Wildlife & Wildlife Photography - Indian Scops Owl, Ranthambore Tiger Reserve - December 2016

Our guide Mr. Shard Sharma whispered - " Sir, there is Indian Scops Owl" & all the eyes turned towards the far tree............................................

Ranthambore, the land of tigers! Ranthambore National Park is different from the lush and evergreen forests of South India. This was my first time in Ranthambore, it was all together a different experience. It has a different terrain from the South Indian jungles. It is a deciduous forest, which is quite open and rocky. It has got some beautiful landscapes, which one cannot miss. It has two mountain ranges meeting each other - Aravalli & Vindhya hill ranges, thus creating one of the best landscapes in India.

Owls - I still fancy seeing them, but yes when I was on the way to Ranthambore National park, I had few targets apart from Tigers & Leopards, I wanted to photograph Owls. RTR did not disappoint me in terms of Owl, the first one I saw was Brown Fish Owl, I apologize for not having any images, as it was morning time, low light & it flew as we approached it on the way to third zone. 

So I was in my 5th safari & this was in the morning, I had no luck spotting any big cats. Since, I had no luck spotting the big cat, I was looking for Owl, as I had missed clicking Brown Fish Owl, so RTR had to compensate & it did, that too in style.

Indian Scops Owl
One common thing about all the owls is  their camouflaging abilities. They know very well to camouflage and blend in with the surroundings. This helps them to be safe from their predators and catch their prey easily. As we know, they are nocturnal and hunt in nights while sleep with one eye closed during days.

Now it was morning safari, as usual looking for the pugmarks of Arrowhead or leopard or sloth bear, we were very happy to see the pugmarks which were of Arrowhead, but alas the ending was very sad, as it had just gone in from the four roads. Now, I thought this was it and another dry safari, but there was a happy ending to the morning. We were passing through the forest path, when our guide Mr. Shard Sharma, suddenly whispered, "Sir, there is an Indian Scops Owl", & pointed towards the tree and believe me it was perfectly camouflaged, one cannot easily differentiate between the bark and the owl. It was beautiful, but asleep and we waited till it opened it's eyes, then we had good amount of time to capture it. Owls do not like noise or commotion, & they love being alone so as to avoid getting disturbed by people and thus they have the best camouflaging abilities. 

Again a small note and advice to young generation - Please save forests and save wild animals. Avoid making sounds during the safari, this in turn will help your guide and driver to spot the wild animals & give you a better chance to photograph them. SAVE FORESTS & SAVE BIRDS and ANIMALS!

Here are few images:

  

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:

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 !

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.

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