This is the pattern in mind when I think of Kabini. Undoubtedly the elusive Leopard. The best place in the world to photograph this beautiful cat is around the backwaters of Kabini reservoir at Nagarhole National Park. I have never returned from Kabini without sighting this spotted cat (including my last month’s visit).

Having visited Kabini many a times, I had missed visiting this magical place in summer for long time. Arun, Selva and Sudhir agreed to join me, and I made a booking more than a month in advance for 2 night stay at the Kabini river lodge. Ooty was an obvious and easy choice for the weekend prior to Kabini visit from April 11 to 13th. Check out the Ooty trip report and few images here.

Started from Ooty after photographing few birds, briefs stops for sightings of Black Eagle, Chestnut headed bee eaters and Elephants near Bandipur, we were sightly late to reach Kabini.

Route: Ooty->Masinagudi->Bandipur->Gundlupet->Begur->Sargur->HD Kote handpost->Kabini

The expectation was high and Kabini didn’t disappoint. Soon into the evening safari, we saw this huge leopard. It paused for a moment to check us and all our cameras hit non-stop for 3-4 seconds. Combined, we must have captured about 40 frames in 3-4 seconds.

Leopard – watching left before crossing the track

The search for the bigger striped cat was on on almost all safaris. We missed an opportunity on 2nd day morning safari when a tiger arrived at the backwaters to quench thirst. But we did get to sight the big bird, Spot-bellied Eagle owl.

Back at the camp, each of us spent time to shoot macros of spiders and other insects. Fearing a nasty sting, I got close to this wasp for only one shot.

Moves like a butterfly, stings like a bee

Evening safari again yielded many elephants. A herd of spotted deer gave fantastic opportunity to capture some silhouette images on the backwaters in the golden light of fading sun.

Now, what’s Kabini without elephants. The best part about Kabini in Summer is the congregation of Asiatic elephants. You will find them pretty much everywhere – in the forest, on the backwaters, in the water. There were tons of them. It was a beautiful sight to watch mother with calf, huge tuskers young bulls, on the back waters – bathing, feeding, wrestling.

Eye of a Matriarch

Congregation of Asiatic Elephants at Kabini Backwaters

The final morning safari started with a beautiful sight of two peacocks trying to woo a mate. The spectacle was full on right on the jeep track. If not disturbed by the jeep ahead on trying to reach the sunset point from where a tiger was sighted, we would have seen more display of romance of peafowls.

Peacocks wooing Peahen

Even our jeep was rushed to the sunset point only to hear from the few jeeps that were already there that tiger went back into the thickets. Few jeeps decided to stay back, and our jeep driver decided to get to other part in hope of tracking the big cat. Soon, they get a call saying tiger is seen again near the sun set point. What followed that was something that I had only heard happens  (and subtly experienced) in Central Indian forests.

All the jeeps that got the info on tiger rushed at inexplicable speed to the spot. It was utter madness as I just sat disappointed, covering my eyes from the huge dust storm the convoy of jeeps had created.

Again as we reached, we were told the tiger just left the banks. Within a minute or two wait, our driver wanted to get back to track the big cat else where. I was furious. I told him I want to wait at a place long enough if we were to have any chance. There was no point in driving around. He suggested me we wait at another place and not here

Just as we were getting out, a couple of Dholes were sighted. Again, all the jeeps rushed as the were moving slightly ahead. The thunderous noise of the jeeps scared the Dholes and they got inside the bushes. If only we had turned off jeeps and waited, instead of rushing towards them they would have got comfortable and taken the jeep track as they were to do. It was disappointing to see people who know jungle better than us and drive everyday not understand the Dholes’ behavior.

We waited for nearly an hour at another spot facing the back waters. Few alarm calls heard, but no sighting of any big predator. We were to wind up the safari and just then got a call from another jeep about the tiger sighting, again at Sun set point. By the time we got there, the tiger again had gone inside the bamboo thickets. But we could see it through binoculars and record some strips of a sleeping cat on our cameras.

We waited for few minutes in the false hope that this tiger would get up and provide better views. I was capturing some images of an elephant and calf grazing on the backwaters. Just then one guy in a jeep started yelling ‘Tiger, tiger!’ All thought he was kidding. But he was proved right as all of us pointed our cameras and binocs towards a distant patch of backwaters.

Tiger on prowl

A tiger was walking down the path, from the bamboo thickets towards the water. Two tigers in ten minutes! The lighting was perfect and the tiger majestically walked towards water albeit a little wary of more dangerous animals, humans. She was really far for any portrait-esq image. However, the sighting was heartening and marked a good end to a wonderful summer trip.

P.S.: Have more frames that I wanted to publish but unfortunately haven’t found time to process. This was from April 2011 visit. Had luck to visit again in December 2011. Images from that trip will have to wait for a few years. :)

Ended the last year’s post with hint on turbulence. The beginning continued that way. It was, though subtly expected, very painful. The blurr of Jan has somewhat caused me to even forget the passage of following few months. Missed the race, but hit the usual haunts a few times.

More distress and anxiety amidst good news (?).

The glorious  birthday trip to the montagnes of the west. Eventful few days and then the time for decisions. Monthly unwillingness in rituals, but it worked.

The running around. Going crazy, almost. May it end. The dreaded place with quarter hour drive was indeed awesome. Thirty 30. Really? Sure? Yes and No. No and Yes. Yes. More running around. The stamp, the frolic or the lack of it.

The shift. Displacement. A few initial good days leading up to the carnage. The super awesome exponential upward curve. New, not necessarily needed. Fear, numbness, glitter and hope – all at the same time. The time whirred past. It seems like a chunk of time rather than separate months, weeks or days.

return temp; //lol

The inconsistent gearing up. But the war is eventual. Hope is the only constant and is perpetual.

P.S.: The BA flight, how many would believe!

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Almost forgot about future me!!

I realized the impact of lacking the knowledge of what customer wants when a product that I was working on was shelved for lack of market. An entrepreneur needs to know what customers want, be it in service or in product, in advance.

“It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.”

Vision is almost everything for an entrepreneur. It not only steers the company in the right direction, but also motivates people who work for you. A good product is not a result of how much money you spend in developing it or how much you pay for hiring the best talent. I believe all that someone needs to be happy is something to be enthusiastic about. A good entrepreneur understands this, and leads the people with his vision and extracts the best out of them.

“I’m not afraid to start from the beginning.”

To me a real entrepreneur is one who can say this at any point in time. For these reasons, the entrepreneur I admire the most is Steve Jobs.

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This was one of the the essays I wrote while applying to the Marshall School of Business last year. I am preparing for my first final exam (Strategy) of business school. We have a case on Apple Inc., and I can’t help but wonder the void Steve Jobs has left behind in consumer electronics industry.

Have a look at this article which captures this void beautifully:

feeds.harvardbusiness.org/~r/harvardbusi…

P.S.: Some portion of the essay has been edited for not-so-obvious reasons, but 95% is unchanged.

It has just been 3 weeks since I have been in Los Angeles, but it seems like a long time. Business school is a lot of fun and hard work at the same time. It doesn’t take much time to realize that. One week of International orientation, followed by a week of MBA orientation and one week of classes exposed us to multitude of activities that reduced the sleeping hours to bare minimum required – create-a-country, career services, guest speakers, outdoor activities, Trojan marching band, parties, barbecue, baseball game, student clubs, case competition, and assignments.

International orientation steadily prepared 50 odd international students to the onslaught that was upon us in the following week. It created a smooth transition to the american education system, culture and its nuances. It didn’t take long to know each other and were thrilled to learn the different blend of cultures we bring together. Though dominated by students from China and India, there are few from Spain, Bulgaria, Australia, Russia, South Korea, Lithuania – total of 20 different countries.

MBA orientation made a bigger impact and seemed intimidating when walking into the lobby with 220+ people. I was meeting most of them for the fist time. The schedule of the orientation week was hectic to say the least, from 8am to 8pm on most days. Wonderfully crafted orientation gave us enough time to mingle with each other and learn more about fellow classmates. There are people from diverse backgrounds – film makers, producers, professional gamblers, professional tennis players, wildlife photographers (ya, that’s me) amongst many bankers and consultants. Provided breakfast, lunch and dinner on most days saved me a lot of trouble as I was just settling down in the new apartment. The last two days of the orientation was the most enjoyable and trying at the same time. 3 cores with 39 teams were to compete in a series of outdoor activities on penultimate day, and a case competition on the last day. Executives from Nestle, trojan alumni, were on the judging panel for the case competition and the finalist teams had a great opportunity to showcase their analysis skills to them. Winners were from core C, but everyone had a great learning experience. Parties followed the end of orientation.

Starting August 1st, we had our regular classes with a case and few other reading before the first class. Interspersed with academics is various community activities, one of which is a plane pulling event to raise funds for special olympics. Please have a look here. Also the career service activities are keeping us busy with many workshops. All these means less time to sleep. My average sleep hours in the last few weeks is about 5hrs. But it’s fun!

There’s an article on Bloomberg Businessweek about our MBA orientation with comments from our super energetic assistant Dean, Diane Badame. Have a look here. Here’s a small video of orientation – visit to dodgers game on last day of international orientation, outdoor activities with different cores and finally the performance of Trojan marching band :

Many of my friends are asking me how is LA. I love the weather, it’s very very much like Bangalore. I haven’t got much time to go out and explore LA much, but I’m having a great time in the business school. But I did travel around San Francisco and San Diego on my first week in the US, and will write about it some time in future. LA can wait.

P.S.: The image and video were captured on my HTC Inspire phone – impressive, isn’t it? Of course the image quality.

This is one of my favorite quotes. It makes you trust, hope on something and go for it despite the uncertain outcome. The subject line perhaps describes my state right now. I was at one of the major crossroads of life, wondering what path to take. The decision was perhaps the hardest I had to make. It was a HUGE change for me and everyone that knew me for a quarter century. It was a decision that was parting me and my loved ones – my city, family, people i knew, my hobbies and many more. It was a decision that moved me out of the most comfortable possible comfort zone. The decision that would put me in enormous pressure in many ways – mentally, emotionally, and financially.

The decision was to pursue MBA in the US. Here I am blogging from Los Angeles, California. The orientation program starts tomorrow and I’ll be studying at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.

There sure would be some new experiences this decision would bring about. There are many firsts. I know I’d be crippled in many ways – living without a car (especially in a country such as this), living with a thought of budget in mind, renting a house to live and cooking myself. It’s a different experience. Have to wait and watch where this takes me.

I’d continue writing on this blog as this has already gone through some drastic changes from its inception. Started as a pad for scribbling random thoughts, transformed to a travel and wildlife blog, and now that of an MBA student. It’s disappointing that I might not be able post about my wildlife escapades much now on, but I have a stockpile pending that I’d post whenever I find time. But It won’t be much. For those that want to unsubscribe, hope to connect in future. For the rest, stop wondering what a sellout and wish me luck.

Fight on!

One of the most popular hill stations in India, Ooty, was the destination for photographing some endemic species of birds of western ghats. Though I couldn’t manage to capture a good image of my target species, I was able to watch a variety of species on a two day trip.

After answering calls and messages wishing on my birthday, I left home to pick Selva, Sudhir and Arun. We left Bangalore by 11am struggling past horrendous traffic on Mysore road. The initial plan was to squeeze an evening safari at Bandipur in search of Gowri and her cubs. But on seeing the mammoth crowd at Bandipur resorts, we gave up on safari. The crowd on a Saturday evening at a national park is no less than that at any popular mall in Bangalore.  It really made me wonder how have those magnificent ‘animals’ survived in India all these years given the number of people we have!

We  drove slowing keeping an eye for any bird, mammal or reptile. We saw Malabar giant squirrel, and lot of Peafowls. I stopped the car on hearing an unusual call. On looking out, we saw a of White Bellied Woodpecker. Spend a considerable time photographing this bird from car, without wanting to disturb the bird which seemed like making a nest. Many passersby stopped to inquire about what we were go-hung about.

White-bellied Woodpecker at Bandipur – Madumalai

We also caught up with this beautiful peacock on the edge of the road. Thankfully it was undisturbed by too many tourists thronging on the highway, and we captured few frames.

Indian Peafowl

Soon, stopped over at Masinagudi for checking a spot known to sight leopards, but not much luck. It was getting dark, and we left towards Ooty on the arduous Kalhatty ghats with 36-hairpin bends. Reached Ooty by 8pm, and started looking for accommodation around Charring Cross.  After looking a couple, checked into Youth Hostel. It was good to meet Neelima and a group of cyclists who had pedalled up the hills along the 36haripin bends.  I really admire their mammoth effort!

Next day morning, first stop at Gorishola yielded many birds – Grey Junglefowl, Eurassian Blackbird, Tickell’s leaf Warbler, and Oriental White eye. Though we were able to see many birds at Gorishola, it was difficult to capture a decent frame as you’d expect anywhere in western ghats. We left to Doddabetta, another location that was known for easy photo opportunities of Blackbirds and Nilgiri Laughingthrushes.

Eurassian Blackbird

Instead of sighting the sure-shot NLTs and Blackbirds at Doddabetta, we hit a jackpot. A huge flock of Nilgiri Wood Pigeons – a western ghats endemic that had eluded me in many visits to Nandi Hills. The size of this Pigeon is monstrous, and I was fortunate to capture one decent image before it flew away.

Nilgiri Wood Pigeon

We roamed up and down, and around the Doddabetta tourist spot looking for birds of feathered kind. Mahesh and gang, who had arrived little earlier had got a prized catch of Black and Orange Flycatcher. But we weren’t lucky. As the crowd picked up, we left the spot.

After a quick breakfast at Charring cross, we tried to reach the Wood house area from the Botanical Garden side. The road was very narrow and almost non-existent. It was very hard to maneuver a big car around hairpin bends. After a few bends and turns, reached a spot on a narrow road where an auto had broken down and there wasn’t enough space to squeeze the car through. I had to get down the road in reverse till a found a spot to take a turn! It was quite a driving experience.

After contemplating where to go, we hit the Crainhill forest reserve. It’s an incredibly beautiful place. I just loved the tall tress and the location. We were able to spot the Black and Orange Flycatcher there, but just a glimpse. After spending sometime there, we drove towards Muthorai and Potato research station – sighted an Oriental Honey Buzzard and few common birds.

Later in the evening, we took the Doddabetta route to reach Wood house area. This place is secluded and you’ll not find anyone. It’s almost untouched. Though the activity wasn’t as much as we wished, but it seemed very promising. We were able to sight many Grey-headed Canary Flycatchers, few blackbirds, Minivets and NLTs.

Returning from Wood house, I stopped near Sinclari’s to check out a bird that seemed a Craig Martin. But found a few house sparrows coming to roost on top of a house. I sneaked close and got one image I was happy of after spending one and half day at Ooty.

House Sparrow -  male in breeding plumage

House sparrow – A bird that once used to nest in my house, and now I had to drive over 300km to get one good photograph of. Nevertheless, I was happy to see them go unperturbed about their activities there.

Next day morning, we wanted to hit Doddabetta very early as Shreeram told there is no way we can miss getting good images of Nilgiri Laughing thrushes there. Ooty at 5:30am is very cold, even in summer. We reached Doddabetta with few minutes to 6am, and learnt from a couple of cops that the gates won’t open before 8am. Damn it!

I raced to reach Crainhills by 6:20am. There wasn’t much light and the bird activity was just starting to pick up. Grey-headed canary flycathers, Blackbirds, NLTs, White eyes, and Warblers – nothing that we hadn’t seen earlier. Then, a female Nilgiri Flycatcher made an appearance and sat at a distance for quite some time.

Got back to Doddabetta at 7:50am. A couple of cars were waiting and the gates weren’t open yet. Soon, guards arrived and let us in. I zipped through the curves so that we reach first – before Pigeons get disturbed. We sighted a Black-naped Hare on the way. We did see a few Nilgiri Wood Pigeons. Then, went in search of flycatchers, without much luck. There was one NLT that hopped on to the path and was foraging for leftovers.

Nilgiri Laughing thrush

There were plenty of Grey Tits, and many a times were so close that it was within minimum focus distance of 1.8meters! Slightly away from the crowd, sighted a bird that was frequenting a spot. I decided to hide near a fence and wait for the bird. It was close to 9am and we had to leave to Kabini. But patience of waiting there for half an hour yielded good dividends. I was able to capture this pretty bird with a prey (of some larve?).

Grey tit with a prey

Just as I packed up after this shot, got a call from Shreeram. Hurriedly had breakfast and left towards Charring Cross, from there to the bus stand to pick Shreeram and towards the land of Leopards and Elephants, Kabini.

Getting down the Ooty hills from Kalhatty Ghats got a close view of Black Eagle, and this Chestnut headed bee eater.

Chestnut headed Bee Eater

Despite the weekend-crowd, big hue and cry about Ooty getting very commercialize, I totally loved the place once again. The good thing about being commercialized is I get to have a Dominoes Pizza in Western ghats. :)

Yet, there are so many off beaten places yet to be explored. Though 2 days seemed enough initially, Ooty has lot more places to explore and worth spending time. It’s awesome to trek for hours at Crain hill forest reserve or explore the valley around Wood house. To quote Prem about Wood house area ‘ Come back feeling like a kid who has just been given an icecream.’ Maybe I’ll get to go sometime soon.

Thanks to Prem for his incredible compilation of birding spots at Ooty. Without his efforts, access to some lesser known spots wouldn’t be possible.

That’s all folks! Watch out for big mammals from the backwaters of Kabini.

On non-professional Canon bodies such as EOS 450D (Rebel series), 40D, and 7D, Auto-focus doesn’t work at aperture f/8 and higher. So, I had to use manual focus. The results were very impressive. Here’s for you to see:

Captured with 100-400 @ 400mm without TC. Full Frame Image. Click on image for full resolution (900 X 600)

Captured on 100-400 + 2X extender (teleconverter) @ 800mm. Full Frame Image. Click on image for full resolution (900 X 600)

EXIF:

First image – Canon 100-400mm @ 400mm, Canon EOS 450D, Auto-focus, ISO-200, f/5.6, 1/1600s.

Second image – Canon 100-400mm + Canon EF 2x II Extender @ 800mm, Canon EOS 450D, Manual-focus, ISO-200, f/11, 1/400s.

I don’t believe in tests under controlled conditions where you use a sturdy tripod and test pattern. What matters to me is what I get in the field. And I am impressed with the Image Quality, Sharpness and Contrast produced on the new 2X extender and Canon 100-400mm combination. Many a times I have heard that zooms don’t perform well when used with a teleconverter, but this trial has proved it otherwise. If I can get this kind of sharpness and Image Quality, I love the flexibility of a zoom lens.

Here is a 50% crop of the image captured with a 2X TC.

50% crop of 800mm view (full resolution – 700×467)

I did not put up a 100% crop because, the image was not as very sharp as you can get on a frame filling 100% image on 400mm lens. I didn’t want do excessive sharpening to give an appealing image. Also, I felt it is not fair to put a 100% crop when the conditions used to capture the image were far from ideal – hand holding with support of a car window to manual focus at 800mm and 1/400 shutter speed. If you use a sturdy tripod, I definitely think the results would be much better. I also stopped down to f/13 and captured few more frames, and it has come out even sharper.

Bokeh or Depth of field – Shooting at f/11 takes away the advantage of the bokeh you expect to get on a 800mm lens. It is almost same as what you get on 400mm at f/5.6 (obviously so?).

The catch of course is where can you get the luxury of shooting at 1/400s shutter speed at f/11 aperture at ISO-200. Definitely not in 80% of the situations I shoot in. It is best suited to open grasslands, lakes, coasts, and similar spots with good lighting. Also, not suitable for birds that are very agile. Most raptors maintain their distance and don’t move much. So, ideally suited for photographing such birds.

It is best to have a longer lens if you want to shoot far away subjects, but for those who want to try a longer reach without shelling out a lot of money, this works decently. Though I haven’t tried out the older Canon 2X extender, I have heard it is not very good. But the version II of the 2x extender definitely is worth a look.

P.S.: I have not done excessive post-processing to give a impressive image. As I always follow, only the very basic post-processing steps of levels, saturation, and USM have been used.

Continuing on the unexpected trip – Read Bharatpur story here.

Sunday morning left early from Bharatpur, and reached The Taj Mahal at Agra in an hour. Google maps worked incredibly well to help us reach the rear end of the Taj Mahal, from the side of Yamuna river. I had checked with Peevee regarding visiting from the river side and had great expectations to shoot the reflection from the river. As Benjie says ‘Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.’

I was disappointed as we were not allowed to get closer to the river bank. Despite the news of heavy rains, the water level wasn’t high. A barricade is set up and a bunch of policemen patrolling the area do not to let anyone closer to the monument from the other side, at least not the tourists. Also, the sun rise was somewhat in front of us. A stupid mistake that I made thinking east was to Taj Mahal’s left but missed the sun’s movement in solar cycle. Anyway it was fantastic to witness the Taj again – from a slightly different perspective than I had viewed more than a decade earlier. After photographing from the rear end garden for  an hour, we headed to the main entrance by 10:15am to photograph the Taj Mahal in the typical full frontal way.

As i jostled the Sunday morning crowed  and stood at the entrance with full view of Taj, a foreign lady beside me cried ‘Wow!’. That sums it up. The symbol of love, Taj Mahal, is truly wow.

Symbol of love in color looks as beautiful as..

Symbol of love looks in monochrome

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National Chambal Sanctuary – Chambal river safari at Dholpur

After a late breakfast by 11:45am at a ridiculously expensive restaurant in Agra, we left to Dholpur. The road from Agra to Dholpur is in excellent shape and doesn’t take more than an hour to reach Dholpur. The Chambal Safari boating run by MP tourism is close to the bridge, after Dholpur, on Agra-Gwalior highway. I had talked to a boatman at the place the previous night. Some IAS officer were to arrive on the same day we planned to go, and he warned me that I might not get any boat safari. Since I had only that day to spare, I took the chance and thought of walking along the banks to photograph Skimmers if we can’t take a boat. Talking to Rajeev Tomar was  helpful in getting the confidence to take this chance. Who knows when I can visit Chambal again!

At the boating point, we were told boats are booked for ‘saab’. One of the staff gave me the phone number of the officer who had come with an entourage that would take all the 5 boats. Thankfully, on my request, that person agreed to let us take a boat for couple of hours. What an incredible 2 hours of boating it was!

The two hours of boating from 1:30pm to 3:30pm  on the Chambal river gave me the sight of a variety of Birds, mammals and reptiles -  Skimmers, River Lapwings, Black Bellied Tern, Bar headed Geese, Ruddy Shelduck, Comb Duck, Black Winged Stilts, Gharials, Muggers, Turtles, Gangetic Dolphins and more! Though I could only manage few glimpses of endangered Gangetic Dolphin, I could get photographs of many of the avian and reptilian species in the fantastic riverine habitat.

Starting with few variety of birds:

Black Winged Stilt

Ruddy Shelduck – pair

Comb Duck ( female) in the turquoise blue waters

River Lapwing  roosting on single leg

Gery Heron – ready to take off

Black-Bellied Tern – roosting

Next, the reptilians. Chambal river is home to the reptiles mugger crocodiles, a variety of turtles and the critically endangered Indian Gharials. Chambal river is without doubt the best place to sight the Gharials. Their population was in such bad state that they were in the verge of extinction. Thanks to the efforts of conservation organizations, they are making a strong come back. One can easily sight a gharial swim and bask around the Chambal river now. By the time we returned from the boating, Rajeev had arrived at the place. He then took us to Gharial Rearing Centre. Illegal fishing, inadvertent destruction of breeding sites and habitat destruction are major threat for their survival. From the banks of Chambal the rearing center collects eggs, and hatches them in incubation. The young gharials are fed with fish and taken care till they are about 6 months old, when they are let into the wild. Most of the Gharials you see on the Chambal river are from this rearing center. I was lucky to hold a young Gharial. Though they look naive, their razor sharp teeth can make enough damage. We also saw young Indian tented turtles at the rearing center, and a huge adult basking in the sun on the river while on boating safari.

A young Mugger Crocodile basking in the sun

Adult Gharial basking with its eyelid closed – notice the tag on its tail

Indian tent turtle (Pangshura circumdata) is one of the 8 species of turtles found in Chambal river

And then there were Skimmers – the target species for my trip to Chambal. Initially we saw a pair skim momentarily and fly away. Soon, we saw over 30 skimmers on the banks. They were in no mood for fishing and were roosting on the banks. They get their name because of the style of their fishing – the bird flies just above the water skimming the water surface to grab any fish if it comes in the path. Check this image of Mario Goren to see how they fish.

Indian Skimmers in flight

Indian Skimmers roosting with head tucked under wings

Indian Skimmer flock – it was difficult to get a portrait of single bird with so many around, until..

until this one obliged for a portrait

Later in the evening, after a round of chai at Rajeev’s house, we were back at Taj to do some night photography. Lest I knew that there were street lights put at the foot of Taj, even on its rear side, I’d not have made the futile effort of going there. Later that night, returned to Bharatpur – and next day, from there to Delhi and then to Bangalore.

I would like to thank and dedicate these photographs to Rajeev Tomar for giving me confidence on making the short trip despite the boatman suggested me otherwise. It was the most enjoyable and productive two hours of photography. Also, thanks to Rajeev for taking me to the Gharial rearing center, which I had no idea about until I went there.

A totally unexpected trip to Delhi turned out to an exciting weekend of travel and photography. Though this was a very short trip, I have lots of things to write. So, I’ve decided to split the trip into Bharatpur in part one and Taj and Chambal in the next. After a delayed IndiGo flight, I reached Arun‘s house in Delhi past midnight. Next morning, after finishing my work, we were on way to Bharatpur by 11am. Stopped over at a road side dabha for parantas – I loved ‘em, despite a dead fly in Arun’s plate. :)

Route: Delhi -> Faridabad -> Mathura -> Agra -> Bharatpur

Distance: 180km; Driving time: About 4 hours.

We reached Bharatpur by around 3pm and drove straight to Keoladeo Ghana National Park. Thanks to Arun Bhat, I had contact of a good guide. Had contacted Captain Singh for guiding and he was on the park entrance waiting for us with a spotting scope. He showed a Collared Scops Owl right on a tree right at the entrance.  Hired a rickshaw and briefed Kaptaan what we expected to see. Were looking out for Dusky eagle owl, but first up, sighted a Grey Nightjar. Soon located a  resident Dusky Eagle Owl. She was tucked away in her roosting spot. What a beginning! Two fantastic lifers. As we moved on our way, sighted a Golden Jackal and many Herons, Painted Storks, and Cormorants. Photographed a Painted Stork fishing, had a glimpse of Bluethroat and watched the popular small blue kingfisher dive a few times. Long tailed nightjar was on my list and were lucky to sight it. The habitat at Keoladeo Park is breathtaking. One can only wonder how fantastic it would have been in it’s pinnacle!

Later, Moved towards the temple of Keoladevi. We were watching hundreds of ducks – Comb duck, Ruddy Shelducks, Pintails and few others. It was not a good opportunity for photography as they were far away for any decent shot. A lone pair of Saras Cranes were on the far end of the once glorious wetland. Just then our rickshawala called out that he sighted a Black Bittern. We ran towards the spot. From far, had a good look. Just as we inched closer, the bird flew and hid in the reeds.

By then dusk was setting in, and we started back. Photographed a pair of roosting Ruddy Shelduck at the evening on the way back, while chalked out the plan for next two travel-crazy days as we got out of the park. Checked into RTDC Saras – a reasonable priced cozy place to stay  at about 500 meters from the entrance to Keoladeo Park.

The next day was spent in Agra photographing Taj, and few birds at Dholpur side of Chambal river. Returned to Bharatpur for overnight stay.

On Monday morning, the target species were Saras Crane, Black Necked Stork, Siberian Rubythroat, Oriental Scops Owl, Painted Snipe and Little Green heron. First up, Captain to us to a place outside the park where Saras Cranes are expected to be seen. After nearly an hour of driving back and forth, we had not sighted Saras Cranes, but a few Grey francolins, and 3 Egyptian Vultures. I was getting edgy and wanted to get back to the Park. Maybe we’ll get them there. As we were driving back, I was deleting few images to make space in memory card,  Kaptaan said ‘Saras Crane‘.

Excitedly, we got out and slowly approached a pair that were feeding in the fields. We made images as we approached, slowly and carefully. The lighting was just perfect – brimming early morning  sun behind our back and minimal mist. I was content with images I could capture. I got closer and closer to get a portrait. Just then, the pair started their courtship dance and song. Saras cranes mate for life and they share an incredible bond with each other.

It was the most incredible romance to see. I fired as many shots as I can. The courtship ritual ended in both the birds getting close to each other, singing and looking up into the sky. Just as they ended the sequence, I fired a shot and my camera displayed ‘memory card full’. My mind read, memories forever.

Saras Crane courtship dance – Bharatpur

Back at the Keoladeo park, we headed straight into the first check post in the car – I was running short of time as I had a flight to catch from Delhi that evening. Started looking for Siberian Rubythroat. After 15-20min of patient motionless-noiseless waiting, male of the tiny bird made a few brief appearances in the undergrowth. I could clearly see the ‘ruby’throat.  Spent another 10min waiting and captured an image I was happy with. Then, hired a rickshaw there and spent the next two hours looking for Little Green Heron and Oriental Scoops owl, without much luck. But we did see a Black necked stork pair. Also sighted a Greater Spotted Eagle. While getting back, tired to get male of Dusky Eagle Owl but without success. By about 11:30am, left the park to check for Greater Painted Snipe in the nalas of Bharatpur. We did see the bird, but wasn’t a good photo opportunity. It was getting late and had to leave the place. We left for Delhi by 1pm, and headed straight to airport. Reached Bangalore home at 11:55pm, ending a power-packed, short, unexpected but memorable trip.

I spent only 2 hours in the evening on first day and 4 hours in the morning on the last day. Yet, I could see a variety of species. Despite being in a great hurry, I could manage few decent photographs. If you spend 2 days, you can make a plethora good of images.

Here are few more images:

Siberian Rubythroat – A sulker in the undergrowth

Jungle Babbler

Indian Pond Heron – Has the patience of a saga to wait and catch its prey

Pink algae at once glorious wetland habitat of Keoladeo Ghana National Park – Bharatpur

.

Unexpected invite. Fun and frolic. Denied attempts. Super meet and an awesome race. Eager expectations ended January.

A smoother sail, or so it seemed. More accesses denied. A silver lining – totally unexpected.

Impulsive decision and the visit. Exceptional beginning. Sulking in the experience. Eye on longer plan. Sense of troubled immediate future. Trouble.

The search. The exciting discussions. Search. Unexpected offer. Confusion. More offers. Pseudo expectations. Lots of trips. The end.

Confusion. Price paid for expectation. Agony. Annoyance.

Escape to hell with short sight. Smooth beginning.

Getting stuck. Getting it out in the favorite place. Fun.

Effort. More realistic approach. Lot of effort. Chill. Opportunity. Lessons and anticipations. Missed November post.

Macaqueing unleashed. Acceptances. More scope for opportunity.

Cold and the wonder. Decision making in the process, on both ends.

Turbulence.

..

Anticipation and hope.

and yes, waiting for future me! :)