Black Kite

Sometimes Photographing animals in action and to anticipate their movement ,forces you to think like them. I was following Kites around my house for two days and I got a fairly good enough idea of their movements to frame this photograph.

TRIVIA: The HSBC series of 1000 Hongkong dollar currency notes have a Black Kite mascot on them.

Chocolate Pansy Basking in the Sun

Spotted this Chocolate Pansy or Chocolate Soldier (Junonia iphita) butterfly basking in the sun. Nothing spectacular about the photograph itself, but what I liked was the fact that I was able to completely blur the background. Using maximum aperture does blur the background but never found it to my satisfaction. This picture I clicked with the Macro mode on and f/4.5 aperture. Though the photograph was not was a macro picture, using macro mode suitable blurred the background making the subject stand out.

Brahminy Kite

Got a opportunity to Photograph this Brahminy Kite Fishing in the Netravathi river. The conditions were not ideal for Photography like this , with overcast sky and light drizzle, but its tough to let one like this go.Taking off after getting hold of a prey.

The bird did catch something, probably a fish and perched itself high up to relish on its hunt.


The bird is also known as the Red-backed Sea-eagle.

Striated Heron

A Green Striated Heron Ready to grab a fish out of water. The water has got a silky appearance becuase of the slower shutter speed, which was needed in fading light. Because Herons stay still awaiting their prey, the bird does not show motion blur, inspite of slower shutter.
Although not apparent in this Photograph the bird has a greenish black crown/cap.

Weaver Ants Communication

Photographed these weaver ants as they were entering their nest. Photographed in Macro mode with the inbuilt flash. You can see the flash being reflected in the eye of the left side ant.

These ants are known for their communication and nest building behaviour. Weaver ants are social insects that have complex bio-chemical communication and make elaborate nests out of living tree leaves and of course not to forget their painful, irritating bite.

f/8 , 1/50 sec , Sony DSC H7, Macro mode

Kingfisher

Again Photographed it in Fading light. Also Kingfisher is a very shy bird and is very difficult to come closer to it, without scaring it. It is generally advisable to Use a larger Aperture when photographing Birds, this gives you a option of using a faster shutter and also blurring the background and isolating the bird.
This is a Common Kingfisher and lives entirely upon aquatic creatures. Photographed in Mangalore

Free Ride- Jungle Myna

A Jungle Myna taking a free ride on this Jersey Cow. Had to Photograph this in fading light, though the aperture was at max still the slow shutter created a motion Blur. The only option was to boos the ISO, which I generally resort to as a last option. f/4.5 , 1/13sec , ISO 200
The South Indian variety like this one has a blue Iris

Spotted

Another Unrecognised Bird I spotted yday in my backyard.
P.S. : Again a few visitors to the blog have helped me out here. The bird happens to be a Female Asian Koel.

FeedingFlower of the Coconut tree

Although this bird looks like a Yellow Bellied Chat, I dont think it is the case. Well if you can Identify the Species please let me know. Spotted this Sweet one, feeding on the flowers of the coconut tree in my backyard.
P.S. :Many visitors to the blog helped me identify this bird as Purple Rumped Sunbird. (Special thanks to Prasanth Narayanan

Oriental Magpie Robin

Birds Eye View?
A visitor in my Backyard. Photographed in Sony DSC H7 F/L: 78mm Aperture: f/8 exposure: 1/13 sec

Red Footed Booby in action

Swooping Down
This birdy must have assumes the shine on my camera lens was a fish, and swooped right on me. I had to take evasive action and so did he.




Photographed these lovely birds when they were hunting fish, Sea gulls are very camera friendly, and they always give a good Poise when Shooting them.

P.S. : Thanks to Mr Prasanth Narayanan,Who Identified the birds as Red Footed Booby {sula sula} (and not seagulls as I had mentioned) a sea bird mainly living on Fish and Squid.

Flying Fish

Its really tough to photograph flying fish. The cameras Auto focus fails, because of the poor contrast. I had to Use manual Focus, pre focus it, and pan the camera to prevent blurring of fish due to movement. They flyout of water and within a few seconds they are gone.So need to be rally quick in framing the image.