Northern Pintail - A Long Distance Traveler

The Pintails are pretty looking ducks that migrate to the southern continents at the onset of winter. They are usually found in the open wetlands and Bharatpur makes an excellent venue for their stay. They were mostly seen closer to the shoreline only in the mornings post which they were very elusive.

The details on the male bird are very exquisite and though the bird isn't very colorful, it's still looks very stunning.

Tech Specs:
Canon 1D Mark IV + Canon 600mm F4 L IS with 1.4x TC
Shot at 840mm, 1/1250s, F6.3 and ISO 1600.

The Purple Heron

This Purple Heron suddenly landed on a raised mound in the water while I was shooting a Glossy Ibis. The colors on the bird looked awesome with the soft evening light falling from behind. After a couple of as-is shots from where I was, I moved a bit to position myself for a better background. The bird nicely obliged with a nice head turn making this a very special image.

The larger version on my flickr stream looks nicer since it brings out the details on the feathers. It can be found here.

Tech Specs
Canon 1D Mark IV + Canon 600mm F4 L IS with 1.4x TC
Shot at 840mm, 1/400s, F5.6 and ISO 800

Bar Headed Geese - The high fliers

While at the park, on several ocassions i tried to see if I could get a clear view of the bar headed geese, but they were always positioned quite inside from the shoreline. These are really beautiful birds and are known for their high altitude flying capabilities, in fact there are reports which suggest that these are the highest flying birds in the world. During the migration, they cross the Himalayas and sometimes are found flying over heights of more than 15000 ft.

So on Day 3, I did get a bit lucky when a small group of birds landed approx 50m from the shoreline. The only hiccup was that there was no clear view due to the taller grass near the shore. I waited patiently for more than half hour for them to start moving closer towards me and was happy that I could at least get a few decent record shots of these beautiful birds. I would have loved to get a landing shot but given the conditions it was pretty much impossible to get it.

I'd love to get them in Ladakh the next time I'm there. Tso Moriri is a well known breeding ground for these birds and the magnificient lake would be the perfect background to capture these beautiful birds.

Here's one of the decent shots I managed to get from that day:

Tech Specs

Canon 1D Mark IV + Canon 600mm F4 L IS
Shot at 840mm, 1/400s, F8 and ISO 200

The Spotted Owlets of Bharatpur

As I walked leisurely on the trails across the park, I noticed a few spots where you can invariably find the spotted owlets roosting through the most part of the day. They're mostly seen in small groups of 3-4 owlets sleeping cosily until they're disturbed by some noise. They usually prefer to sit in places where they're not easily noticed but if you're lucky, you could get them without distracting backgrounds. Over the three days I made sure I visited these locations repeatedly to check if there was a better opportunity to photograph these cute little birds.

This little one was one of the three owlets who were sitting together until they were disturbed by the noisy onlookers and decided to split. The light was dull and I had to overexpose by 2/3 stop to get details on the bird without blowing out the highlights.

Tech Specs:

Canon 1D Mark IV + Canon 600mm F4 L IS with 1.4x TC
Shot at 840mm, 1/400s, F5.6 and ISO 400

An Encounter With The Jungle Cat

As I stopped by a spot to look for some bar headed geese who were camping at a distance from the shoreline, I could notice that there was a lot of commotion near the bushes under a tree and the jungle babblers had gone awry. That's when I got a glimpse of a jungle cat who was hiding inside and that explained the alarm calls.

I setup my tripod and sat at a distance anticipating the cat to make it's move. A guide who was accompanying some foreign tourists had also seen the cat and wanted to wait there but his clients thought otherwise. So I sat there alone, watching the bushes and was getting the camera adjusted on the tripod when suddenly the cat made an appearance and walked down the trail. I was cursing myself for the missed opportunity since I could have gotten a really good shot of it coming out of the bush. But now all I could do was to follow it in through the bushes and see if I can get another opportunity.

The good thing was that it stopped after a bit and was watching something to hunt, that's when I got that little window of opportunity to make this shot. Again, this wasn't the best setting but I was happy that I could atleast get a record shot after the little mess up.

The Painted Snipe Couple

While at the park in Bharatpur, I had hired the services of a guide on Day 2 since roaming around by yourself in the park isn't always very productive, especially if you're a first timer to the place. End of the day, I was pretty happy with my decision since it did help me in spotting some of the beautiful birdies that I wouldn't easily find here. One of them was the Greater Painted Snipe!

The guide asked me a couple of times if I really was interested in seeing the Painted Snipes since we'd have to travel a bit away from the park and the location wasn't going to be all that great to talk about. So off we went through the streets of Bharatpur and onto this canal by the roadside. Now the canal isn't exactly a pretty place, it's quite filthy around and you'd need to step carefully to avoid getting your shoes with muck. But the painted snipes were there and I was happy about that. The only issue was getting a better angle to shoot, given the inaccessibility of the place, I had limited flexibility to choose my position. The only option was to wait for the birds to come to a better place so that I could get a clear shot. So we waited for them, and they obliged!

Inspite of the constraints, I was pretty happy with a couple of shots from there. Here's one of them where the couple posed together in a frame.

Tech Specs:

Canon 1D Mark IV + Canon 600mm F4 L IS with 1.4x TC
Shot at 840mm, 1/500s, F11 and ISO 800

Bharatpur - A Birding Haven!

The Republic Day on thursday opened up a window of opportunity to do a solo trip to Bharatpur. Located in a small town in Rajasthan, it's well connected with Delhi by trains or buses. Agra isn't all that far too, and a visit to the Taj could be a done as well since it's just an hour away. But for this time, I wanted to keep it simple and decided against adding any other destination, so it was going to me just me and the birds in the park for three long days.

The park is quite different from the other reserves I've seen and the fact that motor vehicles are not allowed inside the park is a welcome change for someone who has been used to jeep safaris. You can choose to walk or hire a cycle inside the park, also if you're too lazy for either of that, you could hire a cycle rickshaw to take you around. Given the amount of equipment I had, I had to get a rickshaw for myself.

The main season to visit the park is from October through February when the breeding season starts and the winter migrants arrive as well. The park is host to a lot of migrant ducks that travel long distances as a part of their annual migration. The resident Sarus Cranes are also a known attraction at the park, however, I was told that there are only 3 couples in the park now and one of them have two young ones.

For those three days, I practically lived in the park from sunrise to sunset. My rickshaw guy used to get me packed lunch from the hotel so there was no need to go out anywhere at all. Spending time with the birds is an amusing experience, you really have to be patient and make them feel comfortable so that they can adapt to you as a part of the environment.

Here's a full-frame shot of a Black Redstart who was convinced that he had no threat from me. He was foraging on one of the trails and used to occasionally disappear in the bushes when someone approached his area. After sitting down for around 20 minutes or so, he came in so close that I had to actually wait for him to move a bit further to get him in the frame.