SIDEBAR

An afternoon with Ravens

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Jan 22 2015

I was looking forward to a nice siesta after a good lunch. With the sun glaring down at 14500+ feet (the setting, incidentally, was Pangong Tso in Ladakh), that seemed to be a wise choice too. As I opened my tent flap, something flew into the campsite accompanied by loud, deep and gruff cawing. I’d been spooked by that call once before a few years ago and I knew I had to bring my camera out. The Northern Raven is the largest species of crow in the world. The bird is huge in size compared to the House Crow. It […]

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Can scratching look cute?

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Nov 12 2013

    You think NO!! Take a look at the following series… (Click on any of the images to view them large. Navigate using the buttons below the image.)     I repeat the question again – Can scratching look cute? 🙂

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Target acquired…locked…and…

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Nov 08 2013

    It is always the element of surprise that makes wildlife photography thrilling. Like this sequence of a Montagu’s Harrier trying to find breakfast on a warm October morning at Tal Chapar. Can you guess how long this whole sequence would’ve lasted?   Harriers are winter migrants to the Indian subcontinent and are among the most graceful birds in a grassland. These birds of prey can be seen gliding gently a few metres above the ground scanning for prey. They are, in fact, so slow at times that it seems they would land on the ground soon. When they […]

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Photography Technique – Laggar Falcon on the Ground

Oct 30 2013

      On my last morning at Tal Chapar this month, I came across a juvenile Laggar Falcon on the ground.   A few photographs later, I started wondering if I could better this image. What else could I have done? Read on…   No doubt, the direction of light was perfectly illuminating the Falcon. However, the angle was bothering me. I’d been clicking from the car window and was photographing the bird from the top. Not following the “holy grail” of wildlife photography – Eye-Level.   Since the others in the vehicle wanted to stay put, I decided […]

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The leaping Blackbucks of Tal Chapar

Oct 17 2013

      In so many visits to Tal Chapar, I’ve been rather partial to the feathered bipeds (read Birds) over the ubiquitous horned quadrupeds (read Blackbucks) that stroll this beautiful grassland. May be their sheer numbers in the park lulls one into forgetting the fact that they are declining everywhere else. So it was decided – this time around I would give more attention to these graceful antelopes. The first morning at Tal Chapar was very cloudy, a possible hangover from the late rains this year. Some parts of the park were still unmotorable. Seeing some Kestrels (small falcons) […]

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