Antlion Lacewing

Antlion Lacewing

I found this adult Antlion lacewing on an aphid & mealybug ridden Gliricidia sepium branch. The term Ant lion is used to describe the Larval form of the members of this family and the adults are referred to as ‘antgriffins’ or ‘antlion lace wings’. This one belongs to Myrmelion species. I used my Canon EOS … Read more

Loten’s Sunbird With Eclipse Plumage

Loten’s Sunbird With Eclipse Plumage

I found this male Loten’s Sunbird Cinnyris lotenius with eclipse plumage at Bondel, Mangalore. The presence of male eclipse phases can be terribly confusing to newcomers but experienced birders generally take them for granted. Now how does the male eclipse comes about? Through moulting of course. After the breeding season the male moults its colourful … Read more

Nest Building by Weaver ants

Four workers holding leaf for weaver ant nest

My garden has several nests of weaver ants(Oecophylla smaragdina). Even though I have captured their closeups and nests, after it was constructed, I wanted to witness and capture the nest building steps of this brilliant insect architect. After stalking several nests and getting bitten by their workers, I was finally able to get a good … Read more

Leucage Orb-Weaver

Leucage Orb-Weaver

I found this beautiful Orb-Weaver also known as Silver Orb Spider (Leucauge species) in my garden. I have used Canon EOS 5D Mark III with Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM using 36mm Kenko extension tube. This whole setup is illuminated by Canon MT-24EX macro twin light flash. Leucauge spider is from the family … Read more

Understanding Camera Metering

Juvenile Oriental magpie-robin

Camera determines the shutter speed and aperture, based on its built in Metering. All in-camera light meters only measure reflected light. The problem with all reflective light meters, is that, the reading they suggest is influenced by two variables. The amount of light reflected from any scene or subject, which is determined by how much … Read more

Jungle Babbler

Jungle Babbler

I found this Jungle Babbler, foraging for insects during the morning walk at Bhuvanedra College, Karkala. I was using Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L II IS USM with Canon EF 2X III Extender on Canon EOS 5D Mark III. The Jungle Babblers, Turdoides striata, are very noisy birds found all over India, including cities, suburbs, towns … Read more