The Indian sub-continent is one of the richest bird areas of the world containing about 1300 species or 13%  of the world's birds. These include 141 endemic species, 159 winter visitors, 19 passage migrants and about  100 species of vagrants. New species are continually being added, notably from the ornithological poorly known areas of the north eastern states of India.  There have also been recent rediscoveries of birds thought to be extinct till now.

Grasslands:   The   seasonally   flooded   grasslands   roll  across    the Himalayan foothills and the floodplains    of  the  large  number  of rivers. You  will  also  find arid grasslands in the desert, and grasslands in   the peninsular region.  These  support  distinctive  bird  communities   with a number of endemic  species.   Most of which are seriously at risk due to the spread   of agriculture.

Desert: The Thar Desert  is the hot desert and the far northern mountain region of Laddakh has a cold desert climate.

Seas: The subcontinent has  a  large   coastline   and   seabird-breeding colonies are concentrated chiefly   in the islands of the Indian Ocean.

There are ninety-nine restricted range species that breed in the subcontinent i.e. land birds that have a total breeding range of    below 50000 sq km. These are more often than not isolated patches of a particular habitat and are known as centre of endemism. Eight such centers occur in the subcontinent.

With such a variety   of  species  and  habitats,  it might  prove useful to provide some suggestions for bird watching in India.

While  birds    are    on    the  move  all  day they are  most active in the early mornings  and that is   the   best time to observe them. Bird songs are also heard during that  time  and    learning  to  identify birds by their calls is very important.

The    forest  may  seem  to be devoid of birds to the novice but they are in fact, the very   opposite    of  that.    The trick   is  to  try  to  locate  a mixed hunting party.  This   is  a   characteristic    feature    of     Indian  forests   here     birds   do  not   spread  themselves  out  uniformly  but  instead    roam  in co-operative  bands   of  mixed  species  in  more  or  less  regular  daily circuits. One can find  birds  of  almost every species of the  locality,   and  they   are   everywhere -  on  the   ground, among  bushes,  on  the   trunks of trees   and in the top most canopy.