Eurasian Spoonbill

Late February is the time when most Eurasian Spoonbils return North to their summer abode.  However I was luck to see a few stragglers at the Keoladeo NP.  The birds are still in breeding plumage though the colors are not a vibrant.I planning a 2019 photo tour and workshop for Birds, Tigers, Landscapes and of course Agra for the Taj Mahal.  Let me know by email or a comment if you are at all interested. 

Some More Birds Species of Keoladeo NP

A few more images of the over 300 species of birds found in Keoladeo National Park.    

Indian Peafowl at Sunrise

 The image above was captured on the first morning.  The following four images are a sequence of a male Indian Peafowl flying toward a snag and then instantly departing. These were captured on the following morning. I selected all the images to have the wings in the same/similar position.  These were shot with the Lumix G9 and the Leica 100-400mm lens.  Exposure triad: f/6.3, 1/1600 sec ISO 250 and 200 for the last image.   

Barbets of Keoladeo NP

Barbets are a species of tropical birds in the family Capitonidae (order Piciformes). Barbets are named for the bristles at the bases of their bills that they use to dig holes in rotting trees where there will nest. They have large heads and short tails and are not agile fliers. They eat insects, lizards, birds' eggs, fruit, and berries.The Keoladeo NP has three species of Barbet.  I was able to photograph only the Brown-headed Barbet     Psilopogon zeylanicus and the Coppersmith Barbet Psilopogon haemacephalus,  The third, White-cheeked Barbet was not found.As these birds sit in very dense leaf trees the light is hard to work with and high ISOs become mandatory. 

Kingfishers of Keoladeo National Park

On this very short visit to India, my wife and I spent three days in Bharatpur, Rajasthan at the Keoladeo National Park to photograph wildlife.  These three images are of the three species of Kingfisher that can be found in the region this time of year.  The Stork-billed and Black-capped are known to be around but I have not been lucky to ever see or photograph them.  Of the three, the Common Kingfisher is the most elusive and least common.  The White-throated is easy to find and easy to photograph.  The Pied kingfisher can be seen at many locations but is very elusive for photography.  It hovers with a very rapid wing beat so requires high very shutter speed.For these three days, I used the Panasonic Lumix G9 with the Leica 100 - 400mm lens and the Leica 200 mm f/2.8 and the 1.4X tele-extender.  I can not say enough about how much I enjoyed this kit and its performance truly excels. 

India Trip Report Part 1

We are about at the midway mark of the India Photo Tour and Workshop.  A brief recap of this first half follows.  A brief night in Delhi and an early morning ride to Agra.  We checked in at the beautiful Taj Gateway Hotel ( A part of the exclusive Taj Group of Hotels).   After an awesome lunch where we were entertained by traditional Rajasthan musicians and puppeteers we departed to see the great Taj Mahal.

This next one is an image shot by one of the participants of the master puppeteer who supposedly has the second longest moustache – 2 meters long – end-to-end.  Notice how it is wrapped around his ears and then back down his face. It is unfortunate that photographers are not permitted to take tripods into most monuments in India and have to resort to high ISO photography to get enough shutter speed to prevent blurred hand held images.Here is an image close to sunset.The evening was spent visiting a local art store where we were treated to the craft of marble inlay work.  These skills have been passed down through the generations of the original artists who carved and inlayed precious and semiprecious gems on the walls of the Taj Mahal.It was planned that we photograph the Taj by moonlight.  Trying to get a good image in the allocated half hour slot that is managed by the security guard at the Taj makes the opportunity very difficult for even a single decent night shot, particularly as you can’t use a tripod or even a monopod inside the secured area of the Taj.   We had arranged to do our photography from the rooftop of a building that overlooks the Taj and where we had access to tripods, and hot masala tea (spiced tea made with ginger, cardamom, and other flavorful spices).We had altered our schedule so as to capture a moonlit image of the Taj but that put us in a predicament for the following mornings sunrise image.  The Taj is closed to the public on Fridays and is open only for prayer at specific times during Friday.  As a result we ventured to Mehtab Gardens for the sunrise.   What worked out even better is that we guided to a beautiful spot across the river that gave us an awesome view of the Taj as the sun rose above the horizon.  It is unfortunate that there is so much smog and pollution in Delhi and in Agra.  This make capturing pristine image a big challenge. After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and drove to Chambal – a small town situated in a terrain that has an extensive network of ravines and the Chambal River (a tributary of the Yamuna river).  We spent the afternoon photographing numerous species of birds.  The Indian roller, yellow and red wattle lapwings, hoopoe, sandpipers, the Eurasian thick knee, red vented bulbul, white cheeked bulbul, spotted owlets, to name a few. While we were photographing the birds, etc., opportunities to photograph local village scenes were ever present.  The next two images are by Hal Oliver.We had dinner and spent the night in the Chambal Jungle Lodge.  This is a lovely lodge with individual cottages for the guests.  During the night we heard at least three large packs of jackals howling in the vicinity of our cottages.The following morning a 10-mile drive took us to the river where we boarded our chartered boat for a river safari. A Red Vented Bulbul en route to the safari.In addition to a number of birds, we were able to photograph the Indian Crocodile and the Gharial (a member of the crocodilians but exclusive to India).Here are a few of the river safari images:

 Post lunch a short drive (few hours) to Bharatpur where we checked in to the Lakshmi Vilas Hotel, which is a converted residential palace of the Maharaja of Bharatpur’s brother.The following morning was our first safari in Koeladeo National Park.  On entering the park we were greeted by a group of peafowl silhouetted against the rising sun.Another image of the same sight.

We spent two and a half days for a total of five safaris in this park.  What and abundance of birds and mammals.  A small representation follows:   Here is an incomplete list of birds and mammals we saw and photographed over the course of the first 1/3 of the trip:Grey Francolin (Partridge), Indian Peafowl, Lesser Whistling Duck, Bar-Headded Goose,, Ruddy Shell Duck, Comb Duck, Spot Billed Duck, Northern Shoveller, Northern Pintail,  Common Teal, Red Crested Pochard, Common Pochard, Brown Headed Barbet, Indian Grey Hornbill, Common Hoopoe, Indian Roller, Common Kingfisher, White Throated Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, Greater Coucal, Rose-tinged Parakeet, Plum-headed Parakeet, Collared Scops Owl, Spotted Owlet, Brown Hawk Owl, Large Tailed Nightjar, Rock Pigeon, Yellow-footed Green Pigeon, Oriental Turtle Dove, Laughing Dove, Spotted Dove, Red Collard Dove, Brown Crake, White-breasted Waterhen, Common Moorhen, Common Coot, Purple Gallinule, Marsh Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Dunlin, Eurasian Thick-Knee, Great Thick-Knee, Yellow Wattled Lapwing, River Lapwing, Red Wattled Lapwing, Indian Skimmer, River Tern, Osprey, Black-Shouldered Kite, Black Kite, Egyptian Vulture,  Red Headed Vulture, Eurasian Marsh Harrier, Shikra, Little Grebe, Darter, Little Cormornt, Indian Cormorant, Great Cormorant, Little Egret, Intermediate Egret, Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Grey Heron, Purple Heron, Indian Pond Heron, Black Crowned Night Heron, Glossy Ibis, Black Headed Ibis, Eurasian Spoonbill, Painted Stork, Black Necked Stork, Brown Shrike, Long Tailed Shrike, House Crow, Large Billed Crow, Eurasian Golden Oriole, White-browed Fantail (Flycatcher), Black Drongo, Oriental Magpie Robin, Indian Robin, Black Redstart, Common Stonechat, Brahminy Starling, Common Myna, Bank Myna, Wire-Tailed Swallow, White-Eared Bulbul, Red Vented Bulbul, Common Babbler, Jungle Babbler, Large Grey Babbler, Ashy Crowned Sparrow Lark, Purple Sunbird, White Wagtail, Citrine Wagtail, White-browed Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail, Baya Weaver, Red Avadavat, Indian Silverbill,The Mammals:  Gharial, Marsh Crocodile, a multitude of Turtles,,Rhesus Monkey, Hanuman Langur, Sambar, Nilgai, Wild Boar, Jackal, Indian Civit, Indian Hre, Five Striped Palm Squirrel, Indian Flying Fox, Shortnosed Fruit Bat.Next Update - as soon as possible when I can get a good internet connection.