India Wildlife - continued

More pictures from the visit to the Indian natural parks:

India Wildlife

Out of all the wonders we saw in India, this has to be to exotic. Elephants is something you see in a zoo. You are not supposed to come across a family of them, just munching on leaves near the side of the road. But this was India, so here they were!

This mother had two more calves, but one stayed next to her almost the entire time:

Two more elephants were a little ways off, across the river:

This is one of the calves. We were able to come so close to it that with my lens, I just couldn't take a wider shot.

This is another common inhabitant of the natural park. Do you have a banana?

Well, if you don't have a banana, I am not talking to you...

This is one of my most favorite birds in the world. Just the name of it: Hoopoe (or in Russian, "Udod"). On one hand, it is very common in all of Europe, Middle East, and Asia. On the other hand, there is no other bird like it!

Can you see it? You can? Something must be wrong then. After all, it's a chameleon.

This handsome hawk is a Brahminy Kite. We saw a number of them in the air all over the places we visited, sometimes in pairs. Like bald eagles, they are fish-eaters. But this one was good enough to pose for us, as we circled him on a boat:

Native Americans call their version "snake bird". This Indian one is called simply Darter. It's a relative or cormorant, and it's so heavy that its entire body sinks in water when it swims. (BTW, the beak is so sharp for a reason - it catches fish not by trapping it between its jaws, but by spearing it. Don't believe me? Check out this post from Texas!)

The Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo is the most graceful bird we captured on camera:

Great Egret is a world traveler. There is a version (all belonging to the same species!) in every part of the world.

Little Cormorant before dinner:

Little Cormorant after dinner:

Indian Pond Heron:

Purple Heron:

Oriental Magpie Robin:

Birds with prey

It is always smoothing special to capture the moment of aftereffect of a hunt - the nature at its rawest and most exposed. It happens very rarely, requires a lot of patience, and a lot of just plain luck. This post is a compilation of such moments from the past several years.

The most graceful and imposing of US birds of prey like fish. Here we have an Osprey in the middle of its lunch.


Bald Eagles are mainly fish-eaters too. This one caught a trout in the Yellowstone river.


Kestrels are the smallest falcons in the world. Being small, their main prey is insects. This female kestrel was having a grasshopper for dinner in the Meadowlands.


This is anther type of a small falcon called Merlin. I caught him hunting at Fort Tilden in Queens in October. Here it is with a freshly captured yellowthroat.


Another Merlin, deconstructing a starling.


Moving on to hawks, the next two pictures are of a Cooper's Hawk in Cape Cod back in January. Cooper's are bird-hunting hawks that get along well with human habitats. This one was at the beach, where it caught a savannah sparrow (after a long and dramatic chase through the bushes).




Northern Harriers come down to the mainland US in the winter. Their main prey is mice and voles. This female caught a field mouse and was about to eat it when I flushed it.


Northern Harriers hunt during the day. When they are done, their place is taken by the Short-Eared Owls. During dusk and dawn hours, the two species interact. Most of the time, like in this picture, the harriers try to mug the owls and steal their prey.