Keoladeo National Park, also known as Keoladeo Ghana National Park, is in Rajasthan, India, 155 miles northeast of Ranthambore National Park by car, 35 miles west of Agra by car and 115 miles south of New Delhi by car. From 1899 it was a duck shooting preserve, became the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary in 1956, became a national park in 1982 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. It is a human-made and regulated wetland in this dry region, protects Bharatpur from flash floods and provides pastures for local cattle and livestock. It is 11 square miles of biodiversity with over 400 species of bird, 20 of fish, 70 of reptiles and amphibians, 50 of mammal and 400 of plants. One-third is wetlands with mounds, dykes and open water. It also has uplands with tall grass species and scattered trees and shrubs; uplands with short grasses; and woodlands. It is sometimes referred to as the best birding area in India, although I think Kaziranga National Park beats it in that regard.
We visited twice, once in the late afternoon of Tuesday, November 25, 2025 and the following morning on November 26. Our first afternoon I was with my brothers-in-law, Stan Jones and David Kenison and a guide on a motorized rickshaw. We spent most of our time walking down one trail into the wetland with lots of nesting painted storks. The next morning we also had our wives along, the same guide and used two motorized rickshaws. Our guide has worked there for ten years and was very good.
Following are photos of some of the wildlife we saw, mostly birds:
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| Dusky eagle-owl. Our guide spotted it at some distance and set up a scope to look at it. |
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| A black bittern that are guide knew right where to find it. Bitterns are notorious difficult to find and see. |
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| A jungle nightjar, another very difficult bird to find and see. Our guide found several of them in the vegetation above a small creek along the side of the road. |
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| A brahminy starling, a crazy looking bird I hoped to see after looking at photos of birds found at Keoladeo. |
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| White-eared bulbul. |
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| Bluethroat - also the photo below. |
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| White-breasted waterhen. |
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| Lesser whitethroat |
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| Lesser chiffchaff. |
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| Knob-billed ducks. Another bird I'd hoped to see, but wish I'd had a closer view. |
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| Orange-headed thrush. |
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| Indian gray hornbill. |
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| Gray francolin, my first, but a bird we later saw quite a bit of later in Ranthambore NP. |
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| Yellow-throated sparrow. |
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| Wire-tailed swallow |
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| Little grebes |
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| Bronze-winged jacana - also next photo |
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| Alexandrine parakeet. A beautiful bird we saw in Kaziranga NP the year before, but got much better views of here. |
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| Tawny eagle, an eagle we'd seen before at Hwange NP in Zimbabwe. Our guide said it was an Indian spotted eagle, but a top identifier on iNaturalist convincingly suggested the tawny eagle. |
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| Imperial eagle |
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| Indian spot-billed duck |
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| Oriental magpie-robin |
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| Jungle babbler - also next photo |
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| Indian pond heron - also the next photo. |
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| Axis deer |
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| Black-crowned night heron |
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| Indian flying fox |
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| Golden jackals |
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| Laughing dove |
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| Long-tailed shrike |
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| Oriental darter |
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| Pied kingfisher |
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| Purple heron |
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| Spotted owlet |
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| Yellow-footed green pigeons |
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| Painted storks. I'm guessing maybe the best place to see them in the world. Lots of nests - see more below. |
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| Western marsh harrier. A much better look at a bird I saw in Azerbaijan. |
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| More painted storks - here and below. |
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| White-throated kingfisher |
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| Indian pied starling |
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| Rhesus macaque |
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| Red-wattled lapwing |
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| Gray heron - here and below |
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| Little egret |
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| Medium egret |
We had a great guide and I would love to have spent more time here, particularly in the non-marsh habitat.
