Harike Wetland and Bird Sanctuary

Harike is one of the largest wetlands of north India, a broad shallow lake formed where the Beas joins the Sutlej. The whole wetland system covers about 285 sq km across parts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Kapurthala and Jalandhar districts, and a large part of it was declared a bird sanctuary by the Punjab government in 1982. In 1990 it became one of India's six original Ramsar sites.

More than 368 bird species have been recorded, among them migrants arriving from Siberia and the Arctic, alongside resident water birds. Close to 200 sq km of the wider area is farmed, and the rest holds grasses such as munj, kahi and khas, with shisham and acacia along the embankments. Water hyacinth once spread over roughly 70 percent of the lake; a clearance drive by the army and the state forest and wildlife department has since helped bird numbers grow.