Neel Dhara Pakshi Vihar

Three or four kilometres above Har Ki Pauri the Ganga spreads out at the Bhimgoda barrage into sandbars, and from November to February those sandbars fill with birds resting on the Indus-Ganges flyway: bar-headed geese, painted storks, cormorants, herons, waders, with the Shivalik hills standing behind them. Nothing is fenced or ticketed, which is part of why it stays quiet — bring binoculars and come at first light. Outside winter it is simply a wide, empty view of the river. Sits easily alongside Bhimgoda Tank and the Chandi Devi side of town.

Migratory flocks on the sandbars at sunrise, ten minutes from the main ghat