The place I reside is blessed with our winged friends. If you are keen to see them you can find a variety of birds...... big & small, colourful & pale, chirpy & silent, etc, etc . When I started bird watching & photography, I didn't know the name of most of the birds I saw. I had no idea how to learn their names too. My search to find the name of a bird led to a wonderful site called Trek Nature. In fact, I started taking photography seriously after I started posting my pictures in this website. My pictures were average, but there were a few who encouraged me and even gave me tips to improve my skill. Pankaj, Murali, Satish, Amar, Goutam, Rathika, Ram, Jean.... I have met most of them and I am proud to say that they have become my dear friends. There are those I have never met like Loot, Anna, Jane, Annick, Alexei, Ivan, Ulla, Lucamarini, Thomas, Rick, Bob , Bayram to name a few. Though we came from different countries, different cultures, different backgrounds, there was one thing common to all of us - our passion for wildlife photography! And it was and is a strong bond that binds us all.
As I said my first experiments with photography happened around my home. I happen to come across an article in a newspaper about Birds and it also lead me to an ornitholo0gist who officially introduced me to the world of birds. He recommended books , the field guides to help me through the identification of birds. If I am stuck, I only had to mail the pictures and he will identify them for me.The acquaintance with him also led me to a field guide, quite good in his profession. I made my first trip to photograph a bird in wild with him. In Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary, you will find a bird called Srilankan Frogmouth. It's a nocturnal bird and very elusive. We had to take a small walk until he stopped near a bower of dried leaves and vines. He asked me to wait there and suddenly got on all his fours to crawl into that thicket. After a few minutes he came back grinning saying, yes, there is a pair inside the thicket and I can go and photograph it. I was perplexed how I can achieve the task as the birds I was familiar with always flew off at the slightest disturbance. But my guide sounded confident and I crawled on my hands and knees with my camera around my neck to find these elusive birds. At first I could see nothing but dried leaves and vines. It was very hot and sultry and I was feeling very uncomfortable on my knees inside that thicket. My guide was giving me a string of instructions to spot the birds and suddenly I spotted them. I would say it was a sight worth going down on your knees. Nature always astonish us with her brush strokes at camouflage. This time, she has excelled herself with these creatures. This is what I found......
I guess if it was not for the eyes, I would have found it very difficult to spot them. These birds spend day time roosting over some dried twigs or thickets and some times even on solitary branches and sit glued to the spot so as not to attract any attention. The 10 or 15 minutes I spent their taking their pictures and studying them, they didn't even flutter their eyelashes so to speak. But if they are awake, they will watch you , your movements and it is amazing to see how only their eyeballs move and not even their head. We saw two pairs and a single female that day.
As I said my first experiments with photography happened around my home. I happen to come across an article in a newspaper about Birds and it also lead me to an ornitholo0gist who officially introduced me to the world of birds. He recommended books , the field guides to help me through the identification of birds. If I am stuck, I only had to mail the pictures and he will identify them for me.The acquaintance with him also led me to a field guide, quite good in his profession. I made my first trip to photograph a bird in wild with him. In Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary, you will find a bird called Srilankan Frogmouth. It's a nocturnal bird and very elusive. We had to take a small walk until he stopped near a bower of dried leaves and vines. He asked me to wait there and suddenly got on all his fours to crawl into that thicket. After a few minutes he came back grinning saying, yes, there is a pair inside the thicket and I can go and photograph it. I was perplexed how I can achieve the task as the birds I was familiar with always flew off at the slightest disturbance. But my guide sounded confident and I crawled on my hands and knees with my camera around my neck to find these elusive birds. At first I could see nothing but dried leaves and vines. It was very hot and sultry and I was feeling very uncomfortable on my knees inside that thicket. My guide was giving me a string of instructions to spot the birds and suddenly I spotted them. I would say it was a sight worth going down on your knees. Nature always astonish us with her brush strokes at camouflage. This time, she has excelled herself with these creatures. This is what I found......
I guess if it was not for the eyes, I would have found it very difficult to spot them. These birds spend day time roosting over some dried twigs or thickets and some times even on solitary branches and sit glued to the spot so as not to attract any attention. The 10 or 15 minutes I spent their taking their pictures and studying them, they didn't even flutter their eyelashes so to speak. But if they are awake, they will watch you , your movements and it is amazing to see how only their eyeballs move and not even their head. We saw two pairs and a single female that day.
These were taken in 2007. Three years back, I was entrusted to provide subject matter for the information boards of Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary. We were asked to provide pictures also for the same. Our friend Anil Kumar contributed most of the pictures except for two of them- Black Baza and the Sri Lankan Frogmouth. We had asked the field guides to inform us as soon as they have a sighting of the Frogmouth. By the time we had upgraded our equipment and had a Nikon D3 camera. It's a wonderful tool to shoot at low lights. I and my husband Anil went to take the picture. During summer, the sanctuary remain closed to visitors because of the elephants. Scarcity of water in the forest bring them to the sanctuary. Sometimes these elephants are known to create havoc for the visitors. That day we had to go deep into the sanctuary. The forest guides who were accompanying us was narrating the previous day's events- how there were attacked by a herd of elephants. They had to run for their lives. (Rule no.1 in visiting any forest. You must be a good runner and must know how to climb trees.) They were chased by a tusker and they took refuge under a small bridge. The elephant was not ready to retreat so easily. He stayed there, occasionally groping under the bridge with its trunk. The three of them scared out of their wits and huddled together praying for it to go. One guide showed us the place were they hid and the tree nearby which was uprooted by the tusker.
I am not ashamed to say that this story and the site took away all my courage. I was so scared that day. Our equipment were heavy and those who have gone deep into the sanctuary knows it is not easy to run over the uneven ground with loose pebbles and rocks. I still get shivers looking back. I called upon all the Gods I knew to protect us from elephants. That day I really thought was it worth to risk our lives and take the trek for that picture. Luckily, we did come out unscathed and with a beautiful picture. Who is to know the story behind picture of Frogmouth (taken by my husband) on the information board !!
I am attaching a habitat shot of the frogmouth taken on that day. See how cleverly camouflaged they are with their surroundings!
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