India! Grey Heron and Great Egret with lots of ducks and others at Saltanpur
Grey Heron, Great Egret: Saltanpur National Park, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — Despite being often shrouded in the mirk of greater Delhi, the wetlands at Saltanpur are a vital resource for ducks, waterfowl, waders and other water birds, and home to a large herd of Nilgai antelope. I am always amazed at the resilience of nature. In this one image you can see three large waders, Black-necked Stilt, Painted Crane, Swamp-hen, and at least a few species of ducks. And the back end of a Nilgai. I had to work on it to draw the content out of the haze, but it certainly demonstrates how rich an area Saltanpur is for birds. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
India! Indian Pond Heron
Indian Pond Heron: Sultanpur National Park, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — This was not the first, but my first good shot, of what seems, in hindsight, like at least 30,000 Indian Pond Herons we saw in Rajasthan. The Indian Pond Heron is very like the Squacco Heron of Africa and a few places on the Iberian Peninsula. The white wings in flight are very distinctive. Turns out they are a very common bird in India! Sony Rx10iv at 591mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 500 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Costa Rica! Torrent Tyrannulet
Torrent Tryannulet: San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica, December 2022 — The Savegre River has carved a sharp steep valley out of the Pacific side of the Talamanca Mountains which has become a major birding destination for it relaiabe population of Resplendent Quetzels. But of course it it rich in other mountain and cloud forest species as well. The Torrent Trannulet is one of the most specialized flycatchers in the world. It needs fast flowing, tumbling, rocky river beds with the cleanest water…just what the Savegre provides. You can generally find a few between the lodges at the end of the road where it runs next to the stream. They are not always as cooperative as this one which we found right under a bridge. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/1000th and 1/640th. Minus .7EV Wide shot, iPhone SE2.
India! Indian Spot Billed Duck
Indian Spot Billed Duck: Sultanpur National Park, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — We were to see Spot Billed Duck in almost every open patch of water larger than a village tank every where we went in Rajasthan. (And I think they only avoided the tanks because they were usually clogged with floating plastic bottles.) Certainly the most common duck in Rajasthan. A really a beautiful bird! This one came close enough so that I could pretty much clean the murk out of the image and present the bird as it might have appeared on a somewhat clearer day. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 400 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus .3EV.
India! Purple Sunbird
Purple Sunbird: Sultanpur National Park, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — When I visit Africa one of my favorite groups of birds to collect is sunbirds…so bright and so present, and so many kinds. There appear to be almost as many different kinds in India, but only a few have wide distribution, and only one of those is in Rajasthan where we spent our time…and, in fact, the second most common sunbird in India looks almost identical, in the males, to the Purple. So Purple it is for Indian Sunbirds. We did see them frequently. This was our first encounter, and closest, at Sultanpur National Park. We have here a male and a female. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. Male: ISO 640 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Female: ISO 800 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Costa Rica! Back for more Quetzal
Resplendent Quetzal: San Geraldo de Dota, Costa Rica, December 2022 — Though I am back from India now and have a lot of photos from India to share, I never finished working through my Costa Rica photos, so I will be posting random second helpings of the Pic for today to finish up that adventure. And what better bird to return to than the Resplendent Quetzal? These again from our second early morning session with the Quetzals. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 6400 and 2000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
India! Little Cormorant and Back Drongo
Little Cormorant and Black Drongo: Sultanpur National Park, India, March 2023 — Sultanpur National Park surrounds a large wetland which attracts all kinds of birds. The Little Cormorant seems to be the most common Cormorant in Rajasthan, and the Black Drongo is certainly the most common Drongo in India. They seem quite neighborly here, just hanging out in the morning, waiting for the haze to clear. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 1000 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus .3EV
Oriental Magpie Robin
Oriental Magpie Robin: Sultanpur National Park, India, March 2023 — One of the most common birds of the Indian countryside, the Oriental Magpie Robin is in fact wildly distributed from the Himalayas south through India and west to the pacific shores of China and Malaysia. It is a perky little bird with a large repertoire of songs…even imitating the calls and songs of other local birds. It used to be classed with the thrushes, but is now considered an “old world flycatcher”. Even the deep morning mirk of Sultanpur could not diminish the joy of this bird. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 10,000 @ f4 ! 1/500th. Plus 2EV. ISO 2000 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus .3EV.
Brown-headed Barbet
Brown-headed Barbet: Ashok Country Resort, New Delhi, India, March 2023 — Though we were to hear the monotonous single note call of the Brown-headed Barbet where ever we went in Rajasthan, the best view any of us had (if you can call this a good view), and certainly the only photo I was able to get (if you can call this a photo), was right on the grounds of our first hotel in Delhi…the Ashok Country Inn. Though it says “country inn” it was well within greater Delhi…an old “farm house” converted to a hotel as so many of them have been. It took me some time and some questioning of our local agent to figure out that “farm house” in India has a very different meaning than in the west. The English would call it a “country house” or “stately home”, and if we were in Maine, we would call it a “cottage”…an equally inappropriate name for the 14 bedroom summer estates where the women and children of the railroad and steel barons, and the great industrialist and merchants of the late 1800s retreated from the heat and bustle of the city for the summer, and their husbands visited by train or steamship on weekends. The Brown-headed Barbet on the other hand, is indeed brown headed. It calls endlessly, incessantly, all day, more frequently as the temperature rises, and its call carries form the high tree-tops over a great distance. This one had come down somewhat lower just at dusk a we were headed in for our first dinner as group and the light was failing, hence the poor image. Our guides must have pointed out its call a hundred times in the two weeks we were in Rajasthan, but we never saw another one. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 2500 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus 2EV.
Tiger close-up
Tiger: Rathambore Tiger Reserve, Rathambore National Park, Sawai Madhopur, India, March 2023 — A crop-in from a 600mm image taken from across a pond in Zone 10, for a portrait of Tiger. This is T 99, Aiswarya, a young 5 year old female who just had her first two cubs this year. The cubs were safely hidden in the brush and not to be seen. We found her right after entering the Zone on our afternoon drive and spent most of the afternoon watching her rest and move gently in the shade. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 1000 @ f4 ! 1/500th. Plus .3EV.