Walk the Wilderness

Snow Leopard's favorite prey - The Blue Sheep

2012-02-12T18:00:00.001+05:30

While we were in the Hemis Wildlife Sanctuary in Ladakh, we camped at the Junction camp that is ideally located at the base of the Rumbak valley. The steep snow capped rocky terrain and the large Bharal (Himalayan Blue Sheep) population in the Husing nallah and Tarbung valley make the camp an ideal location to search for the 'Ghost of the mountains'.

We were confident that we would soon get good photographs of the Bharal - the favorite prey of the Snow Leopard. However, we knew that would be possible only if we got close to a herd and had clear weather with good lighting. On our first trek to the Husing nallah we almost immediately sighted a Bharal herd on an adjoining ridge. However, the low lighting did not help much with photography. The next morning we once again sighted a Bharal herd and this time, not only were they much closer, but the lighting was also perfect for photography! We could not have asked for anything more.

As we were observing and photographing the herd, we noticed that the dominant male amongst them, which was grazing nearby, was slowly and steadily moving closer and closer to us. At one point he got so close to us that that we could count the rings on his horn. The number of rings on the horn is an indication of the Bharal's age. And we estimated this one to be about 8-10 years old.

Yala Safari #5 - Wild Places

2012-02-05T18:00:00.000+05:30

Yala Wildlife Sanctuary is the second largest National Park in Sri Lanka. It is estimated that the park has 40+ mammal species, 200+ bird species and over 40 reptile species.

It has one the largest density of Leopards in the world. Tourists are permitted to visit the Block 1 region of the park and we had over 15 sightings of Leopards in the three days that we spent there. Apart from Leopards, Asiatic Elephants and endangered Wild Buffalos are the other big mammals in the park.

The park is situated in the South Eastern region of Sri Lanka and is blessed with many rocky mountains. One can witness some gorgeous sunrise and sunsets at Yala. Here are some landscape images of sunrise and sunsets that we photographed during our stay there.

African Safari #14 - David Vs Goliath

2012-01-29T18:00:00.001+05:30

After spending a couple of nights in Western Serengeti, our next stop was the Ngorongoro National Park. As we were exiting Western Serengeti, we saw a Giraffe standing at a distance next to a shrub. The tall, elegant animal looked beautiful in its surroundings and this provided us an opportunity to photograph an animal in its habitat.

As we decided to move on, we noticed a movement in the tall grass, a little distance away from the Giraffe. We noticed that it was a Warthog. From the direction the Warthog was heading, we could clearly see it crossing paths with the Giraffe. After a while the Giraffe too took notice of the Warthog heading in its direction, and when they finally met, it was like having David and Goliath in the same frame! It was quite an interesting encounter and we managed to capture the moment in a couple of images.

Birding in India - Portrait of a Crested Serpent Eagle

2012-01-22T18:00:00.001+05:30

In general, the Crested Serpent Eagle are cooperative subjects who sit motionless on branches flanking the safari track, allowing photographers to get full frame compositions using a lens with 400mm focal length or higher. We feel that this makes the beautiful raptor a perfect subject for those who are starting out with wildlife photography.

This time round, we spotted a Crested Serpent Eagle on the forest floor. On seeing it there, we instinctively knew that it was hunting. As we approached it closer, it flew onto a branch close to the jeep track. On closer observation, we noticed that it has preyed on a lizard, and must have stomped it to death (we realised this from the Crested Serpent Eagle's blood stained claws).

The Serpent Eagle is known to have a protective membrane (known as the nictitating membrane in eagles as seen in the 2nd image) around its eye. This membrane is a clear inner eyelid that closes to moisten and protect the eye while allowing the eagle to still see.

This particular Serpent Eagle, sat on the branch scanning its surrounding giving us the opportunity to take some portrait images and before it flew away to eat its meal in peace.

In search of the 'Ghost of the Mountains'

2012-01-15T12:34:00.000+05:30

Visiting the Hemis Wildlife Sanctuary in Ladakh has been on our list of things to do for a while now. So when our friends from Camp Forktail Creek suggested that we do so in January 2012, we jumped at it! We decided to spend the first couple of weeks of the new year there searching for the elusive Snow Leopard or the 'Shan' as called by the locals. We were warned that in January we would encounter the harshest weather the region has to offer, given the fact that it is right in the middle of the winter season. Heavy snowfall and wind chill, which would lower the temperature to well below -15 to -20 degrees centigrade was a given fact. We specifically chose this time of the year for the trip since these harsh conditions makes the Snow Leopard come down to lower regions in the Sanctuary that are in the altitude range of 3700 to 4500 meters above sea level, thereby improving the chances of sightings.

We started our trek from the Zingchen entry point after a few days of acclimatization in Leh. A couple of hours of trekking took us to our camp site that was situated in a narrow valley in the Rumbak region of the Sanctuary. Camping in the middle of the Hemis Wildlife Sanctuary with a basic Marmot tent for accomodation, headlights and LED lights for lighting, the frozen 'Rumbak' nala as the water source and 'Siachen' sleeping bags (Goose down sleeping bag) gives you a picture of the adventure that we had set ourselves up for!

The constant snowfall, cloudy skies and the vast rocky mountains made the task of spotting wildlife almost impossible. We trekked everyday with the positive mindset that we would surely spot the 'Shan', which for all you know, could have been crouching just a few feet away from us. But because of the way the beautiful animal is camouflaged in the dazzle around us, we could have missed it.

The second day of our trek, we traversed the Husing Valley trail and almost immediately came across a herd of Blue Sheep (locally called the 'Bharal'), the main prey of the Snow Leopard. After a lovely photo session with the 'Bharal', we proceeded further along the Husing Valley. Just then we sighted a couple of Blue Sheep further down the trail, who were ignoring us and looking upwards intently towards the mountain. Our view was blocked by a ridge and we quickly went towards them to see what had grabbed their attention. Just then one of the sheep gave an alarm call. Our guide Khenrab, who was constantly scanning the landscape around us quickly moved towards the ridge. Instinctively we all knew that there was a predator around. We were excited! It could be either be a wolf or it could be the Snow Leopard.

Khenrab who was ahead, came running, gesturing wildly at us to walk faster. As we reached closer to the ridge, we saw what we had been waiting for - a beautiful Snow Leopard slowly climbing up! You could imagine the excitement around! The beautiful 'Shan' slowly moved upwards, stopping a couple of times along the way, giving us a chance to observe and photograph it. Finally, it reached the top of the mountain and paused to scan its territory, giving us a chance to get the last image and then it mysteriously disappeared behind the rocks, thereby living up to its name - the 'Ghost of the Mountains'.

Yala Safari #4 - The Yala Leopardess & her cubs - second edition

2012-01-08T18:00:00.000+05:30

Having spotted the Leopardess and her sub-adult cubs that we wrote about in part 1, we decided to frequent the particular location on every safari to observe Leopard behavior and capture them in their various moods. We reached the location pretty early in the morning and we once again spotted the sub-adult Leopard sitting near the waterhole. After taking a couple of images, we realized that the low light condition was going to make photography challenging and there was no way that we could capture any wildlife action.

We were struggling to get sharp images of the Leopard in the low light, when we saw a sibling Leopardess decide to practice her mock attacks on her brother who was busy drinking water. Watching her crouch, take off into mid air and then land on her brother's back was quite an experience. We decided to boost the ISO and capture the action, hoping for the best. The low shutter speeds had captured the flowing action with motion blurs making the whole experience more realistic.

African Safari # 13 - Dancing with the Lions

2012-01-01T18:00:00.000+05:30

Wishing all our blogger friends an "Awesome 2012"

This rates as our best sighting of the African Lions during our maiden trip to Africa, and it came after braving a huge downpour on the last evening that we were in western Serengeti. As we headed out for our last safari in Serengeti, it almost immediately started raining. We were wondering if we would sight anything in the rain. That's when we saw a jeep parked along the safari tracks at a distance and it was evident that they had spotted something. When we reached the location, we saw a lone Lioness, which seemed to have taken cover in the bushes (seen in the second image) to wait out the rains. We told our driver that we would wait for the rains to stop and see if we could get an opportunity to photograph the Lioness. However, unlike the previous downpours that we faced on this trip, the rain this time round lasted for almost an hour or so during which time a couple of jeeps came and saw the Lioness and left.

The Lioness for some reason seemed to have her attention focused on us all through the downpour. And when the rains finally stopped, she gingerly kept playing hide and seek with us while drying herself. It took us a while to realize that it was not just one Lioness hidden in that bush. Our patience seemed to have paid off since one by one four sub-adult lions walked out from their hiding in that same bush.

First they checked us out (second last image) to make sure we weren't a threat to them and then in the next 30 minutes, they put up a show in the clear golden evening light that was a feast for any wildlife enthusiast. We have tried to portray the action we saw in the last image in this series.

Finally, after playing for a while, the sub-adult lions relaxed, giving us the opportunity to get all of this in a single composition as seen in the image below.

Breaching an Elephant's comfort zone

2011-12-25T18:00:00.000+05:30

"Happy Holidays to all our blogger friends"

We have had many encounters with Asiatic Elephants in the Indian forests. There was a time when an Elephant mock charged us and ended up less than 10 feet from the Jeep. There was another encounter where this Elephant decided to block our road for a while.

However, this encounter rates to be the closest that we have had so far. During one of our Jeep safaris into the Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary, we were going through a part of the Sanctuary where the Jeep tracks were flanked by dense Lantana on both sides. At a point we noticed an Elephant calf walk onto the tracks and since we had already overshot the calf, we stopped the Jeep. The Elephant calf paused for a minute and we saw its mother emerge from the Lantana. Both mother and calf were startled by the sight of the Jeep. Looked like we had breached their comfort zone and the mother decided to charge us.

We had encountered many Elephant charges in the past, however, in this case the Elephant just took off and kept coming at us at full speed with no alarm. That's when we realized that this wasn't a mock charge. The driver hurriedly started the Jeep and accelerated as the Elephant kept running towards us at full charge, rapidly closing the distance between her and the Jeep. We knew this had been a close call.

African Safari #12 - Standoff with the African boss

2011-12-18T18:00:00.000+05:30

We were returning to the resort after a morning safari in the Western Serengeti when we spotted two Cape Buffaloes cooling off in the shade of a tree by the side of the road. In all our earlier sightings, the Cape Buffaloes were at a good distance, making it challenging to get good images. However, this time, these two subjects were within the full frame reach of my 300mm f2.8 mounted with the 2x TC.

We stopped the Jeep and took a couple of images of the Buffaloes lazing under the shade of the tree. As soon as the Buffaloes realized that this Jeep wasn't going anywhere, they got up and walked a few paces away from the tree into the hot sun. Incidentally they also split up and stood at some distance apart in such a way that the two Buffaloes and the Jeep formed a perfect triangle.

From that distance, the Buffaloes stood their ground and kept a constant watch over the Jeep. Occassionally, they would look at each other and communicate non verbally as if to exchange notes on what this Jeep was upto. The standoff gave us the opportunity of getting frame filling portrait compositions of these massive boss of the African savanah. Earlier during the safari, we had seen a pair of Cape Buffaloes standing together in the same location, however, on closer observation we noticed they were a different set of Buffaloes.

Yala Safari #3 - Perfectly camouflaged Monitor Lizard

2011-12-11T18:00:00.000+05:30

We have normally sighted Monitor Lizards on the forest floor in the Indian wilderness and always thought that one could sight them only on the ground.

During one of our safaris into the Yala Wildlife Sanctuary in Sri Lanka, our naturalist spotted a Monitor Lizard sleeping on a high branch of a tree. I was particularly curious to know how the naturalist spotted the Lizard since it was perfectly camouflaged. That's when he explained that it is a commonly exhibited behavior of this species. Thereafter, we made it a point to look out for Monitor Lizards apart from Leopards, while scanning the canopy.On another safari on the same trip to Yala, Noel parked the Land cruiser in the shade of the trees next to a waterhole, hoping to see some action. We remembered the Monitor Lizard sighting the other day and turned our attention to the trees instead of the waterhole. And to our luck, we saw a big Lizard perched on the branch of a tree right next to the Land Cruiser. It was so beautifully camouflaged that unless one was looking for it, you could not spot it. It was noon time and the lighting wasn't particularly photography friendly but the camouflage was so perfect that we wanted to capture the experience and managed a few images despite the harsh light.

Dhole - Lethal pack hunters

2011-12-04T18:00:00.001+05:30

The Indian Wild Dog more commonly known as the Dhole is regarded as the most successful hunter in the Indian wilderness, thanks to their ability to hunt as a pack. We have been fortunate to witness the rare spectacle of these pack hunters making a kill in the open space and consuming the prey in less than 20 minutes.

We have also had the chance to observe the Dholes prepare for a hunt. We have seen that once the decision to hunt is taken, a sense of purpose and discipline sets on the pack. And there is always a lot of commotion, hustling and whistling while the Dholes get organized to make the kill. It is then an absolute treat to observe them search for a potential prey and hunt it down in a well coordinated fashion.

What's striking is that at the time of taking the decision to hunt, there is not always a potential prey in sight. But the pack then demonstrates exceptional team work in methodically searching, finding and then bringing down a prey, sometimes much larger that the Dholes themselves.

Twilight zone Rhino charge

2011-11-27T22:00:00.008+05:30

On the first evening safari into the Kaziranga wildlife sanctuary, we realized that the winter sunset is bewitchingly beautiful with a spectacular array of colors lighting up the sanctuary during the twilight zone. So we decided that we would spend every evening in the sanctuary photographing this magical twilight zone.

This evening was no different. We had photographed the sunset and were on our way out of the sanctuary. That's when we encountered a Rhinoceros by the side of the jeep tracks. The driver switched off the engines immediately, since by now he knew that we were keen to photograph wildlife in action. There was also another jeep, which had reversed and parked ahead of us. Unmindful of the fact that we were sandwiched between the Rhino and the other jeep, we took a couple of pictures of this handsome beast. That's when a tourist from the other jeep started clicking photographs with the camera flash on and the blinding flashlight unsettled the Rhino.
Rhinos' do have poor eyesight. And in this scenario, the fact that the light was going down fast, made matters worse. The unsettled Rhinoceros decided to charge us; we got one set of images before the charging Rhino came pretty close. The driver then hurriedly started the jeep and took off as the Rhino was zeroing in on us. It was a close call!

Here are a few images from that thrilling encounter. Please note all images are near full frame taken with the D300 and 300mm f2.8 lens combination. The pinkish twilight zone lighting forced us to crank up the ISO to 1600 and it was a challenge to get crisp images with the shutter speed dipping to 1/25sec.

African Safari #11 - Kirk's Dik-dik

2011-11-20T22:00:00.006+05:30

The Kirk's Dik-dik is an antelope found in Eastern Africa. We saw them mostly in Western Serengeti and were told that they are not only shy, but also very small in size, making it easy to overlook them in the bushes.

Whenever we spotted them, they used to run away before the vehicle reached anywhere near them. Given their small size, we had to get real close for good images, which was obviously challenging.
However, we did manage to have one of the best sightings of the Kirk's Dik-dik while we were in Western Serengeti. One evening, when we spotted the Dik-dik at a distance, we approached it very slowly. Surprisingly, it allowed us close enough, so that we got a couple of images and then it walked behind the bushes. To our pleasant surprise, we realized that there were two of them, a courting couple and in the ensuing minutes we got some lovely compositions of both of them in the same frame.

Yala Safari #2 - The Yala Leopardess & her cubs - first edition

2011-11-13T22:00:00.018+05:30

After a six hour drive from Colombo, we reached the Yala National Park and without wasting any time, hopped onto a waiting Toyota Landcruiser to begin our maiden safari into the park. In less than 10 minutes into the safari, we came upon a bunch of vehicles jostling for position to get a glimpse of a well camouflaged Leopard that was sleeping on a termite hill tucked into the bushes. Little did we know that this was the precursor to a series of Leopard sightings, that would culminate in our last sighting, which we have captured in our post - Top of the food chain walk.

We let the jostling jeeps be and proceeded further into the park. That's when we spotted a massive Leopard sitting on the river bed scanning the horizon. Given the huge distance from the road and the river bed, we managed only a few record shots before he got up and disappeared into the bushes. We moved on further into Yala and reached a rocky mountain terrain. Lady luck continued to smile on us and we had our third sighting - a handsome sub adult Leopard relaxing by the waterhole! But that was not the end. It just got better. As it got up and walked away from our line of sight, we turned to the other side of the road and spotted another Leopard on the rock face!

At closer observation we noticed that this Leopard cub was fine tuning its stalking skills with an invisible prey. With the sun streaming behind the Leopard and straight into the camera lens, we had an amazing show of light and shadow. The situation presented itself for a partial silhouette photo opportunity and we generously clicked away as the sun faded.

Wild Places - Indian Wilderness Part 2

2011-11-06T22:00:00.003+05:30

Like we mentioned in Wild places - Indian Wilderness Part - 1, India is a country with lots of wild places, which are abundant in diverse flora and fauna. Though there are so many places we are yet to travel to, we are blessed to have been able to visit some of them till now.

Kabini is just 220 odd kms from Bangalore and it is one of the most popular wildlife sanctuaries in India. The tranquil backwaters of the River Kabini makes it a breathtaking locale. And during the months of March, April and May, this beautiful place plays host to the largest congregation of Asiatic Elephants in the world.BR Hills is a lesser known wildlife sanctuary, which is fast becoming popular amongst the wildlife tourists in Southern India. The place is a unique blend of a wildlife sanctuary and hill station where one can get to see the forest in its full glory. Though the forest has its own share of Tigers, Leopards and other wildlife, it is one of the best locations in Southern India to photograph the Sambar and Barking Deer. We have cherished memories of the Tadoba wildlife sanctuary, which boasts of a high density of Tigers and Sloth Bears. Our best Tiger sightings have been in this sanctuary. And one of our most memorable experiences with the magnificent beast was in this sanctuary, when during our last visit there, a Tiger literally jumped across our jeep, taking all of us by surprise! Kaziranga is perhaps the best wildlife sanctuary in Asia to see the One Horned Rhino. Thanks to the conservation efforts that are underway, the population of this endangered species is on the rise in this part of the world.The open grasslands of Hesserghatta lake, near Bangalore is indeed the best place to photograph the Common Kestrel. Sometimes these birds are are so engrossed in their search for prey, they allow you to get really close, which helps in photographing full frame compositions of this beautiful bird.

Birding in India - Cooling off with a Slaty Blue Flycatcher

2011-10-30T22:00:00.005+05:30

In one of our earlier posts on Corbett, we had talked about Camp Forktail Creek, a minimal impact resort tucked away in the periphery of the Corbett Wildlife Sanctuary. The camp is an excellent place to stay and observe birds right from the comfort of your verandah.

We were having breakfast at the 'Thatch' when a Slaty Blue Flycatcher flew in and settled at the waterhole close to it and decided to have a quick dip. I grabbed my camera, using the wall for support and quickly managed to capture the entire bathing sequence. This handsome fellow was not very happy with me intruding his privacy, which is seen from the expressions he gave me!

African Safari #10 - First meeting with African Elephants

2011-10-23T22:00:00.005+05:30

Elephants have always amazed us and we have many memorable encounters with them. As we write this post, some moments that flash through our memories of Indian Elephants are those of being mock charged, road blocked by them and that of they getting very close to us.

We were pretty excited to see African Elephants in the wild and our first sighting of them was simply incredible. These massive gentle giants were feeding by the roadside and we parked at a comfortable distance and watched them feeding. We clicked a few pictures and continued observing them. These Elephants were so engrossed in their feeding that knowingly or unknowingly they were slowly drifting closer and closer to our Jeep, till at one point they were so close that we got full frame images of just their heads. We had always thought that they would be larger in size than the Indian Elephants, but we realized that they are not. They are very similar to the Indian Elephants, except for some distinct features like the shape of their ears.

Yala Safari #1 - Witness to a 'Top of the food chain' walk

2011-10-16T22:00:00.008+05:30

Given the fact that Sri Lanka is a short flight away from Bangalore, a visit to Yala has been on the cards since we took up wildlife photography as a hobby. However, it was only recently that we travelled to Sri Lanka and visited the Yala Wildlife Sanctuary, which is considered to have, probably the highest density of Leopards in the world.

We stayed at Leopard Safaris camp, which is located on the bank of a river in the heart of the Yala Wildlife Sanctuary. Noel (owner of Leopard safaris, who is now a good friend) and his team put a smile on your face with their impeccable hospitality, their ultra neat tents and amazing food! The queen size bed with fresh linen in the tent is irresistible after the long game rides into the wilderness and a sumptuous dinner. We would strongly recommend Leopard Safaris to anyone wanting a true wilderness experience in luxury.

With a spectacular spotting of 8-9 different individual Leopards over 15+ sightings and across 3 days, Yala proved beyond doubt that it indeed has the highest density of Leopards anywhere in the world.

Leopards in India are shy and elusive predators and when spotted on the forest floor, they normally either vanish into the Lantana or quickly climb a nearby tree. This may be because they are not on top of the food chain in the Indian wilderness, as that privilege goes to the Tiger. However, in Yala, as the Leopard is on top of the food chain, their behavior is different and when spotted on the ground, are relatively more bold.

We were fortunate to observe this incredible behavior first hand, when on a morning safari into Yala we spotted a large Leopardess walking right in the middle of road towards our safari vehicle. Noel was driving and given the fact that he is a veteran of many such sightings and an expert in his field, he calmly parked the vehicle by the side of the road at a comfortable distance from the Leopard and switched off the engine. Thanks to this skillful maneuver, the Leopard continued its majestic 'Top of the food chain' walk till it came to about 15-20 feet from us. It then went to the side of the road and leisurely scent marked the bushes and then calmly crossed the road in front of the vehicle and walked along a commonly used trail into the wilderness.

Birding in India - A drinks break with an Oriental Honey Buzzard

2011-10-09T22:00:00.003+05:30

We have experienced time and time again that the best wildlife moments are when the subject is engrossed in action. Wildlife action can be anything from the subject being in middle of a hunt, courtship, mating, feeding or it could be as simple as quenching its thirst as is the case in this post.

When we sighted this Oriental Honey Buzzard (OHB) on the ground near a waterhole, we instinctively knew that it is either in the middle of a hunt or going for drink and you will notice from the series of images that it was the latter. Another interesting aspect that we wanted to highlight was that how well this juvenile OHB is camouflaged, whether it is on the forest floor or in the trees.

Birding in India - Dancing Darter

2011-10-02T22:00:00.005+05:30

We always make it a point to switch off the vehicle engine and spend some time at the check dam in the Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary, scanning the landscape for wildlife.

The Cormorants and Darters are a common sight on the water front. This time, as we waited near the dam, we saw a lone Darter perched motionless on a dead tree stump not far from the water's edge. We clicked a few portrait images of the motionless bird. As I was looking at the Darter through the view finder, I saw that it had spotted something in the water and was tracing the prey's path using its flexible neck.

We thought we would see the Darter catch fish. However, it withdrew the hunt at the last instance and returned to it's normal stance. Our guess is that the prey, most probably a fish, spotted the bird and changed course at the last minute away from the Darter's reach, making it give up it's hunt.

However, the whole act looked as though the Darter was dancing on the stump and hence the title.

African Safari #9 - Africa's smallest carnivore - Dwarf Mongoose

2011-09-25T22:00:00.006+05:30

The Dwarf Mongoose is considered to be Africa's smallest carnivore and also the smallest in the region. We sighted many of this species throughout our African Safari, however, they used to disappear into the bushes at the sight of the Jeep. On the other hand, we found the D'Arnaud's Barbet to be a more adventurous species that we could easily get close to. Little did we know that these two species would come together to give us an exciting wildlife experience in the African bushes.

We were driving through the Western Serengeti range when we sighted a pair of D'Arnaud's Barbets vigorously calling out and we realised that they seemed pretty upset with something. As we stopped to take a couple of pictures, we saw a Dwarf Mongoose emerge from a nearby bush. The moment the Dwarf Mongoose emerged, the Barbets launched an attack on it and took turns to chase the it away. However, this time the Mongoose stood its ground inspite of the Jeep being so close to it.

At first glance we didn't understand this strange behavior of both these species. However, a little later when we saw something dripping from the Mongoose's mouth we pieced together the whole story. The Dwarf Mongoose seemed to have raided the D'Arnaud's Barbet's nest and eaten its eggs and the Barbets were making valiant efforts to try and chase it away. Here are a few images from that gripping duel.

Birding in India - Red-wattled Lapwing protecting its young

2011-09-18T22:00:00.004+05:30

The Red-wattled Lapwing is a widespread resident in Peninsular India. They are present in a wide range of habitat ranging from open grasslands adjoining the cities to the dense habitat of the Indian wilderness.

They exhibit a unique behavior of being hyper wary of human presence and almost always raise an alarm when a jeep approaches too close. Their wariness reaches dizzy heights when they have chicks to protect. Red-wattled Lapwings lay their eggs in shallow open nests on the forest floor. However, spotting a nest is literally impossible, given the extent of camouflage. And the same is the case with the hatchlings; it is impossible to spot a Red-wattled Lapwing chick until they move.

On one of our recent safaris in the Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary, we noticed a Red-wattled Lapwing close to the Jeep tracks and we stopped to photograph it. By the time the driver had stopped the Jeep, we had overshot the Red-wattled Lapwing and we had to change our position to get a clear view of the bird.

As we were photographing, the bird started calling out and that's when we noticed 2-3 chicks feeding close to the jeep. The chicks continued their feeding unmindful of the Jeep, which was close by. However, the mother started calling out again, this time in a different tone and immediately the chicks got wary and stood motionless for a while before moving away from the Jeep. The mother kept calling them and one by one the chicks went to her. Finally, when all of them reached the mother, she ruffled her feathers and it was amazing to watch the chicks literally hide inside her plumage. And the only way to tell that they were there, was by counting the number of legs.

Jackals feasting on a Chital Carcass

2011-09-11T22:00:00.008+05:30

We got to see many Golden Jackals during our visit to the Pench Wildlife Sanctuary. But the best sighting was the one where we we were able to witness wild Jackal behavior at a Chital carcass. The Chital had been killed and half eaten by a Tiger a couple of days back. And the remaining carcass had attracted scavengers like the vultures and Jackals.

When we reached the Chital carcass we saw a couple of vultures watching a single Jackal feasting on it. However, the entire scenario changed the moment a second Jackal reached the carcass site.
When the second Jackal invited itself to the feast, the confrontation began. What was unique about this confrontation was that it was a no contact tussle. The Jackals primarily resorted to staring, posturing and baring of teeth. After a few minutes of confrontation, that we felt was evenly matched, both of them got down to sharing the carcass amongst them.

Birding in India - A courting pair of Grey-headed Fish Eagle

2011-09-04T22:00:00.004+05:30

Wildlife photography is a challenging hobby given the many constraints of government regulations, habitat density, chance sightings and finally the wild animal or bird itself, which does not necessarily pose for you. However, it is these constraints that actually make it an exciting hobby, given the need to be in the right place at the right time and with a cooperative wildlife subject, to get your best shots.
Talking about cooperative wildlife subjects; there are times when they are very bold and literally don't care about our presence and provide many photography opportunities. The courting season is one such crucial time when the wildlife subjects are most cooperative for photography. And, when the subject is an endangered species, it makes the opportunity all the more important.

We sighted a Grey-headed Fish Eagle perched on a a tree on the banks of the Brahmaputra river in the Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary. Though normally a shy subject, this time it did not seem to fly away, but instead kept calling as we got closer.It was only when another Grey-headed Fish Eagle reciprocated the call, did we spot it on a higher branch on the same tree. It became clear that this was a courting pair, which were fishing together. We have never seen a Grey-headed Fish Eagle this close, leave alone two in the same frame.After about five minutes, one of the birds decided to take flight and took off in a jiffy. We were sure that it's mate would soon follow suit and we kept our camera trained on it and were rewarded with some cool flight shots.

African Safari #8 - Siesta time with African Lions

2011-08-28T22:00:00.012+05:30

During our visit to Serengeti, our first sighting of the African Lions was an experience that tested our patience.

We chanced upon a pride of Lions on a hot afternoon in Serengeti. And, we saw, that true to their reputation they were enjoying their siesta time. There were about 10 Lioness and cubs scattered around and sleeping in the tall grass. Many tourist jeeps came, stood for a few minutes and left. However, we patiently waited for over an hour, braving the hot afternoon sun.

Our patience was well rewarded with some cool antics by this cute Lion cub that had chosen the trunk of a Sausage tree to sleep during the hot afternoon. The Lion cub was sleeping when we first saw it. But after a while it woke up because of the disturbance created by the noisy birds perched higher up on the tree. At the same time, we realised that the commotion of the passing jeeps had disturbed one of the Lioness, who got up, gave us a stare and went back to sleep.

Finally, it was only during the last 15 minutes of the sighting that we got some lovely shots of the Lion cub who had woken up and was engrossed in finding a way to climb down the tree. We got some reasonably good pictures of the action in spite of the trying lighting conditions.

A morning with a pack of Dholes

2011-08-21T22:00:00.002+05:30

When it comes to wildlife photography, it surely pays to be patient. During one of our morning safaris in the Kabini Wildlife Sanctuary, we sighted a pack of Dholes relaxing by the jeep tracks. Predator sightings are the primary tourist attraction in the Indian forests and it was just a matter of minutes before there were 4-5 jeeps at the location to get a glimpse of the Dholes.

These Dholes were very relaxed and they continued lazing around paying little attention to the jeeps and its tourist passengers (as seen in the second image). With no action happening, one by one, all the tourists got disinterested and left the location in search of more active game, except for us. We decided to wait and watch, just in case these social predators decided to get busy.

We didn't have to wait too long. Within just 30 minutes the pack decided it was time for some socializing and we were treated to some amazing wildlife action. After a few minutes of having fun, the disciplined pack disbursed in an orderly fashion as seen in the last image.

Birding in India - Portfolio of a Juvenile Changeble Hawk Eagle

2011-08-14T22:00:00.013+05:30

The Changeable Hawk Eagle is one of the widespread raptors found in the Indian wilderness. We have been quite fortunate to photograph this bird of prey while it was in the middle of a hunt.
During one of our safaris into the Kabini Wildlife Sanctuary, we noticed this juvenile Changeable Hawk Eagle perched high on one of the branches of a dead tree. We decided to take a couple of photographs. Just then we saw a forest crow appear out of nowhere and start harassing this Changeable Hawk Eagle. The Eagle was so engrossed with the distraction that it gave us the opportunity to do a complete portfolio of this magnificent raptor.

Swimming with an Elephant in Kabini backwaters

2011-08-07T22:30:00.002+05:30

We have written many posts about the Asiatic Elephants and most of them have been on our experience with charging Elephants. Animal behavior is always very interesting to observe and one of our recent posts on Elephant behavior became very popular amongst our readers. That motivated us to share with all of you yet another post on Elephant behavior.

Whenever we visit the Kabini Wildlife Sanctuary, we always make it a point to spend some time at the beautiful Kabini backwaters. During summers, the vast span of water body becomes home to the largest congregation of Asiatic Elephants anywhere in the world. And tourists from almost all over the world flock to Kabini to see this wildlife spectacle.

One such evening when we were at the Kabini backwaters we saw a herd of Elephants feeding at the water's edge. As we watched, one of the Elephant slowly moved into the backwaters and started grazing at a distance. After a while we saw a young calf who was grazing with the other Elephants, tentatively splash into the water in an attempt to swim towards the Elephant, which was grazing at a distance. We realized later that this Elephant was the mother of the calf who was about six months to a year old.

As the calf attempted to swim towards its mother, the depth of the water increased and the little calf was struggling to keep himself from getting submerged. That is when we saw one of the female Elephants break away from the herd and gently nudge and help the calf swim towards its mother. We captured this spectacle in a series of images. We feel the first image, which also happens to be one of our favorites, captures the sheer joy of the calf on being united again with its mother.

African Safari #7 - Birding in Africa - Helmeted Guineafowl

2011-07-31T22:00:00.009+05:30

Helmeted Guineafowls are a widespread resident of the African bush. Our experience with these Guineafowls, whom we found to be both noisy and surprisingly shy, was pretty frustrating. We sighted them in small flocks almost everywhere along the jeep tracks in the Serengeti National Park. However, as soon as the jeep got close to them, they would scramble away to a distance just outside the reach of the camera only to reassemble again.
We tried to photograph them in Northern and Central Seregenti, but had no luck. We had almost given up on them, when during a morning jeep safari into Western Serengenti, our luck took a dramatic turn. We were driving along the jeep track and noticed a flock of wild Guineafowls a little ahead of us. As usual they disbursed when the vehicle got close to them. However, there was one friendly Guineafowl who decided to check us out. Rather than moving away, it quickly hopped on to a dry shrub, which bought it almost at eye-level to us. We cautiously approached it, clicking images. The Guineafowl did not budge from where it was and we finally got close enough to photograph full frame images of this bird.

The Tiger that refused to look back

2011-07-24T22:00:00.012+05:30

One of the popular reasons for a tourist to visit the Indian wilderness is in the hope of sighting the critically endangered Tiger. The most frequent conversation starter amongst tourists who visit an Indian Wildlife Sanctuary is - "Have you seen a Tiger before ?", and we have been asked that question many a times. This time round too it was no different when we were on a Jeep Safari into the Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary. One of the tourist's who was with us in the same vehicle posed the question to us and our conversation started.

Little did we know that this would be a one of a kind Tiger sighting. We were into the last 30 minutes of the Safari and were approaching an intersection of roads in the forest. When we reached the intersection, we spotted a Tiger scent marking a tree by the side of the road. The Tiger seemed absolutely unfazed by our presence. It finished marking its territory and turned around and started walking lazily along the Jeep tracks.

We followed it with caution, clicking a few pictures now and then, pretty confident that at some point the Tiger would stop in its tracks and turn around and look at us before disappearing into the thick Lantena. However, little did we know that we had come across a Tiger that would actually never look back at us.

All along during its stroll, as you would have seen in the photographs below, this Tiger had one ear fixed on our Jeep. But it just continued walking, finished marking another tree before proceeding into the Lantana, without giving us even a glance! We were left feeling disappointed that this magnificent animal did not give us a stare that we were waiting for - a Tiger behavior that we will never forget in the times to come.

Birding in India - Hoopoe taking a mud bath

2011-07-17T22:00:00.004+05:30

It had been a while since we sighted a Hoopoe and photographed the beautiful golden-coloured, crested bird. Hoopoes are normally found on the forest floor, either close to or right on the Jeep tracks itself. However, they tend to fly away when the vehicles get too close.
During one of our safaris into the Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary, we spotted a Hoopoe on the Jeep tracks and decided to get close to it. So we switched off the Jeep engine and waited. We believe that letting the subject, especially a bird, come close to the Jeep on its own will most of the times result in frame filling compositions. And this time too, we were rewarded for our patience.
To our luck, this Hoopoe turned out to a friendly one. It came close to the Jeep and plonked itself right in the middle of the track. Looking at the way the bird was sitting on the track, we wondered whether it was injured or not. We got our answer in a few moments when the Hoopoe decided to take a Mud bath! This was the first time we saw this behaviour of the bird and we were quite amused to see the Hoopoe really enjoying itself while taking the mud bath.

Indian Moon Moth - Too drenched to fly

2011-07-10T22:00:00.004+05:30

Though most of the wildlife sanctuaries in India are closed during the monsoons, a few popular sanctuaries like Bandipur & Tadoba are open all year round. It is said that wildlife sightings are far and few during the monsoon season. However, we have always had our best wildlife experiences during the monsoons. We started our blog 'Walk the Wilderness' after one such wildlife experience and we haven't looked back since then! Other memorable experiences during the monsoon include our best sighting of the Tiger in the Tadoba Wildlife Sanctuary and the sighting of a huge Tiger during one of our trips to Bandipur.

This post is about a sighting of a different kind though. One evening just as we were stepping out of our cottage at Tusker Trails to go for dinner, we saw another guest photographing something under the lights. On closer inspection we noticed that he was photographing a beautiful, big Moth that he mentioned to be an Atlas Moth. It was indeed one of the biggest Moth we had ever seen and we clicked a few record shots.

Later when we checked the images we realized that the built-in flash did not help the quality of the images and we just hoped that we would get to see the Moth again. We were lucky as the very next day we found the same Moth perched on a tree in broad daylight. The reason this Moth, which is known to be active only during the night, was still there was because it was too drenched to fly, a result of the heavy downpour the previous night. This gave us an opportunity to photograph some frame filling compositions of this beautiful Moth. And only later we realized that it wasn't the Atlas Moth, but the beautiful Indian Moon Moth also known as the Indian Luna Moth.

African Safari #6 - Serval cat

2011-07-03T22:00:00.006+05:30

Our maiden trip to Tanzania late last year turned out to be a photography bonanza and we share the experiences of our African safari in a post every month.

As we spent a whole day in the Ngorongoro crater, we realised why the crater is known for its concentration of wildlife. Throughout the day we kept moving from one location to another spotting wild animals from Lions to Elephants to the Black Rhino, the Serval and many more. In this post, we want to share the experience we had while photographing the feline beauty - the Serval.Our first sighting of the Serval was in the Ngorongoro Crater while it was in the middle of a hunt. The cat was very focused on the hunt and was constantly on the move. Whenever it paused to stalk, it was always looking away with its back to us. We were hoping that at some point it would stop its search for prey and look at us. But that was not to be and we had to be satisfied with the Serval in habitat images that we photographed.

However, our luck changed for the better later in the afternoon when we spotted another Serval right next to the tracks. This cat was trying to sit-out the hot African afternoon sun there in the open and in doing so gave us the opportunity to take some frame filling compositions.

A evening with a Sambar family in Tadoba

2011-06-26T22:00:00.012+05:30

The Sambar deer is one among the "threatened list of species" of deer found in India. They are camera shy and dart into the lantena at the sight of a Jeep. However, one evening, we had a pleasantly surprising experience during our safari in the Tadoba Wildlife Sanctuary.

After driving through the forest for a while, we parked our Jeep near a stream and decided to take a break and wait. Just a few minutes later, a Sambar herd came down to have a drink. This was nothing unusual, just that the herd gave us a good glimpse of herd dynamics and behavior.

First, we saw a sub-adult male cross antlers with the dominant stag. However, he soon realized that he had bitten off more than he could chew and backed off. Thereafter in a show of strength we saw the dominant stag walk right to the middle of the stream to have his drink and later perch himself at the stream's edge keeping an eye on the herd. Meanwhile, the fawns in the herd had their share of water and playtime in the stream while their mother kept a constant vigil over them. While we are not happy with the quality of wildlife photography because of the low light and backlit conditions, we found the wildlife experience quite interesting.

Star amongst Tortoises - Indian Star Tortoise

2011-06-19T22:00:00.005+05:30

The Indian Star Tortoise is considered to be one of the most beautiful Tortoises in the world. The distinguishing radiating pattern on their carapaces make them the most sought after amongst Tortoise enthusiasts. Our first sighting of this beautiful species happened while we were at the Leopard's Lair resort in Bera, Rajasthan. We were relaxing after lunch with some friends at the resort when we saw this beautiful subject slowly walking along the pathway to the cottages in the resort.

Not wanting to let go of the opportunity, we decided to take some pictures. However, as soon as we got close to it, the Tortoise retracted its head and limbs into its shell and laid motionless for almost 10 minutes. After a while, it slowly gave us a peek, but soon again retracted back into its shell. This hide and seek continued for a while. And then we understood that it was spotting us by sight and the only way that we would be able to photograph it would be to be out of its range of vision. So we hid behind some bushes for about 5 minutes and soon enough we saw the Tortoise come out of its carapace and resume its journey to the pond, which was right at the other end of this pathway.

Photographing this Star Tortoise was an experience worth sharing. Normally images taken from eye level of the subject make for interesting composition and in this case we had to go to ground level to get that perspective. At the same time we had to stay hidden while photographing in order to avoid this fella from retracting into his carapace.

Lying on the ground, hidden and crawling to get eye level compositions made this photography session a real challenge. We were happy that we came off with some full frame compositions like these.

Birding in India - Common Hawk-Cuckoo

2011-06-12T22:00:00.011+05:30

The Common Hawk-cuckoo popularly known as the brain-fever bird for its high pitched call is a species of Cuckoo that look so similar to the Shikra that they are often mistaken for the same.

Invariably one will first hear this bird before spotting on, thanks to its brain-fever call which is by far the loudest call in the Indian wilderness.

One of our first and close sightings of the Tiger was just after we sighted this bird and that cherished memory gets replayed every time we see this bird. Here are a few images of this species.

African Safari #5 - Captivating Sunrise in African paradise - Ngorongoro

2011-06-05T22:00:00.006+05:30

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) was declared a world heritage site in 1978. At the heart of the NCA is the Ngorongoro crater known for its stunning landscape and incredible concentration of wildlife making it one of the greatest natural wonders on the planet.

Watching the sun rise over the rim of the Ngorongoro crater was an ecstatic moment for us. And the enchanting memory remains etched in our minds for the rest of our life.

To watch this sunrise, we reached the rim of the Ngorongoro crater at 6:30 am. At 6:34 am, nature's symphony of lights began and in the next 8 minutes we witnessed a spectacle being choreographed that no words can justly describe.

One Horned Rhino - Maternal Behavior

2011-05-29T22:00:00.001+05:30

The One horned Rhino is an endangered species of Rhinoceros found in parts of North Eastern India and in some parts of Nepal. The Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam, India is one of the popular places to see this huge mammal.

A mother Rhinoceros is very protective about her calf who stays with her for about 3-4 years. During this period, the mother keeps her calf away from other Rhinos and also tends to be very aggressive. The new born calf is also vulnerable to predation by Tigers.

During the daytime, the female keeps the calf in the swampy grasslands away from the sight of humans as seen in the second image. It is only during the twilight zone that you get a glimpse of the calves as seen in the other images.

Wildlife Action - Indian Gaur

2011-05-22T22:00:00.012+05:30

The endangered Indian Gaur are massive mammal species, next only to the Asiatic Elephants in size. They are very shy and mostly maintain a comfortable distance from the Safari Jeep. They are normally seen in large herds grazing at a distance as seen in the first image. However, occasionally you may come across a friendly one enabling you to take portrait shots as seen in the second image.One morning safari with a Gaur herd turned out to be very different. It all started when we sighted a herd close to the Jeep tracks. They moved away as soon as they saw the approaching Jeep. We passed them and kept going when we suddenly heard a snorting noise. The Gaurs make this sound when they feel threatened. We immediately stopped the Jeep since this kind of Gaur behavior is seen only when they have spotted or caught the scent of a predator. The most common predator that is strong enough to attack the Indian Gaur is the "Tiger".

As we waited, a huge female Gaur came charging from the lantana and moments later a calf followed at maddening speed. Both of them bolted in different directions and after a while the female came back looking for the calf and got very close to the Jeep. We thought the calf had fallen prey to the stalking predator; however after a while we saw it emerge again from the lantana and rejoin the Gaur herd. The visibly shaken herd then gathered right on the Jeep tracks and shielded the young calf.The action lasted for sometime, however the predator, read Tiger, never showed itself. After about 15-20 minutes, the tension eased off and the Gaur herd regained their composure and walked off into the Bandipur wilderness.

The Endangered Pack Hunters - Dhole (Indian Wild Dog)

2011-05-15T22:00:00.005+05:30

The most successful predator of the Indian Wilderness is the highly social 'Dhole' - the Indian Wild Dog. Their characteristic behavior of hunting in a pack is the secret behind their successful hunts and their ability to bring down large prey. Quite remarkable is the fact that this predator is known to put up a fight against the Tiger, if cornered.

We are a bit biased towards them as some of our most thrilling wildlife experiences have been with this "endangered species" of pack hunters. Though fearful of humans, they do get very close to the Jeep during safaris' making wonderful close up subjects. In fact, our very first post on "Walk the Wilderness" was this cherished wildlife moment with these pack hunters.

African Safari #4 - Birding in Africa - Grey Crowned Cranes

2011-05-08T22:00:00.009+05:30

We started our journey of Wild Tanzania with some stunning landscapes that left us breathless. Then we were lucky to have witnessed the memorable Leopard kill and also to have spent a morning with a pride of Lions. And this is just the beginning as Serengeti - the cradle of life has so much more to offer.

In this post, we feature the absolutely beautiful Grey Crowned Cranes, a threatened species of East Africa. The Cranes are known for their characteristic crown of golden feathers and synchronous dancing displays, which is such a delight to watch! Yet another unique behavior is that they are one of the few crane species to roost on trees.

Intimate prespectives of the gentle giant - The Asiatic Elephants

2011-05-01T22:00:00.002+05:30

The endangered Asiatic Elephants make amazing photography subjects. Over the years we have photographed them in their various moods. There were times when we have caught them 'mock charging' us, and others while they were frolicking in the water. Once we got them together posing for us as one big family while yet another time we photographed these gentle giants in full frame with a wide angle lens, when they were just about at our arm's length. Then we have captured the Tuskers, common name for the male 'Asiatic Elephants'; their long tusks posing by themselves as majestic subjects. There was one memorable incident where we had a massive Tusker block our Jeep on the forest tracks and another sighting where yet another one was oblivious to us, busy plucking and feeding at a tamarind tree.

In this post, we wanted to highlight some intimate perspectives of these gentle giants. The first image captures the 'watering eyes' of the Elephant that got very close for a 600mm focal length. The second image caught a calf in a cagey moment fishing for water! The third photograph captures the show of strength of a 'Makhana' (Tuskless male Elephant). While the fourth one captures a bunch of juveniles in a playful moment in a waterhole. And finally, the last image captures a glimpse of an intimate wildlife moment of a suckling calf, which left us awestruck.

The Princes of Bera

2011-04-24T22:00:00.001+05:30

The daily sighting of the Leopardess of Bera during our stay at Leopard's Lair was no doubt the highlight of our trip to Bera. However, the most cherished moment of our trip was the sighting of her two cubs. In one of our earlier posts, we had talked about the sudden disappearance of the Leopardess when a male Leopard had wandered nearby. We realised that the primary reason for her to do so were her cubs.

Our first glimpse of the Leopard cubs was when we sighted them high up in the hillock on the same evening we saw the huge male Leopard. On the last morning of our stay, the cubs ventured a little lower in the hillock and we got an opportunity to observe their behavior.

The early morning fuzzy light and the distance between us and the cubs made photography pretty challenging. Nevertheless, the show that the "Princes of Bera" put up for us was mesmerizing. Here are a few record shots of that wildlife experience.

Birding in India - Doves & Pigeons

2011-04-17T22:00:00.001+05:30

During our last trip to Corbett we were able to photograph adequate species of Doves and Pigeons to finally be able to do this long overdue post on these winged beauties.
Emerald Dove is one of the most beautiful Doves found in India. They are a widespread resident, however, given their shy nature they make challenging photography subjects.These Eurasian Collared Doves are another widespread species found in India. You can normally find them in the open dry country.The Spotted Doves are the most common found in the Indian wilderness. You can find them feeding on the Safari tracks in every forest in India.The odd man out in this series is this Yellow-footed Green Pigeon, which we photographed in the eastern ranges of the Kaziranga wildlife sanctuary in North-Eastern India.We photographed this beautiful Laughing Dove in Bera when we were waiting to get a glimpse of the Leopard cubs.

African Safari #3 - Serengeti - A morning with a pride of Lions

2011-04-10T22:00:00.020+05:30

The Kirawira Tented Camp is a luxurious haven in the paradise of life - Serengeti. We stayed at the campsite for a couple of nights during our maiden trip to Tanzania, Africa and revelled in its classic "Out of Africa" safari camp luxury.

Tourists staying at the campsite told us that late Dec was not exactly the best time for wildlife sightings in the Western part since the migrating Wildebeests have already reached the Ndutu plains in Southern Seregenti. However, we did not lose heart and were out on our Jeep safaris every morning and evening. And the time we spent in the wilderness was suitably rewarded, when we had this chance sighting of a beautiful pride of Lions.

Here are a series of images from that mesmerizing, misty morning safari with the Lions.

Wildlife Portrait - Stripe-necked Mongoose

2011-04-03T22:00:00.013+05:30

The Stripe-necked Mongoose is a common resident of the Indian Wilderness. Having observed them several times in the past, we knew that if you found one near Elephant dung, it pays to be patient as you are sure to be rewarded with some stunning portraits.

Here's a portrait series based on recent sightings of this camera-friendly Mongoose. All images have been taken with our trusted D300, 300mm f2.8 lens mounted with the 2xTC.

Wild Places - Indian Wilderness - Part 1

2011-03-27T22:00:00.011+05:30

We were flipping through our archives casually when we realized that we have many images of jungle landscapes that we haven't posted at all. And that is how the idea to do a series on Wild Places was born.

Going forward, through this series we want to bring you glimpses of some wild places that we have visited. Please do reach out to us in case you want any further details on any of these locations.

The Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary, which is rich in flora and fauna provides some stunning sunset views, thanks to the fact that the jungle lodges resort is located right on the backwater banks. This image was photographed from the comfort of the log hut where we had stayed.The Corbett Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the oldest Wildlife Sanctuaries in India and it extends for over 500 sq kms at the foothills of the Himalayas.Here's a misty morning in the Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary, one of the best places to see a Tiger in South India.Bera is a small hamlet about 150 kms from Udaipur, Rajasthan. The harsh hilly terrain of the region, which is home to Leopards also makes for wonderful landscape photography.Salim Ali Bird sanctuary in Thattekad, Kerala, is one of the best birding locations in the Indian Peninsula having over 250 species of birds. This image was taken from a tunnel that we stumbled upon during one of our morning treks.

Birding in India - Streak throated Woodpecker

2011-03-20T22:00:00.004+05:30

The Streak-throated Woodpecker is a wide spread resident of the Indian Wilderness. They are not very shy and hence we find them to be very photographer friendly. We have seen these Woodpeckers not just in the forests of Peninsular India but also in tea and coffee plantations along the Western Ghats.

They are medium-sized with a streaked throat and scaly whitish under parts. You might want to check out the earlier post that we did on a variety of Woodpeckers found in the Indian forests

Here is a collection of images from our various sightings and some of these are near full frame compositions.

African Safari #2 - Serengeti - A wildlife moment to remember for a lifetime

2011-03-13T22:00:00.004+05:30

The opportunity to see a wild cat in the wilderness is one of the main attractions that make tourists flock to the wildlife locations worldwide and the Serengeti National Park is no exception to this rule. On our maiden Jeep Safari into the Serengeti National Park, our guide got a tip off that a Leopard was sighted on a tree very close to the game tracks. We rushed to the location and we saw this beautiful Leopard perched on a tree right next to the game track. This image, taken at 600mm and slightly cropped for composition gives you an idea of how close the Leopard was to the Jeep.While driving to the location, our guide was telling us that sighting a Leopard in Serengeti was rare. We realized the magnitude of the rarity when we saw over 50 vehicles crowding to see this beautiful animal perched on the lone tree, as seen in the image below.After we got our initial record shots, we parked our jeep further down the game track to give other tourists an opportunity to see this Leopard. We were convinced we would get better photo opportunities once the crowds eased out.

As we were observing the Leopard from a distance, it suddenly got up and looked in the general direction of a lone Wildebeest, which was grazing at about a kilometer from the tree. The Wildebeest was a fully grown adult and we were told by our guide that Leopards rarely go after such big prey. However, what happened in the next few minutes turned out to be our best wildlife moment to this day. The Leopard quietly got off the tree, calmly walked past the vehicles and took a perch once again on a termite mound. I guessed it was thinking about taking down the Wildebeest. And once the decision was taken to go for the kill, it skillfully used the tall grass to stalk the prey till it reached about 30 meters or so, and then attacked the Wildebeest and brought it down.
The stalking skills of this animal are so perfect that the Wildebeest never saw it coming even when the Leopard began the final sprint to reach it. The awesome strength of the Leopard, which it used to bring down the huge Wildebeest in just a matter of minutes was on display here.

After killing the Wildebeest and resting for a few minutes to gather its strength, the Leopard tried to drag the kill to the very tree from where it had launched the attack. However, that is when it realized that the Wildebeest was too big to be dragged back to the tree and the hot afternoon did not make things easier. The final twist to this amazing spectacle was when the Leopard decided to abandon the kill and return to the tree. These couple of images indicate that the wasted effort was something that the Leopard was not happy about.

Wildlife Moments - Sparring Partners

2011-03-06T22:00:00.004+05:30

The Chital or more commonly known as Spotted Deer are the most widespread of all Deer species found in the Indian Wilderness. The onset of the rutting season is an invitation to wildlife lovers to indulge in the sparring matches of the Chital stags.

Sparring matches between well matched stags at times develop into lethal bouts that are known to occasionally result in injuries or even death to one or both sparring partners.

The matches are occasions to observe spectacular nature brawls and they also present some amazing wildlife photography opportunities. Here are some images of these sparring partners and their matches.

Birding in India - Brown Fish Owl

2011-02-27T22:10:00.012+05:30

The Brown Fish Owl is a widespread resident of the Indian Wilderness and we have been fortunate to have had some amazing sighting of this large Owl.

Distinct ear tufts and heavily streaked plumage are characteristic to the Brown Fish Owl. BR Hills Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the popular destinations in Karnataka to see this species and here are some of the images from our various sightings of this beautiful Owl.

The most beautiful of Indian Squirrels - The Malabar Giant Squirrel

2011-02-20T22:00:00.001+05:30

The Indian Giant Squirrel commonly known as the Malabar Giant Squirrel is a large bodied tree squirrel endemic to the forests of Peninsular India. The beautiful plumage colors and the characteristic long tail, about 2 ft in length, make it one of the popular species of Squirrels.

It is however unfortunate that they are an endangered species classified in the "Near Threatened" category of IUCN Red list. Here are some images of what we consider the most beautiful of all Squirrels found in India.

African Safari #1 - Serengeti - The Cradle of Life

2011-02-13T22:00:00.010+05:30

Our maiden trip into East Africa took us to the wildlife paradise on earth - The Serengeti National Park in Northern Tanzania. A visit to the Serengeti National Park is a dream come true for anyone interested in wildlife and it is needless to say that we made most of this experience. Going forward we will be sharing with you some of the most memorable moments that we had during our visit there.

While the abundance of flora and fauna was something we were expecting to indulge in, what took our breath away were the stunning landscapes, gorgeous sunrise and sunsets. So let's start our journey with a post dedicated to this absolutely beautiful place! All images were taken with the D80, 12-24mm f4 lens mounted with a polarizer filter.

This image of the snow capped peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro was taken from the aircraft during our flight to Kilimanjaro. The clear skies on this particular day gave us the opportunity to observe the crater pretty well and because it was Christmas, the pilot in the spirit of the season gifted the passengers a few extra minutes by circling the crater a couple of times. You can imagine how excited we were on having been able to see the crater so clearly.The photograph of this sunrise, which was one among the many sunrises that we observed, was taken from the Serena Lodge at Lake Manyara.The overcast skies during our stay at Kirawira camp in Western Serengeti provided ample opportunities to photograph the amazing cloud patterns. The sun was playing peek-a-boo with us, but we were not complaining. We can only say that the stunning sky kept us mesmerized.We photographed yet another gorgeous sunrise at the Ikoma bush camp in Northern Serengeti just before setting off on our daily safari into the Serengeti National Park.We photographed the Olduvai Gorge, an important prehistoric site and sometimes called "the Cradle of Mankind". The gorge is situated off the road that connects Ngorongoro and Serengeti National Parks and has been instrumental in furthering the understanding of early human evolution. When you stand on top of the gorge and look at the vast land in front of you, it just boggles your mind to think how life would have evolved here. And finally, this stunning Sunrise was photographed at the Kirawira camp in Western Serengeti when we had stopped by the roadside to try and spot some wildlife.

Birding in India - Himalayan Bulbul

2011-02-06T22:00:00.008+05:30

As mentioned in our earlier post, "Birding in Corbett - Part 2 of 4", this post is dedicated to the White-Cheeked Bulbul, one of the common and most interesting bird species found in Corbett. This Bulbul commonly known as the Himalayan Bulbul is a widespread resident in the Himalayan foothills.

We saw them all over Corbett and here are a series of images of this beautiful bird with its unique front-curling crest. All images were taken with the D300, 300mm f2.8 lens mounted with the 2x TC.

The Leopard of Bera

2011-01-30T22:00:00.004+05:30

We would like to follow up our earlier post on Bera with this on one of the male Leopard's known to live around there. As mentioned in our earlier post, we were fortunate to have seen the Leopardess during every safari - both morning and evening. However, on one particular evening we didn't see the Leopardess for quite some time. We were wondering whether we would sight her at all or not. Then suddenly, we saw some movement in the hillock. We were excited thinking that we would see the Leopardess soon. But instead of her, we realised that it was a Leopard - a beautiful, big male because of whom the Leopardess was in hiding that evening. The Leopard gave us a wonderful sighting of 15-20 mins and we were able to get some good images of the Leopard in its natural rocky habitat.

All images were taken with the D300, 300mm f2.8 lens with the 2x TC and basic processing was done using Nikon Capture NX software.

Birding in India - Indian Bushlark

2011-01-23T22:00:00.001+05:30

The Indian Bushlark is a species similar to the Jerdon's Bushlark. The song flight of this little beauty during the mating season is an amazing spectacle. You see the bird flutter high above the ground and then parachute all the way to its perch on the ground, singing and holding its wings in an open "V" formation.

We spotted this little bird on one of our early morning safaris into the Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary. All images are taken with the D300, 300mm f2.8 lens mounted with the 2x TC.

The Leopardess of Bera

2011-01-16T22:00:00.003+05:30

Bera is a small hamlet about 150 kms from Udaipur . The main attraction of Bera is the Jawai Bandh - the largest dam in Western Rajasthan. The harsh hilly terrain of the region is also home to many Leopards. This wildlife experience is about one such Leopardess, which had made home in a hillock adjoining Mr. Devi Singh's farmland.

Mr. Devi Singh is the proud owner of the Leopard's Lair resort, commonly known in the region as 'Thakur Sahab's Bageecha'. We were fortunate to observe the Leopardess of Bera in all her glory every morning and evening that we stayed at Leopard's Lair.

Here are a series of images from the incredible sighting of the Leopardess of Bera. All images were taken with the D300 with the 300mm f2.8 lens mounted with the 2x Teleconvertor.

Birding in India - Lesser Whistling Duck

2011-01-09T22:00:00.007+05:30

Last year, we went on a short vacation to Goa and stayed at the Leela. Though this was not a holiday into the Indian wilderness, we were quite amazed at the variety of bird life at the hotel premises. The below image gives you a view from our room, which overlooked a pond. We were pleasantly surprised to see that a flock of Lesser Whistling Ducks had made this pond their temporary home during the day time. We had a wonderful time observing these shy bird species from the comfort of our hotel room.

The Lesser Whistling Duck is a widespread resident in Asia. They are commonly known as the Indian Whistling Duck and sometimes also referred to as the Tree Duck for their behavior of nestling in tree holes.

We spent sometime everyday during our stay there, observing the territorial display of these ducks. Given the fact that we were vacationing in Goa, we had not taken our camera gear and all these photographs were taken with the D300 mounted with the general purpose 18-200mm lens.

Walk the Wilderness with the Tiger

2011-01-02T22:00:00.005+05:30

Here's wishing all our blogger friends a Happy New Year 2011!

We want to begin the year with the highlight of our trip to the Corbett Wildlife Sanctuary - An exciting sighting of a beautiful Tigress in the Bijrani range of the Sanctuary.

We were really fortunate to have spotted this Tigress and the fact that we were the only Jeep around her ensured that she wasn't spooked, enabling us to follow and observe her for almost 45 minutes.

The fact that there are only about 1400 wild Tigers left in India makes every sighting of this critically endangered species, an incredible wildlife experience and a cherished moment for us.

The sighting started with the spotting of the Tigress at a distance of about 150 feet. She was just getting into the shade of a Sal tree to escape the severe winter noon sunlight. She laid down to rest and we felt that probably this would be a missed opportunity to observe her closely, as by nature, Tigers tend to sleep out the hot part of the day. However, to our delight, this was not to be. Instead, she decided to walk in the wilderness right in the middle of the scorching hot winter sun, giving us an opportunity to observe her in broad daylight. At a point she stopped next to a Sal tree and we realized that she was stalking a Barking Deer, which was around. But our excitement on the thought of sighting a probable hunt was short lived as we saw another Jeep coming from the other direction. Hearing the Jeep, the Tigress gave up her stalking and slipped into the thick Latana of the Corbett wilderness.

Here are a series of images from that awesome wildlife experience. All images were taken with the D300, 300mm f2.8.

Birding in Corbett - Part 4 of 4

2010-12-26T22:00:00.005+05:30

Wishing all our blogger friends Happy Holidays

We hope that through this four-part series we were able to give you a glimpse of Corbett the birding paradise. As we were leaving, we vowed that we would be back there soon as there are so many more species to be seen and photographed. In this last part we feature birds most of which were photographed at the waterhole and feeder located around the "Thatch" at the Camp Forktail Creek.

The full frame composition of the Rufous-bellied Niltava, which is a common resident there, was surely the highlight of our birding at the Camp Forktail Creek. This Crimson Sunbird was a frequent visitor at the bird feeder and the red color of the feeder paled in comparison to the brilliant red plumage of this species. The early morning sunlight gave us an opportunity to get this silhouette image of the Grey-backed Shrike. You can see more frame filling images in an earlier post here. We got the below record shot of the endangered species of the Great Hornbill in the Bijrani range of the Corbett Wildlife Sanctuary. The House Sparrow is also one of the most frequent species seen around the bird feeder at the camp. And finally, we have the Emerald Dove, which was busy drinking water from the numerous tea cups, placed strategically in the undergrowth near one of the waterholes in the Camp. This gave us an opportunity to get some decent images of this beautiful species.

Birding in Corbett - Part 3 of 4

2010-12-19T22:00:00.001+05:30

Corbett is indeed a birding paradise and in this third part of the "Birding in Corbett" series we feature some more of the beauties that we sighted there.

The first of the lot was the Crested Kingfisher, whom we chanced upon when we went on a quick evening drive to the banks of the Ramganga river, which runs through the Corbett Wildlife Sanctuary. This stunning bird, which has a distinct crest is a resident of the Himalayas and is much larger than the Pied Kingfisher in size. We caught a glimpse of it and were just within range to take a couple of images.We photograhed the below Common Kingfisher in the Bijarani range of the Corbett Wildlife Sanctuary. You can see more images of this beauty in an earlier post here.This image of the Long-billed Pipit washed in golden morning sunlight was taken along the fringes of Camp Forktail Creek.And finally, these couple of images of the Plumbeous Water Redstart were taken on the banks of the Ramganga river, where we had also sighted the Crested Kingfisher.

Birding in Corbett - Part 2 of 4

2010-12-12T22:00:00.001+05:30

Continuing with the series on Birding in Corbett; we saw this Grey Bushchat, which was busy singing, thereby giving us an opportunity to get close to it and get some reasonably good images. The Red-vented Bulbul is another bird, which was one of the frequent visitors to the bird feeder at the camp. Below are some full frame images of the bird that we got there.This image of the Siberian Stonechat was taken at the Bijrani range in the Jim Corbett National Park. You can see more images of this beauty in an earlier post here. We always wanted to get a closeup of the Red-whiskered Bulbul to show the beautiful red whiskers that it has. We managed to get that shot right at the camp when this one was having a quick bath in one of the waterhole's located there. The Scaly-bellied Munia was another species that we photographed in the tall grasses in the Bijrani range within the National Park. Another post with more images of this species can be seen here. The impressive front curling crest of the Himalayan Bulbul is something that we found quite interesting. We will surely be dedicating a full post on this species, later in the blog.

Birding in Corbett - Part 1 of 4

2010-12-05T19:01:00.013+05:30

The Jim Corbett National Park is situated at the foothills of the Himalayas in the state of Uttarakhand, India. Apart from the Tiger, the Asiatic Elephant and the fish-eating Crocodile species named Gharial, Corbett is home to over 600 bird species. In this four-part series, we plan to give you a glimpse of this birding paradise.

During this first trip to the Jim Corbett National Park, we stayed at Camp Forktail Creek - a wonderful place set up by Ritish and Minakshi, the hosts, who have taken great care to ensure it blends beautifully with nature. Most of the camp is made from locally available material and the fact that there is no electricity just adds to the entire eco-friendly experience. It comes as no surprise that they are the winner of 'The John Wakefield Most Inspirational Eco Lodge of the year 2010' instituted by TOFT Wildlife Tourism Awards.

The Camp is nestled amongst moist deciduous Sal forest, on the north eastern periphery of the Reserve, which makes it an awesome birding hotspot by itself. Most of the birds photographed in this series is at the various bird feeds and waterholes located within the camp. All images have been taken with our trusted D300, 300mm f2.8 lens mounted with the 2x TC.

We were fortunate to observe this Slaty Blue Flycatcher taking a quick dip in the makeshift waterhole at the Camp. It was around for a couple of minutes giving us adequate time to get some frame filling images.
Given the abundance of food at the bird feeders, the Oriental White-eye is a widespread resident at Camp Forktail Creek.Next in the series is the beautiful Red-billed Leiothrix. We are told that by early Feb next year, getting frame filling compositions of this beauty is guaranteed at the Camp.
This image of the Red Jungle Fowl was taken in the Bijrani zone of the Corbett National Park. You can see more images of this species in an earlier post here.The White-crested Laughing Thrush normally are noisy and gregarious birds seen in flocks of 6-12 or more. We saw flocks of 7-8 birds a couple of times at the Camp and the image below is from one of the sightings at the bird feeder.

Giant Wood Spider

2010-11-28T20:00:00.007+05:30

The Giant Wood Spider is a species of arachnid found in India and in other Asian countries. Interestingly, it is the adult female which grows to about 2-4 inches; almost a Giant in comparison to the male, which grows to less than 10 mm. While the male is reddish brown in color, the large yellow spots at the joints of the limbs of the female is the distinguishing characteristic of this species.

Their huge webs that span almost up to two meters in diameter are impressive We did read somewhere that small birds and bats too sometimes get caught in these webs and it is not hard to believe that after seeing their large webs. Here is a series of images put together from some of our sightings of this beautiful spider. We were fortunate to photograph the mating ritual of this species as shown in the second and fourth images, which also clearly shows the minuscule size of the male in comparison to the female.

All images of the female were taken with the D300, 300mm f2.8 lens mounted with the 2x converter. The images of the male along with female was shot with the D80 mounted with the 105mm f2.8 macro lens.

Romance in the rains - Final Part

2010-11-21T20:00:00.013+05:30

We hope you enjoyed the first three parts of this thrilling wildlife spectacle that we experienced at the Tadoba Tiger Reserve. The fourth and final part of this series captures the posturing and expressions of the restless male Tiger.

He was a massive, ferocious Tiger and no wonder the territorial male gave way to him. There were times during this sighting when I felt the hair at the back of my neck stand up on hearing the Tiger roar.
This was our second visit to the Tadoba Tiger Reserve and with such memorable sightings of the Tiger and a stay at a campsite called 'Serai Tiger', who provide excellent luxury tented accommodation facilities.

Without much ado, here we get up close and personal with this majestic king of the Indian wilderness. It is a pity that such a wonderful animal is today an endangered species. All images are taken with the D300, 300mm f2.8 mounted on a mono pod.

Romance in the rains - Part 3

2010-11-14T20:00:00.003+05:30

Romance in the rains - Part 3 captures the last 30 minutes of this amazing wildlife experience that we had at the Tadoba wildlife sanctuary. The rain gods finally relented and it stopped raining after about an hour into the sighting. With the stopping of the rains, the romancing couple contemplate taking shelter in the thick lantana shrubs that are close by.

As we continued watching, we saw both the male and the female slowly get up, snarl at each other and cross over to the other side of the road. While the Tigress casually strolled between two Jeeps and crossed the road as seen in the third and fourth images, the male Tiger made a more spectacular exit as seen in the last image.

The first and last image is taken with the D80, 18-200mm lens combo while the rest of the images are taken with the D300, 300mm f2.8 lens.

Romance in the rains - Part 2

2010-11-07T20:00:00.010+05:30

We hope you enjoyed the first part of 'Romance in the rains', the thrilling experience we had at the Tadoba National Park. Now we move on to Part 2 (the next 30 minutes) of the series.

We saw that while the Tigress was calm and composed, the male Tiger was very restless. The incessant rains, the tourists in as many as 10 Jeeps and the presence of the territorial male Tiger at sniffing distance made him quite uncomfortable.

This Tiger was surely not used to the proximity of so many Jeeps and humans and his restlessness kept us on our toes. It was as if he had a perennial "Do not disturb" expression on his face and with every passing minute, he seemed to be getting more and more annoyed.
All these images have again been taken with the D300, 300mm f2.8 mounted on a mono pod. We were photographing in the rains and you can see that in some of the images below. You can also see the Tigress giving us her first glances in the last but one image.

Romance in the rains - Part 1

2010-10-31T20:00:00.005+05:30

In this thrilling four part series, walk with us into the Tadoba wilderness to witness a rare wildlife spectacle. This wildlife experience gave us the opportunity to observe Tiger behavior during their courting period and has been yet another cherished moment that we will remember for a long, long time.

It is said that the monsoon season is not a particularly good time to visit wildlife parks since wildlife sightings are far and few and the perpetually wet conditions is not conducive for photography. We tend to disagree here since we have had some of our best sightings during the monsoon season.

On the first day of our trip into the Tadoba Wildlife Sanctuary, we narrowly missed sighting a pair of courting Tigers. After seeing the photographs taken by another group of tourists, we felt disappointed on having missed the golden opportunity. But not for long, since we knew that courting Tigers tend to stay together for 3-4 days during the mating period.

The next day morning, we had a fleeting glance of the male Tiger whose territory had been trespassed by another rogue male Tiger, which was seen courting the Tigress. This fellow did not look particularly happy about it.

During the afternoon safari, we came to the same area and were greeted by the courting pair of Tigers, who were sitting in tall grass about 50m from the Road. Our excitement knew no bounds! As we quickly got ready to photograph them, the skies opened up and it started raining cats (!) and dogs.

It has always been our dream to photograph Tigers against a lush green background and we made most of the opportunity in spite of the torrential downpour and we hope to relive the experience through this 4 part series.

This massive Tiger does not look not very happy having been spotted by us and his expressions left no doubt about his state of mind! This image shows you the romancing pair sitting amidst tall grass whom we chanced upon during the evening safari. The huge male Tiger is to the left and the Tigress is partially seen to the right of the frame.The male Tiger was restless given the proximity of humans; there were about 10 odd jeeps witnessing this Wildlife moment. It was not just us humans watching them. They were also being watched by the male Tiger of this territory; the last but one image shows you the uneasy glance the rogue Tiger was giving in the general direction of the resident Tiger.Photographing courting Tigers is torrential downpour is an unique experience that cannot be described in words. All images in this Part 1 of the series have been photographed with the D300, 300mm f2.8 lens mounted on a mono pod.

Birding in India - Jerdon's Bushlark

2010-10-24T20:00:00.002+05:30

The Jerdon's Bushlark is a small bird of about 14 cms in size. Larks have always interested us because we find their singing flight display quite spectacular. Though the Jerdon's Bushlark singing display is not as spectacular as the Indian Bushlark, it is still an experience to observe and photograph this small beauty singing its heart out.

While driving down from BR Hills during one of our trips there, we spotted this Jerdon's Bushlark perched on a Ant hill. We managed to get within 10 feet of this beauty using the car as a hide and were able to get some frame filling compositions.

All images were taken with the D300, 300 mmf2.8 lens mounted with the 2x TC and using the car window for support.

The Indian Gaur - Endangered Wildlife Species

2010-10-17T20:00:00.004+05:30

The largest and most powerful of all wild cattle species - the Indian Gaur is yet another threatened bovine species in India after the Asiatic Buffalo. Given the sheer size and power of the Gaur, it has very few natural enemies. However, one of its enemies is the Tiger, which is known to comfortably hunt down an adult Gaur. The primary reason for the Gaur to be categorized as a 'vulnerable' species is its diminishing habitat and susceptibility to bovine diseases.
Like the water buffalo herds the Gaur herds are also headed by an adult female. The adult males are mostly solitary, however one tends to see an adult male closely following a herd of Gaurs comprising of the female and their calves.
Given their huge size and dark plumage, Gaurs are challenging photography subjects especially when you are using telephoto lenses. It is quite a wildlife experience to watch these mammals at 600 mm focal length. We have tried to do justice to this endangered species with our favorite D300, 300mm f2.8 lens and at times with the 2x TC mounted.

Birding in India - Shikra

2010-10-10T20:00:00.000+05:30

The Shikra is a small raptor, which is a widespread resident in both the open countryside and the forests of India. Adult Shikra closely resemble the Besra, however they have a distinctly paler plumage.

This bird of prey is comfortable living not only in the forests, but also in urban areas. And that's why we have had the opportunity to photograph it both in and around Bangalore and in the Indian Wilderness.

While most of the images have been taken with the D300, 300mm f2.8 setup, a couple of the images are taken with the D80, Sigma 100-300 f4.

On a Tiger's Trail

2010-10-03T20:00:00.004+05:30

We recently made another trip to the Tadoba Wildlife Sanctuary near Chandrapur, Maharashtra and came back with one of our most cherished wildlife experience till date. We are yet to process those photographs and till we do that, here are a few more memorable compositions of the Sub-Adult Tigress that we had photographed during our previous trip to Tadoba.

A Tiger knows that it is the "Top of the food chain" predator. And the leisurely frolics of this Sub-Adult Tigress at a waterhole in the Tadoba Sanctuary, exhibits that immense confidence, which makes the Tiger the master of the Indian Wilderness.

All images are taken at 300mm focal length with the D300 and 300mm f2.8 lens combination.

Birding in India - Crested Serpent Eagle edition 2

2010-09-26T20:00:00.009+05:30

The Crested Serpent Eagle along with the Changeable Hawk Eagle is one of the most common raptors found in the Indian wilderness. As the name suggests, they are specialists in hunting snakes, lizards and other reptiles, which form majority of their diet.

The Crested Serpent Eagle is a medium to large sized raptor with a brown plumage. The juvenile of the species have more whitish plumage as seen in this earlier post. These are solitary birds and come together only during the mating season. We must admit this bird has a captivating stare as seen in this earlier post.

Here are a few images from some recent sightings of this beautiful raptor. All images are taken with the D300, 300mm f2.8 lens mounted with the 2x TC.

Barking Deer - The Deer with tusks

2010-09-19T18:20:00.016+05:30

The Barking Deer get their name from the barking call they make when they sense a predator close by. They are one of the most shy Deer species and are rarely seen venturing into open grasslands. With their downward pointing tushes or tusks, they are quite distinct from the other Deer species. And in one of our earlier posts you can see them with their canine teeth and long tongue.

Barking Deer are generally solitary mammals and rarely seen in groups, except when it's a courting couple. The male Barking Deer are highly territorial and put their short antlers and tusks to good use during fights.

Here's a collection of images taken with the D300 with the 300mm f2.8 lens combination. The 300mm f2.8 with the 2x TC has been used in some of the images. The first and last images are of a female Barking Deer and the rest are of the Male.

Birding in India - Ashy-crowned Sparrow-lark

2010-09-12T20:00:00.009+05:30

The Ashy-crowned Sparrow-lark is a bird of the open dry habitat. It has a perfectly camouflaged plumage, which makes it quite difficult to spot it in its habitat. The dry lake bed of Hesserghatta on the outskirts of Bangalore is an ideal destination to photograph this species.

The male species is known for their brilliant black-brown plumage, while the female is slightly paler than the male. However, the female Sparrow Lark with their brown plumage are better camouflaged than the male. Taking advantage of their camouflaged plumage, the species nests on the ground in open habitat.

We took advantage of the fact that the bird allows you to get reasonably close to it giving us these almost near life size compositions.

Blackbuck - The most beauitufl Indian Antelope

2010-09-06T08:00:00.001+05:30

The Blackbuck is one of the four species of Antelopes found in India. These graceful animals were seen in large numbers at the beginning of the century. However, due to extensive poaching and habitat loss, it is a pity that their conservation status is "Near Threatened" today. It is not uncommon to see a group of stray dogs hunting fawns and younger Blackbucks.

Today you can see the Blackbuck in a few protected wildlife sanctuaries like Point Calimere (Tamil Nadu), Velavadar (Gujarat), Maidenahalli (Karnataka), Chilka (Orissa) and a few other locations in India.

Unlike the Deer, which can survive in dense forest and bush jungles, the Blackbuck requires open grasslands with intermittent tall grass to survive. The ability to run at speeds in excess of 70 kmph make them the fastest surviving species in the Indian sub continent. Their gracefulness at these speeds, especially of the female Blackbuck, when it is at the height of its long leap, is an amazing wildlife experience to photograph.

We got our opportunity to observe and photograph the Blackbuck at the Maidenahalli Blackbuck reserve in Karnataka and here are some images of this shy species from that trip. An earlier post on these beautiful species has some more frame filling compositions.

Monsoon birding with a Small Blue Kingfisher

2010-08-29T20:00:00.000+05:30

It is monsoon time in India and though wildlife photography during rains can be quite exciting, it does come with its own set of unique challenges like low and soft light, getting the shutter speeds, ensuring that one's photo gear is protected and so on and so forth.

During one of our monsoon birding in India trips @ the Hebbal lake, on the outskirts of Bangalore, we got a wonderful opportunity to observe and photograph the Small Blue Kingfisher doing what it does best - fishing. It was raining and we knew that the low and soft light conditions was going to make photography very challenging. So we used a tripod to offset the problem to some extent.

It was an overcast morning and watching the Small Kingfisher make successful fishing dives was quite a birding experience. It was incredible to see it come up with fish on almost every dive. The low light conditions did not permit shutter speed more than 1/250s ensuring that we could not freeze the little fella in flight.

Here are a collection of images from that birding trip.

Check out this earlier post on Kingfishers, which shows some of the different Kingfisher species found in India.

Birding in India - Peacock Courtship Dance

2010-08-22T20:00:00.005+05:30

The national bird of India - The Peacock is a large vibrant, blue colored bird with a distinct crest and an ornate tail train. The tail train is formed by 100+ upper tail-coverts. During the breeding season, normally in summer, the Peacock uses its tail train in an elaborate courtship display and the ensuing unique dance not only attracts the Peahen, but is also a visual treat for photographers and bird watchers alike.

We have been fortunate to observe a couple of Peacocks during their courtship dance and surely enough it has been quite a spectacular experience that provides many lovely photo opportunities.

Here's a collection of images from one such recent sighting; you can see the exquisite train of this majestic bird in the first image, which it skillfully uses in its courtship dance portrayed in the rest of the images.

All images have been taken with the D300, 300mm F2.8 mounted with the 2x TC.

The Indian Wild Boar

2010-08-15T20:00:00.007+05:30

The Indian Wild Pig commonly known as the Wild Boar is the wild ancestor of the domestic Pig. Being a resilient and fast breeding animal, the wild Boar is one of the most widely distributed large mammals. They are tenacious mammals and when cornered can attack even large predators like the Leopard and Tiger.

The conflict between humans and wild Boars are not uncommon and chances of conflict are maximum when people venture into reserve forests to collect forest produce. Agricultural crop depredation by wild Boars is another problem in many parts of India. Besides agricultural crops, they cause damage to ground vegetation, orchards, forest plantations and also act as possible carriers of infectious diseases. Consequently, people have developed antagonistic attitude towards them, which is today adversely affecting the conservation efforts.

Here is a collection of images of the Wild Boar taken during our many safaris to Bandipur, Kabini and B R Hills Wildlife Sanctuaries.

Birding in India - Oriental Skylark

2010-08-08T20:00:00.005+05:30

The Oriental Skylark is a widespread resident and winter visitor in India. On the outskirts of Bangalore, the Hesserghatta Lake with its open grasslands and proximity to a water body is an ideal habitat for this Skylark and we get to see and observe it in close proximity.

In the open grassland, the singing display of the male Oriental Skylark makes for interesting observation. It often rockets into the sky and then hovers for a while before making a descent to its perch on the ground, singing all the while. Though this species is a mere 16cm in size, it is their distinctive crest that makes them look larger than they actually are.

All images are taken with D300, 300mm f2.8 lens mounted with the 2x TC.

Peninsular Rock Agama

2010-08-01T20:00:00.004+05:30

The Peninsular Rock Agama commonly known as the South Indian Rock Agama is a species of Agama found around rocky hills of South India. While we are not much of reptile people, we didn't want to let go of the photo opportunity that presented itself when this Rock Agama paid us a visit while we were waiting to photograph Vultures in the hills of Ramanagara, Karnataka.

What amazed us was that this male had thrown caution to the winds and was posing for us and showcasing his brilliant breeding colors. The entire display lasted for about 10 mins and we managed to get some good shots of this reptile. All images were taken with the D300 300mm f2.8 lens mounted with the 2x converter.

Birding in India - The Malabar Grey Hornbill

2010-07-25T20:00:00.004+05:30

The Malabar Grey Hornbill is a Hornbill species that is endemic to the Western Ghats in India and it is common to see them in the plantations along the Ghats. Thattekad Bird Sanctuary, near Cochin, Kerala is a popular destination to observe and photograph these winged wonders.

During our visit to this Sanctuary, we saw them flying around in small groups almost everywhere. And a patient birder can easily get some frame filling compositions like these.

The Pack - Indian Wild Dogs (Dhole)

2010-07-18T20:00:00.005+05:30

The Indian Wild Dog more commonly known as the Dhole is one of the most successful hunters in the Indian Wilderness. The high hunt-to-kill ratio is attributed to the fact that Dholes are sociable animals who live and hunt in packs of 2 to 20 or more. It is unfortunate that these fabulous hunters are today among the "critically endangered species".

We were exiting the Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary after an evening Jeep Safari when we spotted a pack of Dholes cross the road. What amazed us about them was that they were by far the largest pack of Dholes (28 individuals) that we had ever encountered in the Indian forests.We knew from our prior experience that Dholes literally hunt every day and a pack this size was sure to be successful on a daily basis. During the next day morning Jeep safari, we went to the same area where we had seen the pack the previous evening. And to our luck we sighted them almost immediately! And this sighting turned out to be even more interesting as the pack was already on a hunt. First they made an unsuccessful attempt at hunting down a Sambar Fawn, which narrowly escaped.We were quite surprised with the perseverance of this pack since we saw them hunt down every prey they came across and even a Peacock was not spared. However, it looked like the hunt for the day was eluding them. The Dholes weren't giving up and neither did we. Something told us that very soon they would be successful in their hunt. We were not wrong. It was quite amazing as we saw them casually resting by the side of the forest track road and then within a minute they were up and running inside to kill their prey. Unfortunately, we could not see them making the kill because of the the thick Lantana that hid our view, but we did hear the last yelp given by their prey followed by the whistling noises these lethal predators normally make while devouring their kill. It was just a matter of minutes before a few of them came out from the Lantana, their bellies full with the meal that they had eaten. The blood-stained fur on this Dhole is proof enough that the kill was quickly consumed. Images of Dholes feasting on a kill can be seen in our earlier post on breakfast in the wilderness and we posted extreme closeups here.

The noisy neighborhood - Ashy Prinia

2010-07-11T20:48:00.017+05:30

The Ashy Prinia is a widespread resident found all over India from urban gardens to open grasslands. We have observed this species in many places from in and around Bangalore to the pristine beaches of Goa.

In all these sightings, the one thing that has always amazed us is the perpetual chirping and singing of this bird. For such a small bird, it surely does have a lot of energy! It picks out a high perch and then goes on and on with its singing, oblivious to its surroundings. This has provided us with some wonderful photography opportunities. And here's a series of images from our many sightings of this species.

A thrilling road block experience - Asiatic Elephant

2010-07-04T20:00:00.002+05:30

We have been subject to many a mock charges by Asiatic Elephants. And every experience has been unique and exciting. However, it was the first time that we found a wild Tusker blocking our Jeep and believe us, it was an absolutely thrilling experience! We were exiting the Kabini Wildlife Sanctuary when we spotted this huge Tusker standing at a turn in the road. Normally when spotted, wild Elephants quickly move into the latana and hide themselves. But this Tusker was very different. He literally blocked the road and kept moving closer and closer to us, reducing our chances of driving past him.

He moved forward and at every step he would pause for a few minutes to check our reaction and then continue walking.All this while we were photographing him at 600mm focal length using the 300mm f2.8 lens mounted with the 2x TC. But at this point he was so close that we had to remove the convertor and shoot at 300mm. While all this was happening, the teenage daughter of one of our friends, who was in the Jeep starting getting a bit scared. She had been completely rattled by another mock charge experience the previous day and was not very happy to see this huge fella move towards our Jeep. We did not want to upset her further and immediately started the Jeep engine. As soon as we did that, the wild Tusker turned and quickly disappeared into the lantana.We must say that watching a huge male Asiatic Tusker getting larger and larger in your viewfinder is an adrenalin rush and is definitely not for the faint-hearted!!

Birding in India - The most shy of all Herons - The Purple Heron

2010-06-27T19:23:00.013+05:30

The Purple Heron in our humble perception is the most shy of all Herons that we have photographed till date. While we have seen these birds many a times, getting close enough to get good images has always been challenging.

Purple Herons are widespread resident and winter visitors in India. They are shy and solitary hunters who prefer to stand motionless in shallow waters, adopting a stand and wait hunting strategy very effectively.

Our luck changed during our last visit to Hebbal Lake in Bangalore. We found this Purple Heron that gave us a comprehensive array of poses that helped us document its behavior. The first two images show the perfected cooling off technique of a Purple Heron while waiting for a prey to approach it and rest of the images show the dexterous use of long neck and legs to prune oneself.

All images were taken with the D300 and 300mm f2.8 lens mounted with the 2x TC.

The Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010 Competition

2010-06-20T20:00:00.003+05:30

We participated in the 46th edition of Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, which is an international showcase of the very best in nature photography. It is owned by two UK institutions that pride themselves on revealing and championing the diversity of life on Earth - the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine. Each year thousands of entries are received and judged by a specially selected expert panel and the winners are announced at an awards ceremony that takes place each October at the Natural History Museum, London.

We had also participated in the 45th edition last year and you can see the images that made the Semi-Finals round, here. This year we were thrilled, because not only did 6 of our images make it to the Semi-Final round; one image qualified for the Final round! In this post, we share with you all those images that did us proud.

This image of the Rhino made it to the Final round in the category of 'Animal in their environment".This other image of the same Rhino made it to the Semi-Final round in the category of "Animal Portraits".A third image of the same Rhino made it to the Semi-Final round in the category of "Animal Behavior - Mammals". You can see more images of that experience here.This image of the Grey Jungle fowl made it to the Semi-Final round in the category of "Animal Behavior - Birds". You can see more image of that experience here. This image of the Siberian Stonechat made it to the Semi-Final round in the category of "Creative Visions of Nature". More images from that sighting can be seen here. This image of a Leopard made it to the Semi-Final round in the category of "Creative Visions of Nature". The post covering that sighting is here.This image of the Spotted Owlet made it to the Semi-Final round in the category of "Urban and Garden Wildlife". This image was photographed from our apartment balcony, which overlooks a big patch of green surrounded by trees.