Posts in Category: Keoladeo National Park

India! Flying Foxes

Indian Flying Fox (Fruit Bats): Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — Not birds for today, but still flying creatures. These large fruit bats were roosting in a tree by the canteen at the end of the Keoladeo access road, right over the road. These are really big bats, among the largest bats in the world…weighing up to 3.5 pounds, with a body 8-9 inches long and a wingspan that can reach to 5 feet. Big bats! They do carry several diseases we can catch, and they feed on ripe fruit so fruit farmers tend to dislike them…but they may well offset any fruit destroyed by doing service as pollinators. That is still a hard sell if your income depends on your orchard. There must have been 20 in this roost. 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. +1EV.

India! Painted Stork

Painted Stork: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — We saw hundreds of Painted Storks at Keoladeo, and all but three of them were immatures. I asked our guide why, and he said the adults were all out in farm fields feeding during the day. We found these adults late in the day, as the sun was preparing to set. Perhaps they knocked off early for the day. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. 526mm equivalent @ ISO 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th, +.7 EV. 600mm equivalent @ ISO 640 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

India! Plum-headed Parakeet

Plum-headed Parakeet: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — There are only two parrot species regularly seen in Rajasthan…or rather maybe I should say “there are” two parrot species that can be seen in Rajasthan. The Rose-ringed Parakeet is super common and super abundant…but I had to look at a lot of Rose-ringed before I saw my first Plum-headed! And the two of them, both females, turned out to be the only Plum-headed Parakeets we saw on the whole trip. These two were very far away…in the top of a very tall tree, and a good ways down the road the way we had already come. This is a deep crop…the bird is tiny in the full frame. Still, it is one of only three photos I managed of Plum-headed Parakeet. 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. +1EV

India! One last Kingfisher…

White-fronted Kingfisher: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — One last shot the the White-fronted Kingfisher that was hunting the picnic area behind the canteen at the end of the Keoladeo access road the first day we visited there. Several times while we were sitting at the picnic table it flew down to probe the ground for grubs. That bill is a multifunction tool. Such an amazing bird! Sony Rx10iv at 595mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1500th.

India! Rose-ringed Parakeet

Rose-ringed Parakeet: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — I don’t think of parrots or parakeets when I think of India, but it turns out that the Rose-ringed Parakeet is one of the most common birds in Rajasthan. We saw them every where we went. A handsome bird…large by parakeet standards…the size certainly of a medium sized parrot. (Turns out the terms parrot and parakeet are at best vaguely defined.) Sony Rx10iv at 310 and 600mm equivalents. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 160 and 250 @ 4 @ 1/500th.

India! Green Bee-eaters again

Green Bee-eaters: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, May 2023 — I might have mentioned that I throughly enjoyed watching this pair of Green Bee-eaters hunting around the canteen at the end of the Keoladeo access road. I like bee-eaters, and have had a chance to enjoy them on three continents now. I have seen them in Hungary, Uganda, Kenya and South Africa…and now in India. Always a treat. Sony Rx10iv at 591mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th

India! White-fronted Kingfisher

White-fronted Kingfisher: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — A Kingfisher in the dappled light under a free standing tree in the picnic area behind the canteen at the end of the road at Keoladeo, showing off all its colors. 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. +.7EV.

India! Green Bee-eaters

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.

India! Pied Starling

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.

India! Hoopoe

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.