Indian Roller
The Indian Roller is the state bird of karnataka. The background in this image is the nilgiri mountain range. Made this image after the rain stopped for a short period. Some trivia's about the roller
- Most of the times they are perched at a low position. Since their prey is mostly insects and frogs this helps.
- Considered a very bold bird. The forest fires when it occurs is the time when the insects get flushed out because of the heat and this bird is one of the species that dives into the smoke to catch insects without bothering about the heat.

This is the pied bushchat male. This guy came so close to the vehicle I could have actually reached and picked him up. The uniform background is because of the flat/leveled piece of grassland.

Bramhiny Starling
This is my best shot till date of this cute bird. Looks like he is day dreaming :) Made this image at Masinagudi.

Foothills of Nilgiris
Clouds intersecting the Nilgiri Range. Looks like the mountains block the movement of clouds and the clouds cut through or go over them. With constant mist generated by rains coming on and off the mountains which are completely visible within a matter of 30 minutes gets completely covered with fog/mist.

Nilgiri Range @ 18mm focal length


Nilgiri Range @ 55mm focal length

Life of a Little Green Bee Eater
- Identify a perch
- Sit comfortably and watch for flying insects
- Take off catch the insect in flight
- Return to the perch and hit the insect on the perch
- Toss it up in the air and consume it
Repeat the last 5 steps again & again & again :)
The following image probably can identify itself with the third step

White Naped Woodpeckers
During the Masinagudi trip was lucky to spot both the male and female white naped woodpeckers. We observed the pair for around 45 minutes. The male actually drilled a hole into the tree trunk and flushed out some insects which he shared with the female. Will post the feeding sequence once it is processed. I should say I was lucky to make these portrait shots with the lens reach I have. I guess this was again possible because I was using my car as hide. It is a very surprising fact that the birds which get so easily scared at the sight of humans even if they are dressed in camouflaged colors do not bother if a vehicle approaches them :(

This is the female with yellow crown


This is the male with red crown. The crown is actually the main visible distinguishing factor between male and female.

Nilgiri Mountain Range
This is the view of the nilgiri range from the place we stayed. Quite difficult to make landscape images which convey the essence/emotion associated with the view we see. It had already started raining and the thick clouds in this image is because of that. Quite often in landscape we see something but the image that we make ends up flat and lacks the depth what we observed in the original scene. So in this case waited for around 30 minutes till the clouds moved in and touched the peak to see if that would give the texture to the clouds. Also composition wise I wanted to have the flowering tree in the frame since I felt it adds another colorful element to the frame. Do look at the bigger version to see more details.