Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary
(19 km from Mysore, 3 km from Srirangapatna)



Photograph by Mahendra Simmha


The six islets that make up Ranganathittu, and the water that surrounds these islets, are home to an incredible range of local and migratory birds—not to mention fruit bats, bonnet macaques, flying foxes, common palm civets, monitor lizards, mongoose, otters, crocodiles and aquatic life!

	Courting Egrets

The sanctuary is unforgettably beautiful: islets fringed by thick reeds and dotted with bamboo groves, broadleaf forest outcrops further inside and stretches of water broken by large rocks on which marsh crocodiles sun themselves. The air is filled with the sound of bird calls and monkey chatter. It's paradise for avians, animals, aquatic inhabitants…and humans, who can see all this in ranger-guided boats.

Ranganathittu came into being when a check dam was built across the Kaveri in the 1700s. The famous ornithologist, Dr Salim Ali, serendipitously visited this area in 1940, while surveying bird populations for the State of Mysore. Enchanted by what he saw, he requested the Maharaja to declare the place a protected area for birds.

Though very small (it covers an area of less than 0.67 square km), Ranganathittu has a delightfully disproportionate bird population. It is an important nesting and breeding ground for migratory birds from places as far flung as Siberia, Australia and North America. Resident and migratory birds found here include egrets, cormorants, herons, darters, river terns, ducks, teals, sandpipers and kingfishers, many species of storks (painted, Asian openbill, white-necked, common spoonbill, wooly-necked), black-headed and white ibis, lesser whistling ducks, Indian shags, stork-billed kingfishers, streak-throated swallows and cliff swallows.

Ranganathittu gets its water from the Krishnarajasagar Dam. The best time to visit is between June and November, the nesting season of the water birds. Migratory birds can be seen in December.