Pediatrician and a Forensic Expert. A passionate PHP geek. Currently CTO, SANIsoft. Also a photographer, bird watcher, nature lover and a FOSS enthusiast.
As if Diwali followed by Eid was not enough it was Aasim’s 8th birthday on 5th Nov and just like previousyears the entire class was invited. The decoration theme was Winnie the Pooh and before I was called in to control the crowd I did manage to get some pictures.
The party was fun and Aasim did manage to WOW some of the new girls with his room and soft toys!! I like the way he is growing up around girls – he firmly believes that one should have 3 to 4 girlfriends, the logic being – if you have only one then you get teased but with 4 everyone just keeps shut…. apparently he has told this to his teacher.
Despite sleeping past midnight all of us did manage to get up early enough for our Sunday morning bird watch/walk – We went to Satpuda Botanical garden walked for just 668 meters and saw 54 bird species. The distance data could be captured thanks to my latest toy.
The highlight of the walk however was not a bird but this Buff-striped Keelback snake – These snakes are harmless and you almost never see them in a threatening posture. It was only after I picked it up that I realised that it was defending itself against the attacks of a Long-tailed shrike.
The evening again was dinner at some friends with the loveliest of mutton korma…
“I hope you don’t think I’d ever do anything like that, I mean, just step out of the drier, if anyone were seeing me. It was just viewing.”
“Same thing, isn’t it?” asked Baley.
“Not at all the same thing. You’re viewing me right now. You can’t touch me, can you, or smell me, or anything like that. You could if you were seeing me. Right now, I’m two hundred miles away from you at least. So how can it be the same thing?”
Baley grew interested. “But I see you with my eyes.”
“No, you don’t see me. You see my image. You’re viewing me.”
“And that makes a difference?”
“All the difference there is.”
For many of you the above passage would be familiar, it is from the novel “The Naked Sun” by Issac Asimov where the hero has just initiated a Sci-Fi equivalent of a web-cam messaging with a beautiful murder suspect.
The photograph has not turned out 100% as I would have wanted it to be… I would have liked a wee bit more depth so that the details in the iris were more visible, however this will do for now
Sunday, 28th August, 5:55am – The phone rings, I spring out of bed, for once I had wished that it would indeed ring at this unearthly Sunday hour, voice at the other end said “Good Morning, 6:30?” I confirmed “Yes!” and kept the phone back in the cradle. By now Swati is up as well – “Raju?” she questioned, which elicited another “yes” from me. I was now out of the bed brushing teeth, Swati without a word brewed hot coffee for me (Did I thank you for that love? – Thanks anyways ).
I double checked my camera, flash, lenses, batteries. Put in the bread and jam sandwiches into the rucksack along with 2 liters of drinking water. Raju arrived on dot at 6:30 on his mobike, I was wearing my shoes sitting at the doorstep. Swati quickly ascertained from him as to which direction we are heading… a soft goodbye and take care… we were off!
OK! let me put the things in context here. A few days earlier some birdwatchers had reported White-Rumped Vulture (Gyps bengalensis ) sightings in Nagpur district and we were told that it is just 50Km from the city. Raju had finally managed to extract the details – I don’t know why but the older bird-watchers are very reluctant to share knowledge – of the location and that is where we were going. I am sure that if you are least bit interested in birds you will know that Vultures arefast disappearing from the Indian sub-continent and that our excitement was understandable.
We reached the first landmark village Umred about 45Kms fast enough and asked around. To our dismay we found that no one had seen or heard of Vultures being around for years… to further add to the disappointment we found that the next landmark village we were told about was in fact about 35Km further away instead of the wrongly reported 5 – the bright light at the end was the affirmation that the entire road was tarred and motor-able. Which indeed proved to be true, once again the when we reached the second village the actual site was still about 10Km and the description given to us matched to what the villagers described.
Our spirits perked up when after about 5Km we caught the first glimpse of the cliff we were supposed to reach. We were still in time despite being mislead about the distance. We ultimately reached near the base of the cliff at 9:15am, about 90Km from home.
Raju scanned the cliff face with his Binocs but I could spot 2 of the Vultures almost immediately with my naked eyes, Raju spotted 2 more – our excitement knew no bounds.
Even as I took out my camera we started walking up the hill to reach as near as we could. We knew we had just enough time with no room for errors – the air would soon be hot enough to generate thermals and the birds would glide out in search of food…
We took several pictures when suddenly Raju recalled that White-rumped Vultures preferred trees, besides these looked a bit different – so these had to be Long-billed Vultures (Gyps Indicus) and indeed he was as usual correct. At 9:45 they took to the air and it was then that we realised that there were actually 7 of these critically endangered birds!
With the birds gone we explored around the base of cliff and the cliff face a bit more. From the looks of it, Vultures have nested at the spot in the past and the numbers were probably much more.
We gobbled our breakfast while discussing how the spot can be further studied, interspersed with some lurid boyz jokes
Since we had come this long and we still had time, we decided to climb to the top of the cliff and see for ourselves how the view looked for the Vultures… This was also a sort of personal triumph because I am a wee bit scared of climbing (note: climbing not heights 😉 )
We started back for Nagpur at around 12:00 noon and reached back by 2:00pm as promised to Swati – right in time for a lunch of finger licking good Chicken Korma. Aasim and Swati had invited some of his friends over with their mother for lunch….
Another thing which I did for the first time in my life. I joined a gym! Yes, complete with a personal trainer and a nutritionist. No, I do not expect to be the next Arnie Baby, it became imperative due to the fact that self administered diet control and exercises were not enough to keep my lipid profile under control.
They have started me real slow and there are guarantees for no aches or pain but it did feel nice to be told that I do not look 40, perhaps a marketing ploy…
Yeah! I am *not* 40 yet but will be next year anyways – old men are sentimental right?
Anyways the work out was lots of fun and I do intend to stick to it specially given that Swati also goes to the same gym at the same time. Ah! you should have seen the crestfallen faces as she introduced me as her husband
A whole lot of things are happening most of them good some not so good but overall I would say that life is predominently colored eye soothing green like almost everything out here after the recent fury of rains. There are a lot of things to write but again the motivation to put it in the journal is lacking, I can fool myself and put it down to lack of time but it is not really that…
Photography continues but studio work has been restricted due to lack of time on Sundays… but yes I have been able to continue uploading pictures at NagpurBirds site and it as of today has 300 images. I am waiting for Swati to process some of her bird videos to put on the site.
Swati liked this picture of Common Jezebel butterfly very much, it was taken on a cloudy morning at f5.6/200th sec and a flash. Perhaps there were a few fine water drops on the lens giving the soft halo to some parts of the picture.
While the world seems to be crashing around in bomb blasts I have been trying to keep up my trivial, mundane and not too boring commitments – Adding about 5 pictures daily to https://nagpurbirds.org, If you are still interested add https://www.livejournal.com/users/nagpurbirds/ as a friend.
Had initially considered putting this post behind a LJ-cut but that according to some would be a very cruel joke 😉
Anyways… I caught these yesterday morning on our Sunday morning bird walk and like it so often happens with me – The camera had the wrong lens – The EXIF on the picture is
Exposure Time: 1/100 sec
FNumber: f 8
Flash: Flash, Auto-Mode, Return light detected
Focal length: 400 mm
Sometime last week I acquired SB800 Speed light but it was only yesterday that I could take it out for a real field test and I am pleased with the results – the flash can indeed reach the distances given by the Guide Numbers. This shot of Scaly-breasted Munia was one of the pictures taken yesterday. The sky was heavily overcast and there was a slight drizzle. Without the flash all I would have got would be dark shapes!!
Anyway no more excuses like “I indeed wanted the bird to be back-lit” or “Dude, thats rim lighting – the bird is not meant to be visible” 😉 However rim lighting still remains my favorite for most of my models and perhaps thats got something to do with my models…
I also tried to get this lens, yes has the same one, but both the pieces which the dealer got would not play with my TC20e II (no autofocus – menus jumping etc) – anyone with more info on how to mate the two properly would be welcome. For now I have given up on trying to get a longer focal length – correctly mentioned that it is time Nikon had a decent offering in the 500mm f4 range like Canon does.
Talking about not playing well, yesterday I changed my LJ style from the old S1 to an S2 -to my surprise most S2 styles get messed up if you have a picture in your post which is taller than the text of your post – may be just like the lens + tele-convertor I am missing something with the styles as well.
Known variously as Velvet Mite, Rani Keeda, Rain Mite, Beerboti and Bir Bahuti. These insects are related to mites, yes the same mites which you can find on dogs! Scientific name – Trombidium grandissimum. They emerge from the ground just after first rains and are found almost through out the central Indian plains…
As children we use to go to the grave yard to collect them and make them race, keep in glass jars – we knew that they are used in traditional medicine and felt very yuck!! who would want to eat them.
It turns out that amongst it purported medicinal property is some similarity with Viagra… in fact the name Bir Bahuti – literally meaning “the new bride” is an allusion to that very myth.
This myth will probably be the cause of its ultimate destruction – over the years a huge international market has emerged for it and they are collected not few at a time but by kilograms!! They are then dried in sun and shipped to Varanasi where there are Bir Bahuti oil extraction factories.
These specimen were collected by Aasim from a location where I suspect that a population of them is thriving unknown to these collectors – I just hope it remains that way.
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– of the location and that is where we were going. I am sure that if you are least bit interested in birds you will know that Vultures 
