Dora Beel

Over 230 local and migratory bird species have been counted across this wetland and the floodplains running from it to the Kulshi river, among them Greater Adjutants, Black-necked Storks, three kinds of vulture, and the Oriental Pratincole, rare in Assam but sighted here regularly. Come with binoculars and low expectations of facilities: this is village country in Kamrup district, ringed by settlements like Rajapukhuri and Nahira, not a park with gates. Prafulladatta Goswami, who became Assam's first ornithologist, was drawn to birdwatching in this very area, which tells you what it can give someone patient enough to sit still.