Khichan: Rajasthan’s Village of Demoiselle Cranes

Every year, as the monsoon retreats, thousands of demoiselle cranes glide down onto a small desert village near Phalodi. Khichan has fed and protected them for decades, and the result is one of the great wildlife spectacles of the Thar: grey clouds of cranes calling over red-sandstone havelis, then settling to feed in a ground the villagers set aside for them.

Meet the demoiselle crane

The demoiselle is a slender, delicately built crane with red eyes, a black neck and breast, and long white plumes behind the eyes. Its name comes from the French for “young lady”. In Hindi it is called karkarra, and in Marwari kurjan.

Demoiselle cranes breed across the steppes and semi-deserts of Eurasia, from southern Ukraine and Crimea to Mongolia and north-east China. In autumn the Central Asian and East Asian populations migrate to winter in north-west India, mainly Rajasthan and Gujarat. Satellite tracking has shown that some fly directly over the Himalayas while others take a longer route around the Hindu Kush. Globally the species is assessed as Least Concern, but traditional wintering grounds have been lost to human activity, which is what makes safe places like Khichan so valuable.

How a village came to feed the cranes

Khichan’s story began a little over forty years ago with Ratanlal Maloo and his wife Sundarbai, who considered it their duty to feed the birds that came to the village. As the number of cranes grew each winter, Ratanlal asked the village council for land, raised money from the village’s well-off families, and had the plot fenced off as a dedicated feeding ground: the chugga ghar. In 2009 the Bombay Natural History Society honoured him with its Salim Ali Nature Conservation Award.

The effect was dramatic. In 1996 the ornithologist Otto Pfister wrote that only a few dozen cranes had wintered in Khichan before organised feeding began, and that their numbers had climbed to about 6,000. Today official estimates run well above 20,000. The feeding is still paid for largely by donations from villagers and visitors.

A day with the cranes

The first birds usually arrive at the end of August or in early September. In his 1996 account, Pfister described a daily rhythm that visitors still look for: the cranes feed in the morning, gather on nearby dunes to preen, then fly off in small family groups to forage in the fields and drink at the village ponds around midday, before returning to the feeding ground in the afternoon. A single alarm call can lift the whole flock into the air.

The cranes also roost and forage well beyond the village, in places such as Kanasar, Jamba and the salt pans of the Malar (Malhar) Rann near Phalodi. Patterns change from year to year, so ask locally about the best times to watch.

Threats and conservation

Living so close to people brings risks. Records kept by village conservationist Sevaram Mali and analysed by the Bombay Natural History Society in 2023 show that collisions with power lines are among the leading causes of crane deaths around Khichan, along with pesticide poisoning, attacks by free-ranging dogs and entanglement in kite string. BNHS has recommended putting high-tension lines underground where they cross the cranes’ flight paths and roosting sites, including a new transmission line through the Malar Rann salt pans.

Formal protection has followed the community’s work. In February 2025 the Khichan wetland was designated a Ramsar site, recognising it as a wetland of international importance for its wintering cranes.

Planning your visit

• When: September to March, with the largest numbers usually in December and January. Mornings are best, when the cranes come in to feed and the light is soft. Winter mornings in the desert are cold, so bring a warm layer.
• Getting there: Khichan is a short drive from Phalodi town. Phalodi is roughly 135 km from Jodhpur by road and has a railway station, Phalodi Junction, on the Jodhpur–Jaisalmer line. See our Phalodi guide for more on getting there.
• Where to stay: most visitors stay in Phalodi. Book ahead in the crane season.
• While you’re there: walk through Khichan’s lanes to see its carved red-sandstone havelis; Rajasthan Tourism counts more than fifty.

Watching the cranes responsibly

• Stay outside the feeding enclosure, keep your distance and move slowly: a frightened flock wastes energy it needs for the winter and the long flight home.
• Never chase, call or throw anything to make the birds fly for a photograph, and do not fly drones over them.
• Keep dogs away, and don’t feed the birds yourself: the feeding ground has its own routine.
• Follow the instructions of the villagers who run the feeding ground and of any forest staff.
• If you would like to support the cranes, ask at the feeding ground how to make a donation.

More wildlife in the Thar

• Phalodi travel guide: the fort, havelis, shrines and Dechu dunes nearby.
• Tal Chhapar Sanctuary: grasslands famous for blackbuck and raptors.
• Desert National Park: dunes and grasslands near Jaisalmer, home of the great Indian bustard.
• Wildlife and nature in Rajasthan: all our wildlife guides.

Sources

1. Rajasthan Tourism: Phalodi (Khichan location, crane numbers and season, havelis)
2. Press Information Bureau, Government of India: two new Ramsar sites in Rajasthan
3. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change: Ramsar sites of India (designation date and area)
4. Narwade, S., N. Bora, P. Bishnoi and K. Rithe (2023), Bombay Natural History Society: Khichan’s history, migration routes, threats and power lines
5. Otto Pfister, “The Demoiselle Cranes of Khichan”, OBC Bulletin 24 (1996) (early feeding history and daily behaviour)
6. BirdLife International: Demoiselle Crane species factsheet (global status)