Ghost Crabs

Genus Ocypode, these are called Ghost crabs of their ability to disappear from sight almost instantly. Their once Claw is generally larger than the other. I had been to Ullal beach, Mangalore where I spotted these small crabs. Finally, it's a break from posting birds in the previous many posts.
They take in oxygen from the water that washes over their gills, hence they need to get frequently washed by the surf.It was a thrilling experience tracking these crabs and getting larger than life images of them.
All images clicked with a 300mm lens; ISO 200; f/5.4 The setting sun provided the warm red tones.

Eurasian Spoonbill

This photograph was supposed to have been uploaded, in a previous post but due to oversight missed it out. So uploading it today as a new post rather than amend the old one.
Photographed at the Ranganathittu bird sancutary, the crest is acquired by the bird during its breeding season.

Bronze Winged Jacana - Adult

Today I managed to spot an adult Jacana, it was pretty far from where I was perched, but felt good nevertheless. I will try to get a better shot at the bird soon, but seems like the juveniles are more camera friendly than the adults.
I learnt today that the female Jacana is polyandrous, a very rare breeding system in birds. Hence in this case a female will copulate with multiple males, but lay eggs for only one of them.
Nature truly is amazing, the more I learn about it, the more ignorant I feel.

Bronze Winged Jacana

Its been more than a month since my last post here. I have been busy with my captains exams which I finally got done with, hopefully I can now get back to what I most enjoy doing.
Navi Mumbai is a hot-spot of wading birds, and in one of the swamps I spotted these Juvenile Jacana's (Metopidius indicus). I was surprised at how comfortably they walked with their enormously elongated spider like toes. The widely spreading toes help to distribute the birds weight and helps it to walk along with ease over floating leaves and stems. I could not spot an adult today, may be some other time. I stayed at a far off distance since it appeared to me that the birds were wary of my presence. I seriously felt the lack of a longer lens today or at least waterproof boots to walk in the swamp.

Yellow Legged Gulls

Continuing from my Previous post. Cant write much in todays post because of severe time crunch on my side. I enjoyed clicking these photographs, hope you enjoy viewing them.

Yellow Legged Gulls

As we were departing a Greek port, my ship was surrounded by hundreds of gulls. They were trying to catch fish, which were pushed up by the ships wake. Most of the Gulls were these Yellow Legged Gulls (Larus michahellis) and found it a great opportunity to photograph these flying beauties.
Will feature 3 more photographs in the next post too.These birds were formerly considered a part of the Herring gull family and they do look similar to Herring Gulls. Adults have darker grey backs and wings than herring gulls and have more black in the wing tips than herring gulls.

Siberian Stonechat

In January I had featured a Female Siberian Stonechat,that had landed on board my ship.Today I was fortunate to encouter the male bird (Saxicola maurus)
Photodetails : 300mm, f/5.4, 1/250 sec, ISO-100