Birders pressed for time will find a lot to lap up in our Short Birding Tours of India. Pared down to the essentials and trimmed clean of any clutter, these tours get you straightaway into the thick of the birding action and keep you busy for 5 or 6 consecutive days, without ever rushing you around.
Knowing well that a short tour doesn’t allow the luxury of long wait for a bird sighting, we’ve specifically singled out for you the most promising birding trails of India and we’ve put into service our ablest guides to lead you to the spots where sightings are all but assured. Additionally, we’ve designed itineraries with long birding days that start at the crack of dawn and continue well into the night with stints of nocturnal birding. This busy regime has proved to work excellently for the travellers who want a rewarding India birding holiday in under a week.
Our collection of India Short Birding Tours has a broad range for you to choose from. The most exotic of the lot is the Andaman Short Birding Tours in the remote archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where a dozen or so endemic bird species are the biggest draw. Some of these endemics can actually be seen in large numbers at the birding trails we’ve selected for you.
Northeast India is particularly the favourite haunt of bird buffs because of the abundance of bird species found there. We have as many as six different Short Birding Tours of Northeast India in our collection. The Assam Short Birding Tours targets hundreds of bird species in India’s largest stretch of tropical lowland forests called Dehing Patkai. On the other hand, the Mandala-Sela Pass Short Birding Tours in Arunachal Pradesh explores the high mountain passes above 3000 meters for many rare Himalayan birds that are hard to come by anywhere else. For multi-altitudinal birdwatching in Arunachal Pradesh, our Mishmi Hills Short Birding Tours is perfect. It explores birding sites at the heights ranging from 390 meters to 2655 meters.
Two of the best national parks of Assam are the setting of our Nameri Kaziranga Short Birding Tours on which, besides birdwatching, you get to go on multiple wildlife safaris. For more variety we’ve added birdwatching trips to Shillong and Cherrapunji in the Kaziranga and Meghalaya Short Birding Tours. And we round off our Northeast package with the Nagaland Birding Tour, which includes long excursions to the Khonoma Tragopan Sanctuary.
Not far from the Northeast, we explore the birding trails of Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary in Bengal on our Latpanchar Short Birding Tours. In North India, our Corbett Short Birding Tours in the Himalayan foothills of Uttarakhand combines birdwatching with tiger safaris, whereas pheasants are the chief attraction of our Pangot and Sat Tal Short Birding Tours.
The west Indian states of Rajasthan and Gujarat are great birding destinations for short tours on account of the Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary and the vast salty marshes of the Great and Little Rann of Kutch, which see huge flocks of migratory birds in winter. Likewise, in the south, there’s no place better than Thattekad Bird Sanctuary to see the endemic birds of the Western Ghats. We have a Short Birding Tours for each of these destinations.
Check out all our India short birdwatching tours below. They promise exhilarating birding adventures in the little time you can spare.
Port Blair - Shoal Bay - Chidiya Tapu - Mount Harriet National Park
05 Days / 04 Nights
Our Andaman Islands Short Birding Tours is designed to showcase almost all endemic birds of the Andamans over the course of five days. The geographic isolation of the archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar Islands has been a boon for its avifauna. Being hundreds of kilometres away from any continental land mass, this cluster of islands far south of the Bay of Bengal has not just been spared exploitation at the hands of humans, but has also seen, over centuries and millennia, evolution of several bird species that are exclusive to the islands.
Dibrugarh – Tinsukia – Maguri Beel - Tinsukia – Digboi - Dehing Patkai - Jeypore Forest Range
05 Days / 04 Nights
More than half the bird species of India can be spotted in the north-eastern state of Assam, and even a short birding trip lasting five days yields spectacular sightings of many rare and gorgeous avian specialties. Our Assam Short Birding Tours specifically targets India’s largest stretch of tropical lowland forests, the Dehing Patkai region, to make the most of your five days. This region is a vast biodiversity hotspot thriving with several interesting species of resident and migratory birds.
Delhi – Dholpur - National Chambal Sanctuary -Bharatpur - Keoladeo National Park
05 Days / 04 Nights
Two of the top birdwatching hotspots of Rajasthan are the targets of our Bharatpur-Chambal Short Birding Tours. The western state of Rajasthan is an important pit-stop for several species of migratory waterfowl that fly in from colder, northern latitudes of Asia every winter season. These aquatic beauties congregate in large numbers, especially at the wetlands of Bharatpur and the river Chambal of Dholpur.
Delhi – Corbett National Park
05 Days / 04 Nights
Birdwatching and tiger sighting go hand in hand on our Jim Corbett Short Birding Tours. Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand is the oldest national park of India and a protected area for the Bengal Tiger. Its location in the foothills of the Lesser Himalayas and its geography comprising hillocks, ravines, grasslands, deciduous forests, marshes and riverine belts make it a biodiversity hotspot teeming with an incredible variety of wildlife and avifauna. As many as 580 species of birds have been spotted here and certain areas of the park (such as Durga Devi zone).
Ahmedabad – Great Rann of Kutch
05 Days / 04 Nights
Our Great Rann Of Kutch Short Birding Tours gives you the chance to watch birds in one of the largest salt deserts in the world.The setting is straight out of a surreal painting. Vast salt-encrusted mudflats stretch out to the horizon. Wetlands created by monsoon rains sparkle in a desolate landscape. Grasslands add a dash of colour in places where vegetation holds doggedly to the arid earth. In this incredible setting, hundreds of bird species, both resident and migratory, flutter about and make a splash, creating a birding hotspot unlike any other.
Jalpaiguri – Latpanchar
05 Days / 04 Nights
The quiet village of Latpanchar in the Himalayan foothills of northern Bengal is the focus of our Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary Short Birding Tours. Spread out over 159 sq. km of forested area between the Teesta and Mahananda rivers, the sanctuary is home to a wide variety of wildlife, but what stands out the most is its avifauna. About 200 bird species have been spotted here, and the most prized sighting is that of Rufous-necked Hornbill in the four months of its nesting season.
Guwahati - Mandala – Sela Pass - Mandala Top
05 Days / 04 Nights
Our Mandala-Sela Pass Short Birding Tours is designed exclusively to give you the adventure of high-altitude birding in the Himalayas. Mandala at 3000 meters and Sela Pass at 4160 meters are two special birding hotspots of Arunachal Pradesh where one may see rare and exotic Himalayan birds that are usually hard to come by elsewhere. Mandala lies in the thick of the dense Mandala Phudung forest region, which, together with the nearby forests of Shergaon and Kalaktang, forms one of the Important Birding Areas of Arunachal Pradesh in the Northeast India.
Dibrugarh – Mishmi Hills - Mayodia Pass - Roing
06 Days / 05 Nights
Our Mishmi Hills Short Birding Tours stands out for the remote and diverse birding hotspots it covers – from the pristine forests and bamboo brakes to alpine meadows and high mountain passes in Himalayan foothills. Arunachal Pradesh in India’s northeast is home to several hundred bird species, many of which can be seen in the beautiful and rarely explored Mishmi Hills in the state’s easternmost extremity, where the Himalayas curve downwards to meet the Indo-Burmese range. Here, in the hills covered with dense vegetation, grasslands, and bamboo thickets.
Guwahati – Nameri National Park - Kaziranga National Park
06 Days / 05 Nights
Our Nameri Kaziranga Short Birding Tours targets two of the best national parks of Assam for hundreds of rare bird sightings and plenty of wildlife adventure. Those who prefer a bit of thrill in their birdwatching would love this short birding trip in the north-eastern state of Assam. Over a span of just six days, we take you, first, to Nameri National Park, and then to Kaziranga National Park. We go on multiple wildlife safaris and long birding walks to mark off lots of rare, exotic, endangered and popular birds of Northeast India, particularly Assam.
Delhi – Pangot - Sat Tal
05 Days / 04 Nights
Lush green hills of the lower Himalayas are the setting of our Pangot and Sat Tal Short Birding Tours. The quiet hamlet of Pangot in the North Indian state of Uttarakhand is often dubbed as the ‘pheasant capital of India’ on account of the many pheasants one gets to see here. The altitudinal range in the village’s vicinity and the forests of pine, oak and rhododendron here host around 250 bird species, particularly the Himalayan ones. Come winter, the winged stunners from higher latitudes fly down to these woods and hills, making Pangot one of the best birdwatching hotspots of North India.
Guwahati – Kaziranga National Park - Shillong - Cherrapunji
06 Days / 05 Nights
Birdwatching and wildlife adventure are strung together in our Kaziranga and Meghalaya Short Birding Tours. Kaziranga National Park in Assam is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the best wildlife reserves of India. Among its many attractions are the one-horned rhinos, Indian elephants, swamp deer, Asiatic water buffalo and, the most sought-after of them all, the tiger. But what makes Kaziranga indispensable to our Short Birding Tours of Assam and Meghalaya is its diverse avifauna. The park hosts more than 450 species of birds and is recognized as an Important Birding Area by BirdLife International.
Ahmedabad – Little Rann of Kutch
05 Days / 04 Nights
The location of the Little Rann of Kutch at the crossroads of Palearctic avian migration route makes it an excellent hotspot for a Short Birding Tours. The salt marshes and wetlands of the Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat host around 200 species of birds, both resident and migratory. Many of them flit and skip about in the Indian Wild Ass Sanctuary, which was created for the conservation of Indian wild ass (locally called Khur), but has emerged as a notable wintering ground for birds such as Sarus Crane, Dalmatian Pelican, and several types of ducks, crakes, flamingos, storks, terns, and sandgrouse.
Kochi – Thattekad Bird Sanctuary
05 Days / 04 Nights
Thattekad Bird Sanctuary in Kerala is such a thriving bird habitat that just a few days of birdwatching here bear spectacular sightings of South Indian avian specialties, including several endemic birds of the Western Ghats. India’s most distinguished ornithologist, Salim Ali, once hailed Thattekad Bird Sanctuary as ‘the richest bird habitat on peninsular India’. The praise is well deserved. Situated between a fork in Kerala’s longest river, the Periyar, Thattekad is a lowland evergreen forest region with marshy areas and hillocks that are home to around 322 bird species.
Dimapur – Chizami - Khonoma Tragopan Sanctuary
06 Days / 05 Nights
Among the many birding destinations of Northeast India, the small state of Nagaland often tends to be overlooked. Not many know that this ‘falcon capital of the world’ is home to around 500 bird species, many of them concentrated around the village of Chizami and Khonoma Tragopan Sanctuary. The presence of high number and variety of bird species at these two birding hotspots makes Nagaland a great place for a short birding expedition. Our Nagaland Short Birding Tours targets these very hotspots for avian specialties of North and Northeast India, including several migratory beauties from northern latitudes.
Birdwatching in India offers so much choice that one can easily overlook a potential birding hotspoteclipsed by a popular tourist hill station nearby. One such hotspot is Kaudia forest in Kanatal, Uttarakhand.
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Birding at Mandala Top in Arunachal Pradesh after a long Covid break made me notice many beauties of the place that were hiding in plain sight before. It’s true that absence makes the heart grow fonder.
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