| Chintamoni Kar Bird Sanctuary | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Narendrapur, West Bengal, India |
| Nearest city | Kolkata (20 km) |
| Coordinates | 22°25′46″N88°24′03″E / 22.4295°N 88.4007°E |
| Established | 1982 |
Chintamoni Kar Bird Sanctuary (CKBS), [1] formerly known as Kayaler Bagan, [2] is a bird sanctuary located in West Bengal, India, south of Kolkata. This garden is famous for its wide variety of birds, butterflies, ferns and orchids. [3]
It was given sanctuary status in 1982. Before then, it was originally a large mango garden with huge mango trees. The government of West Bengal took the initiative to make it open to the public and acquired it from private owners in October 2005. On 8 September 2004 it was named Narendrapur Wildlife Sanctuary, and on 21 October 2005 it was renamed Chintamoni Kar Bird Sanctuary, in honour of celebrated sculptor Chintamoni Kar, who had for many years strived relentlessly to give "Kayaler Bagan" the status of a sanctuary. [4]
The nearest populated place, Narendrapur, is 15 km from Sealdah on the Sealdah –Sonarpur line and is part of the Kolkata Suburban Railway system. It is connected by road to Garia and the EM Bypass. It is 20 km from Howrah railway station.
The names in brackets "()" are the scientific names.
The names in brackets "()" are the scientific names.
The names in brackets "()" are the scientific names.
The black drongo is a small Asian passerine bird of the drongo family Dicruridae. It is a common resident breeder in much of tropical southern Asia from southwest Iran through Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka east to southern China and Indonesia and accidental visitor of Japan. It is an all black bird with a distinctive forked tail and measures 28 cm (11 in) in length. It feeds on insects, and is common in open agricultural areas and light forest throughout its range, perching conspicuously on a bare perch or along power or telephone lines.
The greater racket-tailed drongo is a medium-sized Asian bird which is distinctive in having elongated outer tail feathers with webbing restricted to the tips. They are placed along with other drongos in the family Dicruridae. They are conspicuous in the forest habitats often perching in the open and by attracting attention with a wide range of loud calls that include perfect imitations of many other birds. One hypothesis suggested is that these vocal imitations may help in the formation of mixed-species foraging flocks, a feature seen in forest bird communities where many insect feeders forage together. These drongos will sometimes steal insect prey caught or disturbed by other foragers in the flock and another idea is that vocal mimicry helps them in diverting the attention of smaller birds to aid their piracy. They are diurnal but are active well before dawn and late at dusk. Owing to their widespread distribution and distinctive regional variation, they have become iconic examples of speciation by isolation and genetic drift.
Sattal or Sat Tal is an interconnected group of seven freshwater lakes situated in the Lower Himalayan Range near Bhimtal, a town of the Nainital district in Uttarakhand, India. During the British Raj, the area had a tea plantation, one of four in the Kumaon area at that time.
The large-tailed nightjar is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found along the southern Himalayan foothills, eastern South Asia, Southeast Asia and northern Australia. This species is a resident of the countries of Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical mangrove forest, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.
Chintamoni Kar was a renowned British-Indian sculptor. He received civilian awards from the Indian and French governments and won an Olympic silver medal on behalf of Great Britain.
