the district east to west is less than 15 kms.
Two National Highways—31 & 34 passes almost along the entire length of the district.
KULIK BIRD SANCTUARY
Actually Raiganj Wildlife Sanctuary, popularly known as Kulik Bird Sanctuary within the Kulik forest, because of river Kulik flows besides the sanctuary. This forest is the man made and type is mainly northern tropical most mixed deciduas forest. The forest is spread in small pockets with a water bodies and river attract the migratory birds like open bill stork, night heron, cormorant, little cormorant and egrets from south Asian countries and coastal regions. This sanctuary is home of 164-170 species of birds. In 2010, according to departmental census, nearly 1,10,000 birds visited the sanctuary.
Local birds like dove, bulbul, sparrow, king fisher, woodpeckers, owl, duck and other can also be seen in large numbers.
The migratory birds start arriving in this forest from June-July and continue till December. The nesting time is late July to August depending on monsoon, and egg laying on August - September. The late summer and early winters is the best time to watch the birds.
To shoot the bird-life early winter is the best time.
It is claimed that that this sanctuary is the second largest in Asia but the Harike Pattan sanctuary of Punjub under Tarn Taran district spread over 93 square kms while the area of this sanctuary is 1.30 square km and the core area is only 0.15 square km. The Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary now Keoladeo National Park is considered the largest in Asia. This sanctuary may be one of a largest colony (heronry) of open bill stork.
Global population of the Asian open bill is estimated to be 130,000 by Wetland International, and around half of them live in Asia. The species is known to breed in a colony, called heronry, but there are very few heronries in India, particularly those that are well protected against human greed. Ornithologically, Raiganj Wildlife Sanctuary is a very important heronry. As per the breeding population data of Asian open bills, the sanctuary reveals that it regularly supports 32 - 40 percent of the existing population of Asian open bills of South Asia. A heronry, which supports such a high percentage of Asian open bills, is not only a nationally important heronry but also an internationally important heronry.(wikipedia)
RAIGANJ
UTTAR DINAJPUR
Uttar Dinajpur district is newly formed district of West Bengal. The district has been formed with two sub-divisions of the then West Dinajpur which was bifurcated from Dinajpur during partition of Bengal. The major part Dinajpur falls in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh and the other part West Dinajpur falls in West Bengal in India. West Dinajpur now divided in two parts, Dakshin and Uttar Dinajpur. Uttar Dinajpur district was created on 01/4/1992.
Raiganj was a village in ancient Dinajpur district. The British gave it status of a police station which was one of the 12 police stations of Dinajpur sadar subdivision. One Munsif used to hold periodical sittings at Raiganj to dispose of criminal cases and disputes about land. It was an important trade centre, exporting a large quantity of jute.
The district has very peculiar geographical features. Most of the district passes along a long narrow stretch of land from Darjeeling in the north, Bangladesh in the east and Bihar on the west. At many places the breadth of the district east to west is less than 15 kms.
Two National Highways—31 & 34 passes almost along the entire length of the district.
KULIK BIRD SANCTUARY
Actually Raiganj Wildlife Sanctuary, popularly known as Kulik Bird Sanctuary within the Kulik forest, because of river Kulik flows besides the sanctuary. This forest is the man made and type is mainly northern tropical most mixed deciduas forest. The forest is spread in small pockets with a water bodies and river attract the migratory birds like open bill stork, night heron, cormorant, little cormorant and egrets from south Asian countries and coastal regions. This sanctuary is home of 164-170 species of birds. In 2010, according to departmental census, nearly 1,10,000 birds visited the sanctuary.
Local birds like dove, bulbul, sparrow, king fisher, woodpeckers, owl, duck and other can also be seen in large numbers.
The migratory birds start arriving in this forest from June-July and continue till December. The nesting time is late July to August depending on monsoon, and egg laying on August - September. The late summer and early winters is the best time to watch the birds.
To shoot the bird-life early winter is the best time.
It is claimed that that this sanctuary is the second largest in Asia but the Harike Pattan sanctuary of Punjub under Tarn Taran district spread over 93 square kms while the area of this sanctuary is 1.30 square km and the core area is only 0.15 square km. The Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary now Keoladeo National Park is considered the largest in Asia. This sanctuary may be one of a largest colony (heronry) of open bill stork.
Global population of the Asian open bill is estimated to be 130,000 by Wetland International, and around half of them live in Asia. The species is known to breed in a colony, called heronry, but there are very few heronries in India, particularly those that are well protected against human greed. Ornithologically, Raiganj Wildlife Sanctuary is a very important heronry. As per the breeding population data of Asian open bills, the sanctuary reveals that it regularly supports 32 - 40 percent of the existing population of Asian open bills of South Asia. A heronry, which supports such a high percentage of Asian open bills, is not only a nationally important heronry but also an internationally important heronry.(wikipedia)
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