macro-2

Nights in a rainforest are far from being a silent affair. The whole forest seems to come alive as the darkness sets in. While the day time performers of a musical symphony are the cicadas, the nights belong to the crickets. And if it is monsoon season, the multitude of frogs chime in with their vocal contributions. The rhythmic music of crickets accompanied by the high pitched tones of the frogs, the spooky calls of a nightjar or an owl, the gurgling sounds of the many streams breaking through their rocky paths, the soft, chill breeze blowing through the leaves and branches of tall trees, among many others, are what characterise a rainforest night....

Year 2017 saw a good variety of destinations for me. Starting off with birding in Goa and Bharatpur to Corbett, Kabini and Sundarbans followed by monsoon macro at Agumbe, Nilgiris, Valparai and Munnar. Finishing off with a bit of an offbeat family travel to Meghalaya. Here are a few of my personal favourites from this year. Beginning with some of our beautiful winged friends here : Big-cat luck favoured me quite a bit this year :-) Was graced with a sighting in every outing of mine....

Minimalism is one of the interesting and powerful concepts or styles in photography, irrespective of the genre. ‘Less is more’ is a popular phrase which says: “that which is less complicated is better understood and appreciated than something that is more complicated”. This is the crux of minimalism. And its benefits can be seen in nature photography too. My personal understanding and opinion is that a photograph is minimalistic, if, apart from the subject in topic, there are very few distracting elements....

Spiders (Order: Araneae, Class: Arachnida) are probably one of the more evolved group of arthropods. They have developed a highly diverse set of skills and strategies for hunting. Some stalk and run down their prey, while some wait in place for their prey to wander by, using stealth and camouflage. Many others use silk and sticky webs in very innovative ways to trap their meal. A few of the highly specialised spiders belonging to the genus Portia are known to display intelligence in their ability to choose different tactics for hunting and also in developing new ones....

Patterns and designs are very much an integral part of things in nature. Even the most ornate of designs or patterns have a sense of reason for their existence. Be it a perfectly aligned ‘V’ pattern of the high flying birds or the elaborate embellishments of its nest by the Bowerbird or the gory dress up of an assassin bug with the husks of dead ants, each and every one of them has a powerful instinctive need and a purpose....