Behind the Lens

a blog every Friday on a specific species of animal or bird and stories of photos

Search for a specific species, genre or even a location or use the directory for a complete list of species I have photographed and written about till date.

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Wildlife, Wildlife Photography Siddhartha Mukherjee Wildlife, Wildlife Photography Siddhartha Mukherjee

Tigers of Kabini

The presence of a tiger changes the jungle around it, and those changes are easier to detect. Bird calls darken, small deer call softly to each other. Herds do not run but drift into shapes that suggest some emerging group consciousness of an escape route. A kind of shiver seems to run through everything, a low hum that sounds — literally, in the whispered Hindi conversation of the guides —  like sher, sher, sher! This zone of apprehension follows the tiger as it moves. Often, the best way to find a cat is to switch off your engine and listen. You might then hear, from a distance, the subtle changes in pitch and cadence that indicate a boundary of the zone. But even then, it is impossible to predict where, or if, the tiger will appear.

#wildartworks #kabini #jungle #bigcats #wild #forest #wildlife #wildlifephotography #tiger #tigress #nilgiribiosphere #nagarholetigerreserve #kabinibackwaters #conservationphotography #indian_wildlifes #indianwildlifeofficial #wildlifeonearth #bbcearth #natgeowild #natgeoindia @awpc.hk #bigcatswildlife @bigcatswildlife

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Wildlife, Wildlife Photography Siddhartha Mukherjee Wildlife, Wildlife Photography Siddhartha Mukherjee

Tryst with a leopard

The elusive leopard, a ghost of the forests, is often hailed as its most elegant dweller. Its gleaming rosettes catch the sunlight as it prowls through the brush or stalks down a tree. Shy, bashful and elusive, it demands numerous hours spent searching in the forests and, more often than not, one returns unsuccessful. The very lifestyle of a leopard has it living on the run from the larger predators like the royal bengal tigers and intelligent, vicious pack hunters like the dhole in India. Here is one of the magnificent leopards of Kabini.

#wildartworks #wildlifephotography #kabini #jungle #wild #forest #wildlife #nagarholetigerreserve #nilgiribiosphere #nagarhole #kabinibackwaters #conservationphotography #indian_wildlifes #indianwildlifeofficial #wildlifeonearth #bbcearth #natgeowild #natgeoindia @awpc.hk #animalsofinstagram #bigcatswildlife @bigcatswildlife #leopardsofkabini #leopard #pantherapardus #pardus #landofleopards #leopardess @globalcapture #nammakarnataka

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Wildlife, Bird Photography Siddhartha Mukherjee Wildlife, Bird Photography Siddhartha Mukherjee

Siberian Rubythroat

The Siberian rubythroat (Calliope calliope) is a small passerine bird generally considered to be an Old World Flycatcher. The rubythroat and similar small European species are often called chats. A perky, long-legged songbird that winters in areas with dense understory coverage, often near wet areas; it breeds in open taiga and highland forest clearings.

#wildartworks, #siberianrubythroat, #rubythroat, #birdinginthewild, #birdphotography, #thrush

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Wildlife, Bird Photography Siddhartha Mukherjee Wildlife, Bird Photography Siddhartha Mukherjee

Niltava

The Old World Flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds mostly restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia). These are mainly small arboreal insectivores, many of which, as the name implies, take their prey on the wing. The family includes 324 species and is divided into 51 genera. Niltava (from niltau, Nepali for Niltava sundara) is from the subfamily Niltavinae.

#wildartworks, #niltava, #largeniltava, #rufousbelliedniltava, #birdinginthewild, #birdphotography

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Wildlife, Bird Photography Siddhartha Mukherjee Wildlife, Bird Photography Siddhartha Mukherjee

The Spectacled Barwing

The spectacled barwing (Actinodura ramsayi) is a species of bird in the family Leiothrichidae. A very distinctively plumaged, long-tailed barwing, with a bright white eye-ring, this species is widely distributed across southern China, northern Indochina, and eastern Myanmar. Illustrated here are the Western Spectacled Barwing photographed on Doi Ang Khang in the Doi Pha Hom Pok National Park in Thailand very close to the Thai border with Myanmar.

#wildartworks, #spectacledbarwing, #barwing, #birdinginthewild, #birdphotography

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Wildlife, Wildlife Photography Siddhartha Mukherjee Wildlife, Wildlife Photography Siddhartha Mukherjee

Dhole

The Dhole, also known as the Asian wild dog, Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, and mountain wolf is a canid native to Central, South, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. A highly social animal, it lives in large clans without rigid dominance hierarchies and containing multiple breeding females. Such clans usually comprises of 5 to 12 individuals but sometimes much more, groups of over 40 have been known. 

It is a superpredator, able to feed on a large number of prey. A pack hunter competing with the tiger and the leopard.

#wildartworks, #tadobanationalpark, #dhole, #wilddog, #asianwilddog, #wildlifephotography, #wildlifecentury, #kabini, #jungle, #wild, #forest, #wildlife, #nagarholetigerreserve, #nilgiribiosphere, #tipeshwar, #tipeshwarwildlifesanctuary, #kabinibackwaters, #nagarhole, #conservationphotography,

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Wildlife, Bird Photography Siddhartha Mukherjee Wildlife, Bird Photography Siddhartha Mukherjee

Laughingthrushes

Laughingthrushes are also a family of Old World passerine birds diverse in size and coloration. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The entire family used to be included in the Timaliidae. I have also included some Sibias from Heterophasia as they are a genus of the same family.

#wildartworks, #laughingthrushes, #sibia, #birdinginthewild, #birdphotography, #thrush

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Wildlife, Bird Photography Siddhartha Mukherjee Wildlife, Bird Photography Siddhartha Mukherjee

Old World Babblers

The Old World Babblers are a family of passerine birds diverse in size and coloration, characterised by soft fluffy plumage. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. This group is among those Old World bird families with the highest number of species still being discovered. I also included Pnoepygidae as they have long been placed in the babbler family Timaliidae. Featured here are only the few I have been fortunate to observe and photograph across various habitats in Asia Pacific.

#wildartworks, #babbler, #wrenbabbler, #birdinginthewild, #birdphotography, #Timaliidae, #Pellorneidae, #Pnoepygidae, #Leiothrichidae, #BukitFraser, #Malaysia, #India, #TelanganaBirds, #thailand, #KaengKrachanNationalPark, #DoiInthanonNationalPark, #DoiSanJu, #DoiLuang,

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