Anyone here have suggestions for birding in north India ? I am headed for a couple of weeks there and debating if I should be lugging along my 300 2.8 + 2x. Carry wt is generally an issue but there appears to be one bird sanctuary close by, hari ke bird sanctuary. Anyone here been there?

while i have not been to Harike so far, I believe its a wetland. Generally a 300+2x will serve you well. Depending on where you are going in north there are other destinations as well. for example Corbett & Sattal would be good for birding in winters and your 300+1.4 would be a good choice there. Do keep in mind that winters would give you shortened shooting hours due to fog. there is a very active community called IndianBirds (http://www.facebook.com/groups/indianbirds/) where a lot of birders/photographers from Delhi are very active. They can give you some good advice.

Generally speaking your 300 + 2x would serve you well, I would suggest that you carry a 1.4x as well if you can.

I am planning to get to Sattal this Dec for a couple of weeks to shoot some Himalayan birds. Hopefully that trip will workout :-)

Regards,
kartik

Whilst I have not birded there an Indian friend of mine has just returned from home there and has numerous tales of raptors !

India has tons of bird species and right now is the inbound migration season - most migrant birds have passed China now (our season is over) and depending on the species should have either arrived in N. India or will be arriving shortly from S.E.Asia.