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© Sumit

Santragachi ~ Safety for thousands
Home     Santragachi    Salt Lake    Purbasthali


Just a 20 minute drive from the center of Kolkata lies a 13,75,000 square feet lake, known as the Santragachi Jheel. Winter months (October to March) draw 4000 to 5000 ducks and moorhens to this safe haven.

© Sumit
Swinhoe's Snipe

What is really the key feature of Santragachi is the protection that these birds receive at this small lake. Unless you visit Santragachi and see the unconcerned way in which the normally wary birds move about, you can never appreciate the miracle of Santragachi. And the credit goes to the Indian Railways who own and maintain the lake and more particularly to the local residents who take pride in protecting the birds. As a local youth told me, just try and harm the birds....and it takes that little to change bird behavior.

© Sumit
Fulvous Whistling-duck

Santragachi is not beautiful. It is hemmed in by habitation and railway tracks. Water hyacinth covers a large part of the surface and there is very little green cover. But the birds more than make up in their variety, numbers and in the unconcerned way they make Santragachi a home.

Lesser Whistling-Ducks dominate this lake, as they do in most parts of the east. But by no means is Santragachi a one duck pond:

List:

(To see an image of a particular species visit the India birds page))

Key:      Abundant Numerous/Common Few/single
     
Lesser Whistling-Duck Northern Pintail Northern Shoveler
Gadwall Garganey Comb Duck
Tufted Duck Cotton Pygmy- Goose Common Moorhen
Ferruginous Pochard Fulvous Whistling-Duck Pheasant-tailed Jacana
Bronze-Winged Jacana Purple Heron Indian Pond Heron
White Throated Kingfisher Booted Eagle Black Drongo
Little Cormorant Cattle Egret Common Kingfisher
Rose-Ringed Parakeet House Swift Spotted Dove
Little Green Bee-eater Asian Koel Baikal Teal (vagrant)
Red-Vented Bulbul Blyth's Reed Warbler Purple Sunbird
Brown Shrike Asian Pied Starling Common Myna
Grey Wagtail White Wagtail Swinhoe's Snipe
Common Coot Yellow Bittern Common Stonechat
Collared Dove Little Egret White-breasted Waterhen

How to reach: Santragachi is easily accessed from the Kona Expressway which connects the second Hoogly Bridge with NH 6. As you cross the bridge from Kolkata and take the Kona connector, Santragachi Railway Station is a bare 20 minute drive. The jheel or lake is right behind the rail tracks and a short walk from the station. Your destination is less than 10 kms from Raj Bhavan, the city centre.

Best time:November to February when the temperatures dip. Early mornings (6.30 am) and late afternoon (4.00 pm onwards) are the best time(s) of the day.

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