Kutch afternoons are arid and extremely dry. We found a road side puddle where a set of bulbuls,buntings and petronia's were taking bath to beat the heat. This white eared bulbul waited for its turn and took a hurried bath after taking a quick drink to quench its thirst.



This is the same bulbul. After a satisfying dip he hopped on to an adjacent branch where he fluffed himself up to dry his wings.

A purple sunbird going through its routine maintenance inspection of its suspended nest to ensure the nuts and bolts that are holding the nest together are securely in place.

Common Langur
The word Langur means the "one with a long tail" and you can see why. Usually they hang their tails freely when they are on tree tops. While walking or running though they curl their long tail into a shape like question mark so that the tail does not drag on the ground :)

The Last One
In the forest during morning time frenzied bird activity is usually associated with a bird wave. For a moment there is absolute silence and then the next moment you see this mixed hunting party bird wave that comes onto top of a particular tree and starts feeding on fruits and nectar depending on its diet constitution in an adhoc manner. This beauty ( Common Iora ) is usually part of that wave but in confusion usually goes unnoticed. This is the female. May be the male was also around but before I could figure out what to shoot in the crowd the wave started to move and this one was the last to leave.

Black Stork ( Winter Migrant from Europe )
The black stork is a winter migrant from Europe. Made this image at pench last year. Migratory birds have a different strategy when it comes to long distance flight journeys. For long distance flying the regular flapping of wings is not efficient instead these birds leverage the rising thermals in the atmosphere to get the thrust required for flight. They are so adept at doing this they can cover around 250km per day by flight without getting tired. Their wings are also evolved with tendons at wing joints that locks the wing position once they take off.

Coming back to the image this is a back lit image which gives a rim lighting effect to the subject. One thing to watch out while making backlit images is the ISO value. It is better to shoot with lower ISO since backlit images tend to have more image noise in the subject. I like the background a lot in this image. In india when we shoot during safari's it is either a green background when the image is made in forest or in a open grassland it ends up being brown. With this image I was lucky to get a bit of both.

Asian Koel ( Male )
This is the male asian koel. If not for the bright red eyes it is easy to discount them as common crow :). They do have some interesting connections with crows though. One thing is koel's don't build their own nest they use crows nest. Secondly the juvenile koel's call is not melodious but harsh like crow. Only when they grow into an adult their calls become melodious.

Caterpillar
Not sure of the ID. There are thousands of varieties of caterpillars and this one was chewing on the leaf religiously so that in future it can grow up to be a healthy butterfly. This is one more image where I was experimenting with flash. The exposure is set for the sky and the caterpillar is highlighted using the internal flash. This is another example of mixing flash and natural light. There is a fine line when working with flash and natural light. If the flash is too strong the subject appears flat and unnatural. On the other side with weak flash the subject details dont show up. Fortunately static subjects like plants or caterpillars give lot of time for experimenting to get the combination correct with flash. With dynamic subjects like birds it requires lot of experience/judgment to use flash correctly. Used incorrectly flash spoils the mood and the appeal of the image. So when not sure we are better off without flash.


Update : Got this identified as Tussock Moth Caterpillar. This is one in the immature stage. They are also called "Yellow Woolly Bear" :)

Over the weekend had gone to Mysore to attend the India Nature Watch Photographers meet. There were two sessions. One on Creative Nature Photography by Ganesh and the other one on Post processing techniques by Sudhir. Thought provoking presentations followed by interesting Q&A.
In the evening had gone to Karanji lake and spent sometime near the lake and in the butterfly park. While waiting near the lake made the following image

Cormorants mainly feed on fishes and they splash water intentionally to attract fishes.

Brahminy Starling fight
Made this image some time back at Masinagudi. The starling on the left side was pushed down from the tree by the other guy. Looks like the guy visited the roosting/nesting site of the other starling. The second guy furiously attacked the intruder and chased him off. It is amazing the extent to which a species goes to defend its territory though in the process it might mean injuring oneself too. Ideally in scenario's like this it is better to shoot at lower apertures like f/16 so that both the subject's eyes are in focus and that would capture the essence of the action. But again f/16 translates to a lower shutter speed which might not be sufficient enough to freeze the fast moving subject. Wildlife photography since it is mostly done with longer focal length lenses it is always a trade off between Depth of field and Shutter speed.

Indian Roller
The Indian Roller is the state bird of karnataka. The background in this image is the nilgiri mountain range. Made this image after the rain stopped for a short period. Some trivia's about the roller
- Most of the times they are perched at a low position. Since their prey is mostly insects and frogs this helps.
- Considered a very bold bird. The forest fires when it occurs is the time when the insects get flushed out because of the heat and this bird is one of the species that dives into the smoke to catch insects without bothering about the heat.

Life of a Little Green Bee Eater
- Identify a perch
- Sit comfortably and watch for flying insects
- Take off catch the insect in flight
- Return to the perch and hit the insect on the perch
- Toss it up in the air and consume it
Repeat the last 5 steps again & again & again :)
The following image probably can identify itself with the third step

Preening time
Sunbird preening itself meticulously. Preening is the only time during which even the most hyperactive bird sits in the same place for sometime. The problem is they keep moving there head so much it is difficult to make images of them with the eye in focus.

This squirrel was busy nibbling on the branch. For a moment he stopped and looked at me before continuing to nibble on.

Yellow Billed Babbler
Though this guy appears like he/she is going to take off it actually is not. Babbler's are social birds hanging in groups of six or seven which gives them the name "seven sisters". The babbler was screaming at the top of his voice in addition to fluttering the wings furiously. Looks like this behavior is exhibited to attract attention and improving bonding within the group.

Rivalry

Two antlers sparring in Nagarhole National Park



Update : 04/27/2012. Looking back I think this is the image that got me seriously hooked to wildlife photography.