The Karnala Bird Sanctuary is located in

Panvel Panvel () is a city and taluka in Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. It is highly populated due to its closeness to Mumbai. Panvel is also governed for development purpose by the body of Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Panvel Municipal Corpor ...

Taluka of

Raigad District Raigad district (Marathi pronunciation: �aːjɡəɖ, previously Colaba district, is a district in the Konkan division of Maharashtra, India. The district was renamed to Raigad after the fort that was the first capital of the former Marath ...

, outside

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

near

Matheran Matheran is an automobile-free hill station and a municipal council in the Karjat taluka of the Raigad district located in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Matheran is part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, and one of the smallest hill ...

and

Karjat Karjat (Pronunciation: əɾd͡zət̪ is a city administered under a Municipal Council in Raigad district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is served by Karjat railway station. Karjat forms a part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Karjat ...

.It is the first bird sanctuary in Maharashtra. The sanctuary is quite small with an area of 12.11 square kilometres but is, along with the

Sanjay Gandhi National Park Sanjay Gandhi National Park, also known as SGNP, is an protected area in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was established in 1969 with its headquarters situated at Borivali. The 2400-year-old Kanheri caves, sculpted by monks out of the rocky basalti ...

and Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, one of the few sanctuaries to be within reach of the city of

Location

The sanctuary is centered on the historic Karnala Fort and lies just off the

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

national highway to Goa. It is located 12 km from

. The nearest railhead is

. Regular buses at an interval of 30 minutes are available from Panvel Bus Stand from 5:00 am to 8:00 pm. The sanctuary is open for visitors from 7am to 3pm. There are many hotels and resorts located near the sanctuary. There are two government rest houses inside the sanctuary area.

About

The bird sanctuary is a popular destination for bird-watchers and

hikers Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histo ...

in the Mumbai area. The sanctuary is home to over 222 species birds of which 161 are resident species, 46 are winter migrant species, three are breeding migrants, seven species are passage migrants and five species are vagrant. Checklist of birds of Karnala Bird Sanctuary, District Raigad, Maharashtra published in Newsletter for Birdwatchers Following eight species endemic to Western Ghats has been found in Karnala: Grey-fronted Green-pigeon (Treron affinis),

Nilgiri Woodpigeon The Nilgiri wood pigeon (''Columba elphinstonii'') is large pigeon found in the moist deciduous forests and sholas of the Western Ghats in southwestern India. They are mainly frugivorous and forage in the canopy of dense hill forests. They ar ...

(Columba elphinstonii), Malabar (Blue-winged) Parakeet (Psittacula columboides), Malabar Grey Hornbill (Ocyceros griseus), White-cheeked Barbet (Megalaima viridis), Malabar Lark (Galerida malabarica), Small Sunbird ( Leptocoma minima) and Vigor's Sunbird ( Aethopyga vigorsii). . Five rare birds, the ashy minivet, three-toed kingfisher, Malabar trogon, Slaty-legged Crake (Rallina eurizonoides), and Rufous-bellied Eagle (Lophotriorchis kienerii) have been sighted here. The Sanctuary is also an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Inte ...

(IBA) satisfying A1 (Globally threatened species) and A2 (Restricted-range species) criteria. The sanctuary is also home to 114 species of butterflies. The Karnala fort is located on the top of the hill in the sanctuary. It is about 1hr. medium hard trek to Karnala fort. There was a sighting of a

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, ...

at Karnala.

Gallery

File:Karnala bird santuary 1.jpg, Sanctuary File:Karnala bird santuary 2.jpg, Bird view tower File:KarnalaWS.jpg, Forest from the top of fort

References

External links

{{Wikivoyage, Karnala Bird Sanctuary
www.thanewildlife.org
- Official website of Maharashtra Government North Western Ghats moist deciduous forests Wildlife sanctuaries of the Western Ghats Wildlife sanctuaries in Maharashtra Bird sanctuaries of Maharashtra Tourist attractions in Raigad district Protected areas with year of establishment missing