The word Halcyon, which is also the genus for Tree #Kingfishers, is a term for peace and tranquillity. Being extremely territorial, these active little birds are anything but tranquil; nor are they quiet, as their calls can often be heard from the tree-tops in an otherwise peaceful wilderness. 

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Myths & misconceptions surround this diminutive bird, which can hide in plain sight despite its dazzling plumage. The most enduring #kingfisher myth owes its 2,000-year history partly to Aristotle, who claimed that the bird made its nest on the sea surface in a period of winter calm.

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#Kingfishers are a family of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the order #Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The family contains 114 species and is divided into three subfamilies and 19 genera. I have been able to photograph a few of these across Asia Pacific with some coming quite easily and some coming after waiting for hours, damp and cold but worth every bit the wait. Featured here are a few species, some easily seen and some rare, threatened and critically endangered.

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One of the most charming contrasting color effects you can get in photography is by using infrared. An easy way to understand near-infrared light is to think of it as the color of the rainbow next to red, a color that is invisible to the human eye. But near-infrared is not the same as thermal imaging which is far-infrared. What I have done here in my photographs is leverage the near-infrared spectrum and have tried to provide a look into an invisible world present in the visible around us. #wildartworks, #infraredphotography, #longexposurephotography

Blakiston’s fish owls, the largest living species of #owls in the world, an endangered species that lives in some of the hardest-to-reach corners of northeast Asia. There are thought to be less than 1000 pairs of these birds remaining in the wild, with very few individuals held in captivity. Found only in northeast Asia, this secretive species has a fragmented distribution in the remote forests of Hokkaido in northern Japan, the Russian Far East, and northeastern China. #wildartworks, #Bubo_blakistoni, #birdinginthewild, #birdphotography, #nature, #wildlife, #raptor, #owl, #endangered

The Moon with every man landing mapped!

Some time back I had photographed the full #Moon and realised all the landing spots were visible. So I decided to plot all the 6 human moon landings and map them out on the image and put it together as a video. Incidentally all of these were, I think, on the near side of the Moon. I wonder where the 7th will be?

#wildartworks, #moonlanding, #apolloprogram, #manonthemoon

#Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is one of the brightest objects visible to the naked eye in the night sky, and has been known to ancient civilizations since before recorded history. It is named after the Roman god Jupiter. 

There are many interesting #moons orbiting the planet, but the ones of most scientific interest are the first four moons discovered beyond Earth — the #GalileanSatellites. They can be glimpsed with binoculars, a telescope, a dslr and lens

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Comet NEOWISE has been entertaining space enthusiasts across the Northern Hemisphere. Although its official name is C/2020 F3, the comet has been dubbed NEOWISE after the Near-Earth Object Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) space telescope that first noticed it earlier this year. This “icy snowball” with a gassy tail made its closest approach to the sun on July 3 and is now heading back from whence it came: the far reaches of the outer solar system. Its long, looping orbit around our star ensures that after passing closest to Earth on July 22, Comet NEOWISE will not return for some 6,800 years. #wildartworks, #cometneowise