Sarus Crane: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — It was late, after 5PM, and we were still deep in the refuge. The sun was setting. The light was failing. We were well out on dyke birding the marsh on both sides when we heard cranes in flight calling and turned to see a pair of Sarus Cranes coming right at us and just above tree top level. Not much hope, but I had to try. You have to right? I did not have time to zoom out, so as the birds passed over I just fired off a burst of shots and hoped for the best. I do have my Birds In Flight settings programed to a button so I was able to switch on the fly, so to speak. This is not the best ever, but it is the best shot I got. 🙂 These are huge birds. Long wings. Heavy bodies, and tall…the tallest cranes on earth at over 5 feet. I had to pull detail out of the shadows in this very back-lit shot, but overall I am happy with it. You don’t get many chances at a shot like this, especially if you are only in India for two weeks. Sony Rx10iv at 591mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4.5 @ 1/1000th.

White-breasted Waterhen: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — There are several birds at Keoladeo which are adapted for walking on floating vegetation. One of the most common is the Waterhen, which is, at least in the park, relatively fearless. We saw them right next to and even up on the road. In fact, not to spoil a future post, we hand fed one who was enamored of our trail mix. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 561mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 320 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Immature Black-necked Stork: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — Not our first Black-necked Stork, but considerably closer than the ones we saw from the road on our way to Bharatpur. This is an immature bird. We saw a LOT of immature birds of many species at Keoladeo. 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.

Bar-headed Geese: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — Keoladeo is winter home to a fair number of Bar Headed Geese. There are lots of things of note about the Bar-headed Goose. It migrates to and from high mountain lakes in central Asia, flying through and over the Himalaya Mountains at elevations up to 14,000 feet, in temperatures as low as 0 degrees, sometime through 300mph headwinds. Their blood chemistry is adapted to extract more oxygen than your average bird. They can fly up to 1000 miles in a single day during migration, flapping all the way. They run so hot and are so well insulted that ice can not form on their wings, even at the highest elevations…and they fly strongly enough so that a they can fly through strong cross-winds without being blown off course. Now that is some goose! And yet to look at they don’t look like super-geese…they are, in fact, kind of elegantly attractive. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Bronze-winged Jacana: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — One of two possible Jacanas in Rajasthan, but, interestingly, in a different genus than all other Jacanas…a genus all its own, as it is its only member. Also interesting, I think, is the fact that references say the “carpal spur”, the wing claws, on the Bronze-winged Jacana are reduced to nubbins on the wing…but this bird has very prominent spurs…scary looking! ??? I did a bit of poking around on the internet as I prepared this post, and I can find no references to spurs like this on the Bronze-winged Jacana. Again ?? Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Red-wattled Lapwing: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — I know we already had a Red-wattled Lapwing photo yesterday, but we did see a lot of them, and I like this pair. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 591mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 125 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus .3EV

White-fronted Kingfisher: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — Ready for another White-fronted Kingfisher? I hope so. I have already said how many of them we saw in Rajasthan. Many! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 160 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus .3EV.

Indian Pond Heron: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — As I think I mentioned before, we saw Indian Pond Herons wherever we went in Rajasthan. They are by far the most common heron, and the most common wader. And they are always hunting. Of course, we did see one night roost, with more than 100 birds and birds still coming in…and they were done hunting for the day…but daylight hours are spent on the hunt. Sony Rx10iv at 477mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/800th. Plus .3EV.

Immature Black-headed Ibis: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — I don’t know if was the time of year, or what, but we saw a lot of immature birds, of all species, but especially waders, at Keoladeo. This is two different Black-headed Ibis (Ibi?) Sony Rx10iv at 527 and 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 160 and 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus .3EV.

Rose-ringed Parakeet: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — Rose-ringed Parakeets are everywhere in Rajasthan and in most of India right up the foothills of the Himalayas, and there is sub-species common across a wide band of equatorial Africa. Escaped and released birds have successfully colonized many European cities, much of southeast England, cities in the near-east, and in Florida and California in the US. They are cold hardy, and feed on the seeds and berries of forests, parks, and at feeding stations. In India the are a crop pest. They are more parrot sized than parakeet. At Keoladeo, they defend several nesting trees near the roads year round. They are very active birds, and while you see a lot of them, they are not easy to photograph. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 1600 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus 1.3EV.