Wednesday, 12 October 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Birds of Curtorim Lake, Goa - September 2016

Goa, a lovely place and where I have spent my beautiful 12 years and still I had not photographed single bird till September this year. Frankly speaking, I always thought wildlife was just animals or mammal, but once it stuck, birds are also a part of wildlife and they are not to be ignored at any costs. From then on, I never missed a chance of photographing birds may it be Goa or Karnataka.

This Ganesh Chaturthi, I was at home and thought could go and click few birds and who knows might get some exotic birds or migratory birds. So I sped off to the nearest lake, Curtorim lake. Oh, I stay in Margao, the 2nd big city of Goa, first one being the capital of Goa - Panjim. So the first bird of the day was beautiful Grey-headed Swamphen , the next bird was Baya Weaver Bird.

Weaver birds are known for the nest they weave and they are marvellous, the way they weave is just an art to admire and that particular nest will help you spot them. The weaver birds found in India are called Baya Weaver. They are very small birds like sparrows.and they feed on different types of insects.

That particular morning, apart from Swamphen, I could not spot any other birds at that time, so I moved on a little further towards another lake and on the way spotted the nests and then there were like 6-7 nests and like 12-13 Baya Weaver birds. They were busy feeding and maintaining the nests. Both male and female were constantly working hard for their family. They would a long distance and come back with food for their babies and would feed them in such a way, which from the spot I was clicking, could not see it clearly and they would go in the nest upside down. For us it might look little unreal but for them its their everyday work. I was their for more than like 20 mins and could very well see the way they were working and we think we only work hard, but every animal or bird works hard for their living. It is the part and parcel of their life or routine.

Here are the images:


































One can easily see the nests and the upside down acrobat. They are very tiny but beautiful birds and are admired for their art of weaving such beautiful nests.

Next I found the Red Wattled Lapwing and in pair. They are lovely birds with mixture of red which extends upto teh beak and black with a white patch which runs down upto their belly and lastly the legs are yellow. The name Red Wattled comes from the wattle they have in front of their eyes. They are basically found in lakes, swamps, grasslands and ploughed fields. They are very vigilant and give out loud chuckles like "did-he-do-it" and hence sometimes called as Did-He-Do-It birds. These chuckles help as an alarm calls and hunters were tired of these birds.

So when I found them, they were very quiet and were having their breakfast of insects, snails or invertebrates.

See the images here:














After I had enough affair with Red Wattled Lapwings, I saw the Common Kingfisher, it was sitting and looking out for fishes, here is the image:













Last but not the least, saw this beautiful Red vented Bulbul, it can be easily identified by the crest over its head which gives the face a  squarish look. It is really a beautiful bird with a red tuft at the rear oart of the body. It can be found in the Indian Subcontinent. it can be found in dry scrubs, forest areas & civilised places (where I found it). It builds its nest around 2-3 m high and lays normally three eggs in one nest. It breeds from June to September.

I found it sitting on a branch of a tree, here is the image:


Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Grey-headed Swamphen, Goa 2016

Goa, the place to enjoy the life to the fullest, and that even reflects from the lifestyle of the people of Goa (me included). Yes, my whole education, graduation, first job & PG has been from Goa, I have spent my 12 beautiful years here. I love Goa because of it's people and the beautiful place it is.

Goa is a small state of India, located on the western side and adjoining the Arabian Sea, which is popularly known as the Konkan Coast. Konkan area starts from the Maharashtra side to Goa to the North Karnataka. Since, it is a part of Western Ghats, the biodiversity has to be there of birds and animals.There are many birds you can find in Dr. Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, a lot of variety of birds can be found including the state bird of Goa - Yellow Throated Bulbul.

This Ganesh Chaturthi, a grand festival where we bring home Lord Ganesha with all pomp and grand celebrations. Every household brings the idol of Lord Ganesha was one and half day, three days, five days or full ten days, depending upon the reverence or vows you have taken while bringing the Lord Ganesha home. After the set days, the idol of Lord Ganesha is immersed in the water, so that he can return quickly next year, This festival is celebrated all over India, but mainly in Maharashtra & Goa.
So this year's Chaturthi I was at home in Margao, Goa, though we do not bring home the idol of Lord Ganesha, but we go to friend's home or relatives who bring lord home. So I decided to go to the nearby Curtorim lake to spot some beautiful birds and took my Nikon D7100 with Nikkor 300mm lens with me.

Curtorim lake is few kms away from my home and it is very vast & beautiful lake, the first bird I got was Grey-headed Swamphen. Grey headed Swamphen is a subspecies of Purple Swamphen and it can be found in Middle East, full Indian Subcontinent and China as well. It is a very beautiful swamphen with red beak, purple-greyish body. It makes loud chuckles to impress the female swamphen. The taxonomy has been just changed from Purple Swamphen to Grey-headed Swamphen, it has been divided based on the different types of colour of Swamphen, found in different countries of World.

When I was trying to spot my first bird of the day, this colourful bird appeared from nowhere and I could not stop admiring it, till I got a call from dad stating, there is one more nearby and I thought wow! this bird just made my day. When I saw it, it was just curiously staring at me and my camera. I thought it might get disturbed, but it was quite bold and beautiful and was still there only after I left.

Check the image here:





Tuesday, 27 September 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Mudumalai Tiger Reserve - August 2016

I was totally disappointed with the safari arrangements made at Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and tourism department of Tamil Nadu needs to develop it as they take you in canter and will drive a round of say 5 kms and back! If you get anything it is your luck and duration depends on sightings. The employee's reply itself says that they are doing us a favour by taking us on wildlife safari. So it was like wastage of time and money both though charges are not much. I was so disappointed and my friends who accompanied me were visiting a wildlife safari for the first time and they also were also not happy from the safari we had and we then decided not to take anymore safari here at Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.
So we were returning back to our home stay De Rock, when I saw elephants walking on my right side and told Rohit to halt the car and there was commotion about something and police was also present. After sometime I saw police apprehending two people and putting them into the car, after which the traffic was cleared by the police, then I got the chance to click both mother and baby elephant and then it struck me that she was protecting her, hence she trumpeted to warn the people who were walking up to them to click their images. The Mother Elephant was very angry and was trying to hide her baby calf, but I did click an image where the baby calf just came in between mother’s four legs. Take a look here: 


Since the light was less, I could not get better image than this and it was clicked with Nikon D3200 and Nikkor 70-300mm lens. She was so angry and the baby calf was afraid even to come out because of us who are educated and still do not understand that they are wild animals and they are not governed by rules, hence if they attack out of self defense no one can help you in this case. Hence make sure you do not break forest rules and try to enjoy the sighting from a safe distance. 

I would like to narrate an incident which took place when I visited Bandipur for the first time in April 2012, I was with my family and into the first safari, where we spotted a herd of Elephants with a calf of 7 days and I could feel that Mother Elephant was uncomfortable with us watching them, now in my jeep there was a couple who had put on a strong perfume and had forgotten to switch of the flash. These were the two reason for the Mother Elephant to charge towards us, though they were mock charges, but what if she had given a real charge and our jeep driver was also frightened which could be seen from the way he started the jeep and in a hurry to drive it out of elephant's reach the jeep could not start, now I was all the more frightened, but those were mock charges hence we were safe! This little experiences teach us about do's and don'ts of Jungle Safari. Every briefing about the wildlife safari will be about the do's and don't's , one needs to pay full attention to it, and learn from other's mistakes. Do not tease wild animals and they will not harm you is the basic rule and one needs to keep that in mind every time you are in wild.

I'm really sorry, could not get many images, but I promise next trip will have amazing images to mesmerise you all! Next trip is to home in September, Goa where I can get Kingfishers, Weaver birds & many more. See you till the next time. For more stay tuned !

Thursday, 1 September 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, August 2016

Honestly my this trip to Masinagudi was to spot the Black Panther, but as we all know that precious things we do not get so easily, so this trip was incomplete as I did not get to spot Black Panther.
Masinagudi trip was planned a month earlier & there were many additions & then deletions, but lastly ‘Hum Paanch’ (Five of us) were left from 10. Five of us were Sandeep, Sumit, Lingraj, Rohit & Yours truely.  So we took one of our friend’s car & left on Friday the 12th August 2016. It was my first trip with friends, & I wanted it to be the memorable one. The plan was to stay at Masinagudi for 2 nights & then move to Ooty, Coonoor & then back to Bangalore.

The route plan was to go through Bandipur National Park, I had my camera ready & this time it was NikonD3200 with Nikkor lens 70-300mm, now the reason for not going to the higher models, the weather played the major role in deciding the model. It is really a very user friendly & it helps you to learn a lot. This was supposed to be my first all night trip & the longest road trip so far.


So we started on 12th night & we reached Bandipur at 4:15 hours & we had to wait because the gates would happen only at 6:00 hrs. So we had some clicks & then I took out my camera & was ready to take the first picture of the trip.




By 6:30, we were through the gate & we saw both side, huge herds of Spotted Deer, then came Bison & Elephants, & by 7:00 hrs we were into Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, TamilNadu. Beautiful l&scapes & lovely narrow roads, we could see the huge Nilgiri Range & by 9:20 hrs, we reached our destination De Rock, Masinagudi.


Our plan was to go for evening safari & after lunch we started towards the ticket counter which was 6-7 kms away from our homestay. On our way, we saw 7-8 cars spotting something & I told Rohit to go ahead & see & to our left we saw an Elephant, could not be picturized as it was way far & lots of bushes & parallel to it was the National Animal of India, The Royal Bengal Tiger, again way far & could only be seen half of it, before it went into the bushes. Probably, a 15 mins earlier it had crossed the road where the cars were halted, as it is rightly said ‘You need to be at the right spot at the right time’, holds true in this case as well, had we been a little earlier or a lot earlier, we would have got it or again missed it respectively.
So we reached the ticket counter & we saw a almost a huge crowd of 100 people, excluding us & to my disappointment, only two canters & the timings were from 2 pm to 6pm & I asked the counter person, “what would be the duration of Safari?”, he replied “ depending on the sighting”. & I knew this was not my type of safari & we got our chance around 18:15 hrs & we only saw deer as everyone in the canter was excited to see the deer & lastly saw an Elephant, which was old, lonely & almost on the verge of natural death. Then we saw the National bird of India, the Peacock & it was beautifully sitting as if a statue was placed there, that made my day. Apart from Spotted Deer, Elephant & Peacock, no other animal was spotted & we returned to the ending point.
We decided to take a trek next morning & moved towards our home stay, when we saw a huge traffic & a female Elephant having supper. Obviously, there was traffic & police had caught two people, who were drunk & had gone near the Elephant & her calf to take the images. Now the worst case would have been, the female Elephant would have trampled them & some cars here & there would have been flung in anger & ruthlessness of the huge animal, which would be a fitting reply for such stupid act of few educated illiterate people. Luckily, police was on time & caught them, saving a lot of trouble, otherwise the Elephants would have even flung our car, though we were not at any fault & I was able to take some images from moving car.The irony was that we saw more animals outside of the safari zone than in the safari and we decided not to go for anymore safari. 

Thursday, 11 August 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Elephants, Bandipur 2016

All eyes were trying to spot the National Animal of India - The Tiger, when one of them whispered a beautiful pair of Elephants! The eyes moved in the direction where this beautiful pair of Elephants were dancing looked like..............


Bandipur has always been one of my favourite wildlife destination, and yes I spotted my first Tiger here. It is a forest full of wildlife diversity and people love coming here, especially those who are wildlife and photography enthusiasts.

Bandipur Tiger Reserve is situated in Mysore, & Chamarajanagar districts of Karnataka. Kabini and Bandipur are separated by the Kabini river, which plays an important part of thriving the wildlife in the forests of Bandipur, Kabini and Wayanad. Bandipur has been a place where the tiger sighting has been regular and not to forget the Prince or the Alpha male tiger, which will definitely meet you the next time you go. Leopard and Bisons are also quite regularly sighted along with birds like Crested Hawk Eagle, Crested Serpent Eagle, Hoopoe, Shikra and many more. 

This is about the encounter I had with the most mesmerizing mammal - Elephants. Elephants are the largest mammals living on land and are divided into Asian Elephants & African Elephants. They can be found in Africa, & South East Asia. Asian Elephants can be divided into Sumatran, Indian, Srilankan, & Borneo. 

Elephants are herbivores and they normally prefer to stay near water and tend to move away or avoid to cross paths with the predators like Tiger, Lions, Leopards or Wild Dogs. This is because, the new born calves are more vulnerable than the adults. So even if any body nears their calves, they either charge or move away from that area. Elephants socialise in groups and in such a way that new groups can get mixed into the other group and thus they adjust themselves. Everyone helps each other and they are lead by Matriarch . The males separate once they reach puberty and then they go with other males. The group first makes calf safe and then they deal with danger, such is their culture and they do not stand any nuisance. It is said that they can run 1 km  while chasing someone.

I and Elephants have a history, for my first visit to Bandipur and the first animal we encountered was of a family of Elephants which had a baby just one week old. We were just admiring the cutie when some flash caused irritation to them and the Matriarch just made the calf and mother safe and charged, unfortunately our jeep did not start, luckily ti was just a mock charge! Phew! it was very close. That was my first wild encounter of Elephants and such an adventurous welcome to Bandipur I received back in 2012.

This time we saw a huge tusker just on the way to Bandipur's forest gates, unfortunately the images were not good, but as we moved in on the evening safari, So our eyes were itching to spot Tiger, when the naturalist whispered Elephants! Our eyes moved to the direction where he spotted a mother and calf dancing as it look like ............... Or She was trying to tell them that "we need to welcome them as they are admirers and not the killers, they are our defenders and not the destroyers. Welcome them baby, C'mon do not be shy!, " We need to save them, they are on verge of extinction, I would like to tell you all, please do your bit in saving these beautiful creatures.

Please see the image here :















Next we moved little further after trying to get the calf to welcome us, and we saw another lovely herd of Elephants again, now it was a huge group with adults and calves all together taking sand bath and trying to cool them from teh scorching heat. These mammals will not do anything, if you do not harass them and people take them in wrong sense and then they perform atrocities on them and thus these beautiful mammals are on verge of extinction.

Please check the image here:














The next day evening safari, we were trying to search the mother and calf pair, when we spotted calf's father as well with them and they were standing to welcome us like the last day, this time they were more cautious, but it was Kodak moment, relish the image here................












Bandipur has lot of resorts and forest guest house as well. The best option would be Jungle Lodges & Resorts , they have their own jeeps and canter to take around the wildlife enthusiast to the forest and the Forest departmetn has the facility of canter to take around the wildlife enthusiasts around the forest. The duration is the difference, the duration or timings are morning from 6:30 to 9:30 hrs and evenings 16:00 to 18:30 hrs and JLR's jeeps and canter take you around for the full 3 hrs in morning and 2.5 hrs in evening, while Forests department's canter will take you around only for 1 hour round and will bring you back. If you wish to take the Forest department's vehicle, book the ride in advance to avoid last minute hassles. The Forest department's website is tariff plan and safari plan by the Forest department.


Thursday, 21 July 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Barking Deer, Kabini Dec'15

Kabini or Nagarhole, my favourite forest, it just takes you to some other world all together. Once you visit Kabini, you will fall in love with it. Kabini's wildlife diversity is so vast, that every time you go, you will still be amazed by it. People often say to me,"Nimit, why do you go again and again to Kabini? ", the simple reply is it still makes me fall in love with it and every time I see something new. This is what makes it more serene, pure, misty and full of surprises. Every turn will give you a surprise, it might be a leopard (trademark of Kabini), a tiger or simply a Crested Hawk Eagle, but you will never ever be bored of Kabini.

The Nilgiri Bioreserve is seperated into four forests by the Kabini river , namely Kabini backwaters, Bandipur National Park, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary and Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary. One might not be surprised, that Kabini Backwaters is the reason for such diverse and magnificent wildlife.

Jungle Lodges Resorts  are the best option for any forests stay in Karnataka, yes most of the time it is full and you need to book in advance, apart from them there are many and for more you can contact me on bhattnimit79@gmail.com and I will help you with more options.

Barking Deer or Indian Muntjac is a very shy animal. It will be appropriate if I put it this way, more shy than deers. They are not used to the people seeing them from the safaris.

The Barking Deers usually give calls especially when they sense a predator approaching the area or when they are in danger, but these calls resemble barks and hence the name "Barking Deer". All the Muntjac species are called as Barking Deer.

As I said, JLR has the right to conduct safaris in forests other than government, they have open jeeps 6-7 seater and canters for 15 people. So they have moer than 5 jeeps and 3 canters. So the forest is divided into two zone Zone A and Zone B. The routes are given by the team leader Mr. Prasanna and then the jeeps move into their respective zones. Some paperwork has to be done and then you are into teh magical forest of Kabini. The timings change due to the change in seasons. In summer it starts from 6:30 am to 9:30 am and in evening from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm and in winters, the timings in morning are from 6:30 am to 9:30 am and in evening its from 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm. For more one can check with JLR
We were into our evening safari and we had booked in Jungle Lodges Resort only, as they have the right apart from government vehicle, to conduct safaris in forests of Karnataka. So after futile search for predators, we came near a waterhole, thinking we might spot some predator, but to our surprise, the Barking deer came out and we did not waste time to take few images of this beautiful creature, before it vanishes into the bushes. The landscape with lush green vegetation and waterhole in fromt of it and the reflection of it falling in the river. It was really a beautiful and the wildlife photographers had satisfaction down to the core of their heart, after clicking the images of Barking Deer.


Please see the image here:

Barking Deer - Kabini 2015













Saturday, 25 June 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Brown Fish Owl, TATR, Dec'14


Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve is India's second most tiger population, after Ranthambore National Park. Its a heaven for wildlife photographers. Tigers, leopards and even many birds you can spot. It has a huge area and many gates from where you can drive in. The timings are 6:00 hrs to 11:00 hrs and 15:00 hrs to 19:00 hrs, depends upon the season.

Tigers as they say are spotted regularly. Wildlife has been flourishing since December 2014. Two years and many new cubs are born and this year's summer has seen an amazing wildlife being spotted and also in new generations of rulers of the Central India's forests. New wildlife sanctuaries have come up like Bor Wildlife Sanctuary, Nagzira Tiger Reserve, Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary and the most flourishing one is Umred Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary, these are in Central India. Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary is yet to open to public, but it has started and few farm houses nearby do give facility of Jeep Safari. Sathyamangalam is from Tamil Nadu and shares the Nilgiri Bioreserve.

Brown Fish Owl is a nocturnal owls like others, but can be seen in day as well. It has ear tufts coming out like horns on its head. It normally preys on fishes, but can feed on lizards, rats, snakes and sometimes large rodents as well.

It sits on tip of the tree and focuses on prey and then pounces on it. It is not very easy to spot them as they are best camouflagers and can easily camouflage sitting on a tree. One might not be able to spot because their eyes are closed and that's even fools it's prey and predators. .


Now we were in the morning safari, when we saw the sub adult Brown Fish Owl giving various poses and it looked as if it was angry with us and was showing off and was sulking even. The images will itself speak ..........................


























Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Wild Nimit

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Nimit Bhatt 500px

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Nimit Bhatt

Friday, 10 June 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Streak Throated Woodpecker, Kabini Dec'15

Streak Throated Woodpecker is one, which does not shy away from photography. It is a small bird with red crown, green back and white colour bellied woodpecker.

Woodpeckers are very easy to find, as you can hear them pecking into wood from long distance as well. Their pecking is so powerful, the way they peck into the wood will give you chills. This beauty was pecking the wood and we could hear it from a distance.

We reached at the spot and found a pair but soon females left and I could get the image of the male only. This was taken at Kabini in December 2015, we were into evening safari.

Kabini is a river and a corridor where the Nilgiri Biosphere is located which comprises of Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Nagarhole National Park and Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. Nagarhole National Park is located on the kabini back waters which runs through the park. It is famous for leopards, tigers and recently for Black leopards. It is an ideal place for wildlife photography with the landscapes and natural beauty.

Here is the new addition in my Wildlife and Wildlife Photography blog.........................














Streak Throated Woodpecker, jungle_tales - Nimit Bhatt

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - FB

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Streak Throated Woodpecker










Thursday, 9 June 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - White Throated Kingfisher, Kabini Dec'15

Kingfisher are very cute and small found abundantly everywhere in India. It is a very common bird, but there are few varieties like Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher, a very colourful kingfisher. It is like God has put all the colours of the world into it. Rest are common kingfisher and White Throated Kingfisher.

Kabini is my favourite spot for holiday. Kabini offers everything a wildlife photography requires. Kabini is situated in Mysore, Karnataka. Kabini is 250 kms away from Bangalore. Jungle Lodges Resort is a quasi governmental organization which has rights of vehicles to enter into Wildlife Sanctuary or National Park.

It is always advisable to stay at Jungle Lodges Resort or JLR, as it is commonly known as. Even the people staying in different resorts need to come to JLR for jungle safari. This is only in Karnataka.

Birds are abundant in Kabini. Its a heaven for bird photographers. CSE, CHE, Brown Fish Owl, Vultures, Kingfishers are very common in Kabini.

We were into the morning safari and yet we didn't spot anything significant and then this White Throated Kingfisher was actually flying around and then it sat on a branch and this was the shot I took. This was in December 2015.




















White Throated Kingfisher, jungle_tales- Nimit Bhatt

White Throated Kingfisher

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - White Throated Kingfisher, Dec'15


Wednesday, 8 June 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Wild Dogs, Kabini Dec'15

Kabini is a heaven for wildlife photography and photographers. It has everything you need for a good photography. It has greenery, beautiful birds, predators, elephants and the weather. It has got three predators namely, Tigers, Leopards and Wild Dogs.

Wild Dogs are called Dholes in India. They remain in packs and make sure they do not get left out. Their thinking is "United we stand, divided we fall". Whatever they do, they do it in their pack. When they are united, no one can touch them and they are ferocious, but a singular is afraid of the predators lurking around.

Their way of hunting and strategy, one needs to learn from them. They always have a strategy to hunt and everyone co-operates. One who does not, he/she will have to leave the pack. The leader is an Alpha male or the dominant Wild Dog. Everyone needs to follow his orders.

This was a group of 15-20 wild dogs playing on the Jungle Track.















jungle_tales - Nimit Bhatt

Nimit Bhatt - 500 px

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Wild Dogs, Kabini Dec'15

Wild DOgs - Kabini December 2015

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Jungle Owlet, BR Hills Dec'15


Jungle Owlet is a type of Owl found in Indian Subcontinent. It is small in size and looks very cute. BR Hills in Karnataka is famous for Wildlife Photography, but mainly birds. Brown Fish Owl is the main centre of attraction.

This Jungle Owlet was sitting on a branch with a good scenic view and the light was little dark. I could capture this cutie as it gave enough time and was patient with my photography. This was at BR Hills in December 2015. This was taken in morning safari.














Nimit Bhatt - 500px

jungle_tales - Nimit Bhatt

Jungle Owlet - FB

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Jungle Owlet, BR Hills, Dec'15

Jungle Owlet - BR Hills December 2015





Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Yellow Footed Green Pigeon, Kabini Dec'15

Yellow Footed Green Pigeon - State Bird of Maharashtra - a state of India, Mumbai is the capital of Maharashtra and Financial capital of India.

These birds are very cute, well We (my parents & brother) were on our family trip to Kabini in December 2015. Kabini is a very lush green forest and known for its wildlife. Kabini is known for leopards, it is said you visited Kabini and could not spot a leopard - no chance, so we did spot leopards both in morning and evening safari. We could not spot Tiger - once again.

We were trying to spot Tiger, though it was early morning and fog had set in - bad situation for spotting, we came across these Yellow footed green pigeon. Lovely and attractive birds they are, there were total 5 of them, and then a pair flew and sat on a branch.

Another addition to my Wildlife and Wildlife Photography Blog

Thursday, 12 May 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Jackal, Kabini Dec'15

This was in Dec'15, we were on our family trip to Kabini, BR Hills and Bandipur. We were into our last safari - morning one and then we had to move to BR Hills. Kabini had this time given us a surprise with the Leopards and Wild Dogs. We had done some good photography of wild animals and nature as well.

We were assigned Zone B, the moment we entered we saw this cute little Indian Jackal or Golden Jackal staring at us curiously. All the poses it gave blended well with the nature and forest, in short the poses were good for Indian Jackal's photography.

Indian Jackal are small wild animals which feed on deers and other antelopes. They are usually found in packs. One who gets separated from group usually forms a relationship with tigers. They are on a considerable distance from them, but they live together and feed on tiger's kill once tiger is done. Not every Jackal gets the chance to form such relationship, only that Jackal who shows considerable self confidence, and can move in and around tigers comfortably. Even animals have to show self confidence !

Also this image of Jackal featured on +AnimalsinHD   - Instagram

This was with us for long time, here are the photos - Wildlife and Wildlife Photography Blog........ 

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https://twitter.com/BhattNimit

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Indian Jackal - Kabini December 2015

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Jackal, Kabini Dec'15

Wednesday, 11 May 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Crested Serpent Eagle, BR Hills Dec'15

Another addition to my Wildlife and Wildlife Photography Blog , me and my family were on vacation and we had a plan of visiting Kabini and then BR Hills. So after our stay at Kabini and spotting Leopards and Sloth Bear, we moved to BR Hills.

BRT Hills is known for birds rather than mammals, though it has Tigers, Leopards and Wild Dogs. It is mainly known for different owls. We were into our first safari, and we spotted this Crested Serpent Eagle, it was not in proper light, but managed to click few pics. For bird photographers, BR Hills is heaven.

Crested Serpent Eagle or CSE, are abundant here and in Kabini as well. It was lovely to spot it. It eas giving nice poses for us. 

Here is the pic of Crested Serpent Eagle......................




Tuesday, 10 May 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Indian Gaur, Bandipur Dec15

Me and my family were on family vacation and we visited Kabini, BRT Hills. we were returning from BRT Hills on 25th Dec 2015, the manager at BRT hills said to us that we should visit Bandipur as the tiger sightings are going on. He told us to try our luck, we said we will try. We did visit Bandipur Tiger Reserve, we missed tiger by 1 min and my wait to see my first tiger still increased till this year in March 2016. To our luck, my first date with tiger which happened at Bandipur this year in March 2016.

Bandipur has got lovely wildlife, it has got abundant deer families, which is a good indicator of healthy food chain. It is a dry forest, gaurs, elephants and deers will be seen in abundant, along with one deadly predator Wild Dogs.

So when we visited Bandipur in December 2015, we did see this beautiful Indian Gaur. These are found almost in all the jungles of India. They weigh from 650 kg to 1000 kg. They are dangerous when they are teased. They can even fight the predators and on their day they can even kill them. One video went viral of gaurs fighting lions.

So we were into the forest and we bumped into a herd of gaurs, where one was a huge gaur and was looking straight into the camera. I did click few of them. It was very ferocious and was intensely looking at us and then suddenly it ran and we thought it was towards us, but it changed the course and ran into the waterhole nearby, maybe due to fear. But, if it was to bump us, it would have been a very deadly collision.

Have a look at this huge Gaur - Wildlife and Wildlife Photography blog ...............................











Saturday, 7 May 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Bandipur Trip, March 2016

This was at Bandipur, March'15,we were into our fourth safari, and we got a tip that there is a sighting of leopard. We immediately sped off in that direction and we saw this leopard on the tree having breakfast of deer and it was there for almost 30 mins and gave us good time for photography. As soon as more vehicles dropped it went down into the bushes.

Our naturalist said to wait and it will come back, all the other jeeps and buses went to the other place. We waited and to our surprise this leopard, just jumped from the bushes onto the tree and vanished into the bushes on the other side.

Before it vanished, I got this shot - Wildlife and Wildlife Photography Blog..................


This was clicked from - Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200mm lens


https://www.instagram.com/nimit_bhatt/


I'm also attaching the same Leopard on the tree picture just for the reference - It was clicked from Nikon D4S, Nikkor 600mm lens.

Leopard, Bandipur 2016 - jungle_tales - Nimit Bhatt

Leopard - Bandipur March 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Bandipur, March 2016

Saturday, 2 April 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Sloth Bear , Kabini Trip ,Dec 2015

It was our lucky day as we might say, we were waiting at the Tiger Tank - name of the place in the A zone of the forest of Nagerhole National Park or Kabini. We were waiting for Tiger to come out of the small opening and to our surprise, A Sloth Bear came out and it is shyest animal of all the animals. It is very rare to be spotted, rarest then the Tiger. Many photographers want to spot it, but very difficult to spot.

It came out to have water, while we waited for it to show its face, it was looking as if the bear was angry from us. Then, at one second it showed its face and it was lovely and most cutest animal ever seen (Panda is yet to be seen).

It was black and furry and a patch of white in its face in round shape. Its eyes were shining and within a fraction of second it went away. It was a small meeting, but will remember till the end of my life.

Sloth Bear are very shy animals, they normally do not like to be disturbed and are very lazy as well. Their photography is very difficult to take, but sometimes miracles too happen,

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Leopard, Bandipur, March 2016

Let me tell you, In India, we have four predators found - Lion, Tiger, Leopards and Wild Dogs. Asiatic Lions are found only in Sasan Gir - Gujarat. No other country has got this pride of having Asiatic Lions.

Tigers are found in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Kerela, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and in East India. Leopards are found all over India, same as Wild Dogs as well or Dhole as they are known.

We were into our fourth safari at Bandipur on 26th March 2016 morning, we entered with the hope that we do see Prince, Leopard and Wild Dogs. We were capturing the images of Crested Hawk Eagle or Changeable Hawk Eagle, when we got a tip saying a Leopard was spotted. We sped off in that direction.

We saw like 6 vehicles converging in one place and were pointing towards a tree in opposite direction. Then we saw a Leopard some 100 mtrs away on a tree having breakfast of a deer.

It was a beautiful sub adult leopard, shiny fur and was looking very intense while having break fast. He had managed to take his prey on the tree all alone. It gave few poses while eating and then it went down the tree into the bushes.

Our naturalist said that lets wait because he has not gone very far and it will come back to the tree, as they do not leave the prey unprotected. After 15 mins, it came from the backside of the vehicle and I managed to click a picture (yet to be processed). It went into the bushes never to return not even in he evening.

Please do have a look at this Leopard pics - Wildlife and WIldlife Photography Blog .......................































Leopard, Bandipur 2016 - jungle_tales - Nimit Bhatt



Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Prince, The Unsung Hero of Bandipur, March 2016

Please welcome the Hero of Bandipur - Prince, a handsome 12 yrs old charming Tiger. Brave and most feared Tiger of Bandipur.

We were on our first safari at Bandipur on 24th March 2016, around 6 pm we were capturing a bird when we saw a jeep and a bus speeding off in one direction, obviously we were curious and wanted to know what were we missing on, we sped off in the same direction. On the way we came to know a Tiger was spotted in one area called Katte.

Now my heart was pounding, as my dream of seeing a Tiger was about to come true and this was around 6 pm in the evening. We were the last jeep to arrive & ahead of us were 3 jeeps and a bus. I was ready with my Nikon D750 70-200m lens to shoot the lovely animal.

Two minutes later, Prince - Tiger, the national animal of India makes the entry in the frame. The light was low and it was a perfect timing where he entered. Lovely, majestic and just out of a muddy waterhole. It was having a majestic walk and marking its territory and gave us a time for lot of photography and I was thrilled and awestruck though I did capture some fantastic images of him. At one moment, he just looked at me and suddenly my hands and legs were stuck at one place in the jeep, as he was just 5 mtrs away from the jeep.

Well after his act of marking his territory was over (of which I have the images), he just retreated in the bushes never to be seen again in that evening.

What an animal ! Majestic and I was like did it really happen ! We cannot go and pinch Prince to see whether he was really there or not. But, that safari I will never forget in my life. It was my first sighting of Tiger ever ! I had missed narrow chances of spotting it in Kabini and Bandipur earlier in Dec 2015.

Again, we saw him on 26th March 2016 eve, from the bushes coming out and then sitting lazily. He made few sounds to call a female as our naturalist said. He then went into the waterhole and was there till we left around 2 hrs. That was the most scenic picture I could have.

My trip ended on 27th March 2016. It was the most memorable one, though my brother was missed a lot.

Prince - the Hero of Bandipur: He is 12 yrs old, has fought five fights and has killed Tigers which were powerful than him. He fought his last fight in March 2015. He was not seen till November 2015. He was weak and had lost his two cannines, which meant he now could not hunt Gaurs which he used to before fight and his favorite food. Now, the forest department officials say, he can survive one more fight and maybe after that we may not see him again.

Now, he is the owner of his territory and two tigers are roaming in the periphery of the Jungle and waiting for him to die or fight him to claim his territory back.

Here are the pictures of Prince our Hero, and we might not know, will we see him next time we go or not ! - Wildlife and Wildlife Photography................















Monday, 28 March 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography -Bandipur Trip 2016


 

This was at Gopal Swamy Betta hill, me and Rupesh had gone to the hill which was not far away from Bandipur.
Its a lovely place, this place is such a point that you can see the three sanctuaries i.e. Mudumalai, Wayanad and Bandipur converging.
You can even see herds of Elephants down the valley, the road to it has been stopped as it is too dangerous.

This was the pic taken from Samsung Galaxy J5 - Wildlife and Wildlife Photography Blog


Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Bandipur Trip March 2016

This was a small trip planned 2 months ago and this time bro was not travelling with us.
We are avid lovers of Wildlife and Wildlife photography is my dad's and mine hobby. I even blog about it - Wildlife and Wildlife Photography Blog - Nimit Bhatt.

This time, I wnated to spot a tiger, because it was long wait and this time I wanted to break teh jinx. Well, I did spot the tiget and in the first safari itself.

This was clicked en route to Bandipur - Wildlife and Wildlife Photography Blog



Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Leopard, Kabini, Dec 15

This was a trip with the family in December 2015, we decided to go to Kabini and BRT Hills in Karnataka as I work in Bangalore, this was nearer.

We were hungry of seeing the Tiger and Leopards and Kabini is known for Leopards.
We did see the Leopards both in morning and evening safaris. In morning it was on the tree and it was an awesome sight and believe me once you will see the picture, you will know what I'm talking about.

Leopards are mostly found on trees, lazily lying around, having food or just sitting on the tree. They say to spot it, try to spot a crocodile bark tree with a low and strong branch and then spot a hanging tail - Leopard. This leopard gave us an exclusive time for photography. It first turned around, gave poses and then it just went down, crossed the road and into the bushes. This was in the morning safari at Kabini - Zone B.

In the evening safari, we were just returning to the base, when we spotted a sub adult leopard, walking towards our jeep, we again got the chance to do exclusive photography of it. It was not bothered by the presence of our vehicle and others as well. It was lost in its wildlife world, it was playing and was still there, but we had to move, as it was getting late.

Pls see the imagesof both the Leopards - Wildlife and Wildlife Photography Blog ...................

Nikon D7100
Nikkor 300mm lens



























Leopard, Kabini Dec'15 - jungle_tales - Nimit Bhatt

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