Blue Bird Lake

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Blue Bird Lake
Lake and Migratory Birds
Blue Bird Lake Location in Haryana, India Show map of Haryana Blue Bird Lake Blue Bird Lake (India) Show map of India
Coordinates: 29°10′46″N 75°43′7″E / 29.17944°N 75.71861°E / 29.17944; 75.71861
Country	India
State	Haryana
District	Hisar
Founded by	Forests Department, Haryana
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
Telephone code	+91-(01662)-275568/275131
Website	Official website

Blue Bird Lake, Hisar is a resident and endangered migratory bird wetland habitat, lake and recreation area in the town of Hisar, in the Hisar district of Haryana State, India.^[1][2]

Blue Bird Lake is close to Hisar Airport on NH-9 in Hisar, Haryana, India. It is close to Deer Park, Hisar and Shatavar Vatika Herbal Park, Hisar, both of which are run by the Forests Department, Haryana of Government of Haryana.

Among approximately 1,800 migratory bird species out of total 10,000 species of birds in the world, nearly 370 species migrate to India due to seasonal changes, including 175 long-distance migration species that use the Central Asian Flyway route,^[3][4] and among those some of these migratory birds species have been sighted nesting here during the winter,^[5][6] many of which are endangered species.

The lake is also leased out for the commercial fisheries by Fisheries Department of Government of Haryana.^[7]

The lake and surrounding wetland and parks are spread across 52 acres. The lake itself is 20 acres and has small islands where migratory birds and other flora and fauna live and nest.

There are boats available for hire, along with safety gear such as life saving flotation jackets and devices. The lake has floating pontoon platforms for visitors and boaters, and ghats for sitting and relaxing. Recreational fishing is permitted with payment of a licensing fee. Landscaped parks, sight-seeing walking trails and jogging tracks, over-water bridges, bush land, children's swings and play area, visitor's car park and toilets, and other amenities are available. There is no entry fee to use these areas. The Blue bird lake also has government-run "Blue Bird Tourist Resort" with rooms, conference halls, restaurant and bar.^[8][9]

Air, sound and water pollution, lack of water supply and conservation, lack of protected area status and scientific wildlife management plan for wildlife conservation, lack of area development with scientific landscaping and tree planting conducive to safe birds nesting and breeding, stray dogs and cats posing risk to nesting endangered birds, poor hygiene resulting in ongoing risk of avian flu outbreak, etc. remain major issues.

Since there is no agreement between Haryana Tourism that manages the wetland and HLRDC in control of canal that irrigates their farm in the vicinity of wetland, HLRDC stopped the supply of their share of water flowing to Blue bird lake, causing gradual reduction of water levels in the wetland which resulted in death of fishes in 2016.^[7]

Over 800 domesticated ducks resident at blue bird lake were culled by the authorities in November 2016 when 9 dead ducks were found that were confirmed to have died due to H5N8 avian influenza virus.^[10][5][11]