Green Bee-eaters: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — Besides our glimpses of Hoopoe, there were many other birds around the canteen at the end of the access road in Keoladeo. This pair of Green Bee-eaters were busy hunting the open area around the trees and picnic tables. Endless entertainment! And, of course, bee-eaters are among my favorite birds, whenever I am anywhere they are. 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.

Asian Pied Starling: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — Most of us in North America only have the common Starling to go by, but many of Starlings (or Mynas) are very attractive birds…albeit with the personality of a starling. 🙂 This Asian Pied Starling is certainly a case in point. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 125 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Eurasian Hoopoe: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — Right a the end of the access road, a long walk but easily reachable by rickshaw, there is a little canteen and picnic grounds and an isolated temple. In my two visits there it was always a great place for birds. They seemed to enjoy the lawns and the exposed trees. We saw Hoopoes several different places in Rajasthan, but they were particularly uncooperative as photographic subjects. This is the only one I managed a decent photo of, and only got 2 frames before it flew off. The Hoopoe is an interesting bird, odd looking certainly, but also taxonomically interesting. It currently occupies its own genus, with three species, Eurasian, African, and Madagascar, along with, according to some authorities, the wood hoopoe. The genus is placed in the same clade as the kingfishers, bee-eaters, and rollers. A consensus is developing that it really belongs with the hornbills, and some are resistant to whole three species thing…it might be only one species. Interesting, if you are into that kind of thing. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 500 @ f4 @ 1/500th. +1EV.

Greater Spotted Eagle: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — We saw a lot of Eagles, of several different species in our tour of Rajasthan birding hotspots, but this one that flew into a small island in the Keoladeo marsh, only about 50 feet from the road and our rickshaws, was the closest we got to one. He perched on a downed snag long enough for us to all get a good look and for me to get photos. That is a Painted Stork behind him. 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. Plus 1.3EV.

Common Kingfisher: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — Though outnumbered 10 to 1 by White-fronted Kingfishers, the Common Kingfisher is also present at Keoladeo. This one refused to turn around and show us the more colorful front side, so we have to make do with the amazing blue of the back. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f5 @ 1/1000th.

Purple Swamphen: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — A common bird of the marshes, and certainly common at Keoladeo. This shot gives you a good look at those huge toes, adapted for walking on floating pond and marsh vegetation. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Rosy Starling: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — This might have been our only sighting of Rosy Starling during our stay in India. Not close, but close enough! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f5.6 @ 1/1000th.

Indian Cormorant: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, Marc 2023 — The Indian Cormorant is not the most common Cormorant in India, at least where we were in Rajasthan. That honor goes to the Little Cormorant by a factor, if what we saw was typical, of 2 to 1. And, despite names, the Indian Cormorant is actually smaller than the Little Cormorant (as well as lacking that distinctive forehead knob). The bronze mantling is also quite striking in the right light. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 640 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus 1.3 EV.

Siberian Ruby-throat: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — We worked hard for this bird. It was hanging around the little trickle of water that flows under the road at the second entrance station at Keoladeo. But it was only seen every few days. We were there at the absolute end of its season in India. Most Ruby-throats were already on their way back to Siberia. This one bird was still around. We stopped for at least a half hour at the entrance station each morning on our way into the park…some used the restroom facilities provided, and one day we had chi from the little canteen around the back of the garage, while we looked for the bird, but it was only on our third day in the park that we arrived at the right time…and even then it took more than an hour for the bird to emerge into camera range. And because the bird had already been sighted that morning, we had pretty much the whole staff of the entrance station out helping us. When we found it, it was perched, kind o flattened out, deep in the brush with only a few windows that allowed a look or a photo. Not easy! Still, worth it for a bird we basically had only this one chance of seeing…and which, indeed, we only saw at Keoladeo. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 500 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus .3EV.