Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary is located near Vedanthangal Karikili in the district of Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu. It covers an area of 30 hectares (74 acres). Vedanthangal bird sanctuary  was established in 1858.  The Karikili Bird Sanctuary is located at a distance of around 9 km (kilometers) from the Vedanthangal bird sanctuary.

Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary is one of the oldest bird sanctuaries in India, and has been fiercely protected by the local population for well over 250 years.

The best time to visit this sanctuary is from November to March. During this time birds are mostly busy in building and maintaining their nests. The best time for bird watching is in the morning. Vedanthangal is a home for migratory birds such as pintail, garganey, grey wagtail, blue-winged teal, common sandpiper and many more of the like. Several birds are migrating from Europe to Vedanthangal during November and December because they are facing severe cold climate in Europe.

The sanctuary features thousands of birds coming from various countries, some of which can be easily identified. Some easily found bird species include Cormorants, Darter, Grebes, Large Egret, Little Egrets, Moorhen, Night Herons, Paddy Bird, Painted Stork, Pintails, Pond Heron, Sandpiper, Shovellers, Terns, White Ibis and many more. The migratory birds include Garganey Teals Canada, Snake Bird Sri Lanka, Grey Pelican Australia, Grey Heron Bangladesh, Open-billed Stork Bangladesh, Glossy Ibis Sri Lanka, Painted Stork Siberia, Spoonbill Burma and Spot Bill Duck Canada.

Visitors can use the telescope available for public to view the birds in the lake. If there are lot of visitors there m

ay be a long queue. Visitors bring their own binoculars. As there are lot of birds in natural surroundings, a tripod for the camera / cam corder is essential. Many people who forgot to bring their tripod regretted later. About 3 hours is more than enough to cover the bird sanctuary. Visitors can carry some snacks and soft drinks as this place may not have a big restaurant.

Vedanthangal and Karikili bird sanctuaries are located about 80 km (49.7 miles) from Chennai

How to reach Vedanthangal from Chennai?

Public buses start from Tambaram, Chennai, it would be hours journey from Tambaram

Public buses from  Tambaram travel through Chengalpat, hence a visitor can also get in Chegalpat

For timing of buses officails of public transportation at Tambaram and Chegalpat can be contacted .

Cabs can be hired from Tambaram  or Chennai city, but cabs would charge for two way , up and down. Cab would be willing to wait for few hours and travel back. If one has to travel by cab there are various packages like say 5 hours 100 Kilo Meters (  62 miles) or 10 hours 300 km  (  186 miles). If the distance exceeds the agreed package the cab would charge extra amount per KM. For overnight travel or full day travel driver has to be paid extra charges. A traveler can ascertain all the details of packages, extra charges and driver charges with the cab company before starting the journey.