Bird Walk at Niti Mana Ghati Office – Chalang, Dehradun, UK

About Niti Mana Ghati Office - Chalang

Chalang is a small hill village in the Doon Valley’s outer Himalayan foothills, within Dehradun district and not far from the hill station of Mussoorie. Sitting in the Shivalik-to-lesser-Himalaya transition zone, the area around the Niti Mana Ghati office is characterised by mixed subtropical and temperate forest — a patchwork of chir pine, sal, oak, and broadleaf cover interspersed with terraced fields and village orchards. It is exactly the kind of foothill mosaic the Garhwal Himalaya is known for: dense enough to hold forest specialists, open enough at the edges to support scrub and farmland birds too.

That habitat diversity translates into one of the richer bird lists in this collection, with pheasants and barbets sharing the same hillside as sunbirds, laughingthrushes, and flycatchers. Full-throated singers like the Great Barbet and Blue Whistling-Thrush define the soundscape here, while mixed hunting parties of babblers and warblers move through the understorey. As with much of the Himalayan foothill belt, though, this forest faces steady pressure from state highway expansion, hillside construction for tourism, and encroachment for agriculture — all of which fragment the very forest corridors that let birds move between elevations through the year.

Bird walk Location

Common birds of Niti Mana Ghati Office - Chalang

Sanjay Van is a vibrant birding refuge in the heart of New Delhi, with 224 bird species recorded, and even a short walk can reveal an impressive mix of woodland, grassland, and wetland birds. Seasonal waterbodies attract Indian Spot-billed Duck, Eurasian Moorhen, Eurasian Coot, and elegant Black-winged Stilts, while open areas and forest edges are watched over by the hovering Black-winged Kite. The trees and scrub resonate with familiar calls of Indian Peafowl, Rose-ringed and Alexandrine Parakeets, along with Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, and Laughing Dove. The undergrowth comes alive with small insectivores such as the Common Tailorbird, Yellow-bellied Prinia, and winter visitors like the Taiga Flycatcher, while the social chatter of Jungle Babblers, Common Mynas, and House Crows fills the forest air. Adding melody and colour are birds like the Oriental Magpie-Robin, Red-whiskered Bulbul, and Red-vented Bulbul, making Sanjay Van a rewarding destination for both casual visitors and dedicated birdwatchers alike.