Bird Walk at Near Rajghat Besant School, Varanasi

About Near Rajghat Besant School

In the north of Varanasi, the Varuna river meets the Ganga beside the leafy 400-acre campus of the Rajghat Education Centre. Jiddu Krishnamurti founded Rajghat Besant School there in 1934. Away from the crowded ghats, this high riverbank has groves of mango and other old trees, farmland, riverside scrub, and wide views over the Ganga’s sandbanks and floodplain. Along with ancient trees on the campus, open country and two rivers, the area has much richer wildlife than most of the city.

Birders come here for both river and woodland birds. On the Ganga, terns, lapwings, wagtails and cormorants use the sandbars. In winter, migrant ducks, gulls and waders often arrive. In the groves, barbets, orioles, woodpeckers and flycatchers are common, while kingfishers work the banks of the Varuna. The Ganges river dolphin, India’s national aquatic animal, still survives in this stretch of river. The ecosystem is fragile, though. Untreated sewage flowing into the Varuna, sand mining, riverfront construction, plastic waste and disturbance on the sandbanks all threaten it. Keeping the campus green, protecting the sandbars where birds nest, and cleaning up the rivers are essential to keeping this unusual corner of Kashi wild.

Bird walk Location

Common birds of Near Rajghat Besant School

The old groves at Rajghat feel almost like a forest, and the birds match. The Indian Paradise-Flycatcher is the star, with its long, ribbon-like tail streaming through the shade. The Indian Golden Oriole and the Black-hooded Oriole add flashes of bright yellow and fluting calls to the canopy. The Yellow-footed Green-Pigeon, Uttar Pradesh’s state bird, feeds quietly on figs. The Plum-headed Parakeet, with its rosy head, is a gentler cousin of the noisy Rose-ringed Parakeet. Brown-headed Barbets call from the treetops and Black-rumped Flamebacks drum on old trunks. The Greenish Warbler stops here on its long migration and sings from the trees on campus. Closer to the Varuna, White-throated Kingfishers flash electric blue, Little Cormorants fish, and Black-crowned Night Herons roost out of sight until dusk. Red-wattled Lapwings keep watch on open ground. In the undergrowth, Large Gray and Jungle Babblers forage in chattering groups, the Oriental Magpie-Robin sings, and the Gray Francolin’s calls ring out across the fields. Rufous Treepies, Black Drongos and a hunting Shikra complete a list that shows how much birdlife a green, protected campus can hold.