A former duck-hunting reserve of 2,873 hectares: Keoladeo National Park, Rajasthan's bird World Heritage site

Background

Rajasthan's forest administration, whose department also runs the State's elephant and wildlife regulation now before its courts, manages this World Heritage property near Bharatpur.
Keoladeo National Park was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1985 under criterion (x) for its importance as a wetland for migratory waterfowl.
It covers 2,873 hectares and lies beside the city of Bharatpur.
The site is a former duck-hunting reserve of the Maharajas that developed in a natural depression wetland, and it was declared a national park in 1982.
It is a wintering ground for Palaearctic migratory waterfowl and at inscription was the only known wintering site for the central population of the Critically Endangered Siberian Crane.
Its wetlands depend on monsoon rains and water pumped from the Ajan Bandh reservoir, and the park is enclosed by a two-metre boundary wall and managed by the Rajasthan Forest Department.