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, Bird Photography Siddhartha Mukherjee Wildlife, Bird Photography Siddhartha Mukherjee

White-rumped Shama

The White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus) is a small passerine bird of the family Muscicapidae. Native to densely vegetated habitats in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, its popularity as a cage-bird and songster has led to it being introduced in places like Hawaii & Taiwan. It was formerly classified as a member of the thrush family, Turdidae, causing it to be commonly known as the white-rumped shama thrush or simply shama thrush.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #PromediagearTR424L, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #Wildlife, #WildBirds, #naturephotography, #your_best_birds, #planetbirds, #earthcapture, #photo_pond, #earthpix, #naturyst, #conservationphotography, #wildlifeonearth, #bbcearth, #natgeowild, #natgeoindia, @awpc.hk, #animalsofinstagram, @globalcapture, #whiterumpedshama, #shama, #KaengKrachanNationalPark, #Thailand

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

Silver-eared Mesia

The Mesia, also called Silver-eared Mesia, or Silver-ear (Leiothrix argentauris) is a song bird of the babbler family Timaliidae. It is found from Pakistan through the Indochinese peninsula in scrub and secondary jungle. This 15 centimetre (6 inch) long bird is olive above and yellow below, with a black crown, silver ear patches, and some crimson on the tail. In groups of 6 to 30 it travels about the forest bushes and canopy seeking berries and peering under leaves for insects. Four eggs are laid in a cup-shaped nest. The mesia has a sweet, whistling song and is sometimes kept as a cage bird.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #PromediagearTR424L, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #Wildlife, #WildBirds, #naturephotography, #your_best_birds, #planetbirds, #earthcapture, #photo_pond, #earthpix, #naturyst, #conservationphotography, #wildlifeonearth, #bbcearth, #natgeowild, #natgeoindia, @awpc.hk, #animalsofinstagram, @globalcapture, #silverearedmesia, #Mesia, #BukitFraser, #FrasersHill, #Malaysia

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

Fire-tufted Barbet

The Fire-tufted Barbet is a beautiful emerald-green barbet with silvery cheeks, a white forehead, and a black chinstrap. A small and often difficult to see reddish tuft above the base of the bill gives the bird its name. The bulbous horn-coloured bill has a large dark smudge down the center and it has a strange song which is a loud accelerating creaking that is reminiscent of rusty machinery revving up.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #PromediagearTR424L, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #Wildlife, #WildBirds, #naturephotography, #your_best_birds, #planetbirds, #earthcapture, #photo_pond, #earthpix, #naturyst, #conservationphotography, #wildlifeonearth, #bbcearth, #natgeowild, #natgeoindia, @awpc.hk, #animalsofinstagram, @globalcapture, #firetuftedbarbet, #barbet, #BukitFraser, #FrasersHill, #Malaysia

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

Red-headed Trogon

The Red-headed Trogon (Harpactes erythrocephalus) is a brightly coloured bird of dense evergreen forests, usually seen perched quietly on a mid-story perch. It varies in coloration throughout its range but always follows the same general color scheme with the male with a dark red head & belly, a brown back, and barred black-and-white wings. The female has a brown head and a faded-red belly. Both sexes, when seen from below, have a sharply contrasting and graduated black-and-white tail pattern as can be seen in my photos here. It is a sluggish and shy bird typically stationary and difficult to see. The best way to spot it is to listen for its high-pitched gulping hoots.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #PromediagearTR424L, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #Wildlife, #WildBirds, #naturephotography, #your_best_birds, #planetbirds, #earthcapture, #photo_pond, #earthpix, #naturyst, #conservationphotography, #wildlifeonearth, #bbcearth, #natgeowild, #natgeoindia, @awpc.hk, #animalsofinstagram, @globalcapture, #redheadedtrogon, #trogon, #BukitFraser, #FrasersHill, #Malaysia

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

Khur - The Indian Wild Ass

The Indian Wild Ass (Equus hemionus khur), also known as the Indian Onager and called Khur in the local Gujarati language, is a subspecies of the onager native to Southern Asia. It is currently listed as Near Threatened by IUCN with only 6,082 individuals left.

#wildartworks, #canon, #wildlife, #wildlifephotography, #Dasada, #RannofKutch, #LittleRannofKutch, #Gujarat, #SaltFlat, #TravelPhotography, #WildAssSanctuary, #WildAss, #FlatLand, #SaltMarsh, #Ghudkhur, #IndianOnager, #Khur, #natgeoindia, #NearThreatened, #ConservationPhotography, @awpc.hk, #indian_wildlifes, #indianwildlifeofficial, #wildlifeonearth, #planet_untamed_magazine, #bbcearth, #natgeowild,

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

Bar-headed Geese

A striking and distinctive goose I first saw on the Little Rann of Kutch. But this time I was in a boat and in close proximity. The bold black-and-white head and neck pattern is unlike any other goose along with their orange-yellow bill and legs. In flight these geese appear mainly pale gray with a broad black trailing edge to wings. They breed around lakes and marshes on the highland plateaus of Central Asia and winter in the lowland wetlands and fields of South Asia as far as South Peninsular India. They are the world’s highest flying migratory birds flying at an extreme altitude over the Himalayas, where there is less than 10% the oxygen found at sea level. They have found a way to cross the world's longest and highest land mass - over 1,500km [930 miles] - an almost impossible physiological feat relatively easily.

These geese may represent "the limit" of what birds are capable of and they don't train or acclimatise. They could walk on the top of Everest and have no problem at all.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #PromediagearTR424L, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #Wildlife, #WildBirds, #naturephotography, #your_best_birds, #planetbirds, #earthcapture, #photo_pond, #earthpix, #naturyst, #conservationphotography, #bhigwan, #bhigwanbirdsanctuary, #kumbhargaon, #indian_wildlifes, #indianwildlifeofficial, #wildlifeonearth, #bbcearth, #natgeowild, #natgeoindia, @awpc.hk, #animalsofinstagram, @globalcapture, #barheadedgoose, #goose, #geese

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

Ruddy Shelduck

A striking and distinctive goose like duck with bright ruddy plumage overall and a contrasting pale creamy head and neck. The male has a narrow black neck ring and big white forewing patches striking in flight. Breeds in southeastern Europe and Central Asia, winter in South Asia and often found around saline lakes, reservoirs and agricultural fields.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #PromediagearTR424L, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #Wildlife, #WildBirds, #naturephotography, #your_best_birds, #planetbirds, #earthcapture, #photo_pond, #earthpix, #naturyst, #conservationphotography, #bhigwan, #bhigwanbirdsanctuary, #kumbhargaon, #indian_wildlifes, #indianwildlifeofficial, #wildlifeonearth, #bbcearth, #natgeowild, #natgeoindia, @awpc.hk, #animalsofinstagram, @globalcapture, #ruddyshelduck, #brahminyduck, #wader,

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

Greater Flamingo

Now he paraded forward, now he marched aft. Now he shot up his neck like a periscope and twisted his head first left, then right. He flashed the black petticoat of his under feathers in single- and double-winged salutes. He moonwalked on water, raised a spindled leg balletically, from dégagé position to arabesque. Then honked like indignant geese and rasped like didgeridoos.

For all their public popularity, flamingos turn out to be poorly understood scientifically, and only lately have researchers ventured answers to basic questions like why the birds spend so much time perched on one leg, and contort their heads backward before settling down for the night; how they keep their feathers so “Miami Vice” bright, and select a well-suited mate from the deafening throng.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #Wildlife, #conservationphotography, #bhigwan, #BhigwanBirdSanctuary, #Kumbhargaon, #greaterflamingo, #flamingo, #agnipankha, #agnipankhabirdingpoint, #sandipnagare,

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