Lotus Pond again - rain et al

This Sunday I woke up fairly early to head to Manjeera Reservoir to see if I could get some river terns in action. However, heavy overnight rain and constant drizzling early morning put paid to my plans. I did wake up at 5 feeling gung-ho about my plan, but the roads were just too wet for me to attempt the ~50 km 1-way drive to Manjeera Reservoir. So decided to fall back on Lotus Pond and this time went a bit earlier in the morning that I usually do. I was not let down at all! I saw some white throated KFs fairly close, also got to see purple moor hen chicks. Even managed a neat shot of a Pied KF with a backdrop of flowers. So, here goes . . .



Cheers

ICRISAT - First visit :)

This sunday I got a chance to visit the ICRISAT campus for the first time ever along with Ashok. It turned out to be a very rewarding experience. After Bharatpur, this is the place where I have seen the most variety of birds. And to think this is not even a bird sanctuary. ICRISAT is well spread out and has well laid dirt roads which take one very close to where the actual action is. I managed to capture a Red wattled lapwing chick at fairly close range. That was a first for me. I also managed to catch a strange and mesmerizing contest between a wool necked stork and a kite looking to steal the former's breakfast. It was an awesome and noisy event as you can imagine.

ICRISAT also has some real stunning landscapes. I hope to do more justice to that over the monsoons when the lights are a bit kinder for my liking. So, without much further ado, here are the pics . . .



Please leave comments and let me know what you like and what you think could be better!

Here is a link of where you can find ICRISAT in Hyderabad. Awesome place for birding, but you need official help to get in . . .


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Cricket!

Ranji Trophy: The Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between different city and state sides, equivalent to the County Championship in England and the Sheffield Shield in Australia.

Mumbai won the 2008-09 season's trophy by 243 runs. I got an opportunity to watch the 3rd day's play with Zaheer getting a 7-wicket haul and Vinayak Samant, the dimunitive Mumbai wicket keeper scoring a fluent hunderd. Also had the pleasure of watching a typical, elegant Wasim Jaffer 50.

Big miss! - Sachin played the match, but could not lay eyes on him even once :(
He was resting his back for the Australia series . . .

Here are some action pics shot with a borrowed 400mm telephoto and 1.4x converter. Thanks to Ashok again for the timely help :)



Since this is the first time I shot a pro match, would love to hear some feedback from you guys!