Asian Brown Flycatcher

Asian Brown Flycatcher

That November evening I spotted this Asian Brown Flycatcher (Muscicapa dauurica) in my garden among dry branches of a fallen tree hunting for insects. I used a late evening light to capture this bird at close quarters using my Canon EOS 5D Mark III with Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L II IS USM and Canon EF … Read more

On the Road with a Bird Watcher

Little Egret

[This week’s blog is by Sukanya Rao. She is the better half of my good friend and an avid birdwatcher Rohit Rao. In response to a link about a blog on problems of Birdwatcher’s wife – Wife to a birder, she sent me this article. This article was earlier presented at Toastmasters International Club meeting … Read more

Greater Coucal

Greater Coucal feeding Subadult

That afternoon as I came home for lunch I was alerted to this adult Greater Coucal (Centropus sinensis) with its usual deep booming calls. Spotted the bird near the Yellow Oleander Thevetia peruviana bush where it frequents to eat its toxic fruit. It was accompanied by two birds which looked very similar to Lesser Coucal. … Read more

Around the Beach

Disintegrating Gods

In Mangalore we have several famous beaches. That Sunday soon after the Dussera festival I went to Sultan’s Battery area. Sultan Battery is situated in Boloor, at the confluence of Gurupur River enetring the sea. It is 6kms away from Mangalore City Bus Stand. It was built in black stones by Tippu Sultan to prevent … Read more

Bird Watching

Malabar Trogon

Last Sunday I was honored with S.A. Hussain Memorial Environment Award at the S. A. Hussain Memorial Day Celebration & Coastal Karnataka Birders’ Convention – 2012. You can check details reported in the following newspapers – DNA, Deccan Herald, Daijiworld, Mangalore Today. It gave me a great opportunity to meet and interact with fellow bird … Read more

Moon With Jupiter

Moon With Jupiter

The photo above is from October 7th, Sunday 11:30 PM IST, Jupiter with the waning gibbous moon. As seen from Earth, the moon looks much larger than Jupiter. But Jupiter is actually much bigger than our moon. The moon only appears bigger, because it’s so much closer to us. That evening, the moon is about … Read more