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

Red-legged Crake

It is a small, brightly-coloured crake of wet patches in dense forests. It is brown with an orange head & zebra-striped sides with a bright red patch of bare skin around the eye which gives it a somewhat startled appearance. Candy-red legs distinguish it from the Slaty-legged Crake, and dainty, smaller-billed appearance distinguish it from Ruddy-breasted and Band-bellied Crakes. Generally shy and unobtrusive, it moves quietly through wet vegetation and tends to be difficult to see.

#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, #redleggedcrake, #crake, #KaengKrachanNationalPark, #Thailand

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

Malayan Water Monitor

Malayan/ Asian Water Monitors are among the largest lizards in the world with a wide distribution. Varanus salvator (subspecies macromaculatus) are a common sight across parts of South and South-east Asia. Their coloration ranges from brown to black with orange, yellow or white spots or ocelli. Their heads are ventrally flattened with an elongated snout. Their tails are long and powerful and are used for swimming, fighting or hunting.

#wildartworks #canon #Wildlife #wildlifephotography #sungeibulohwetlandreserve #conservationphotography #wildlifeonearth #planet_untamed_magazine #bbcearth #natgeowild #wetlands #marshlands #varanussalvator #malayanwatermonitor #asianwatermonitor #watermonitor

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

Hill-blue Flycatcher

A medium-sized and confusing flycatcher. The male is beautifully coloured, with deep blue upper parts, an orange throat & breast, and a white belly. The female is duller and very similar to and closely-related to the Large Blue Flycatcher. It breeds in hilly & montane broadleaf thickets, often in areas with dense undergrowth and migrates to lower altitudes in winter. Their calls are a loud “chak” or “tak,” reminiscent of stones tapping.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #Wildlife, #WildBirds, #naturephotography, #your_best_birds, #planetbirds, #earthcapture, #photo_pond, #earthpix, #naturyst, #conservationphotography, #yesbbcearth, #indian_wildlifes, #indianwildlifeofficial, #wildlifeonearth, #bbcearth, #natgeowild, #natgeoindia, @awpc.hk, @globalcapture, #doiinthanon, #thailand, #hillblueflycatcher, #flycatcher, #doiinthanonnationalpark

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

The winter migrants of Yenkathala

Once again I venture into the Yenkathala/ Enkathala grasslands, home to as many as 191 bird & numerous wildlife species like the Indian Grey Mongoose. In winter these spectacular grasslands host some beautiful migrants - the Montagu’s & Pallid Harriers - which fly from Russia and Eastern Asian countries traveling over 5,000 kilometers to winter here in the dry sub-humid type of grasslands.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #Canon1DxMkii, #PromediagearTR424L, #DeityD3Pro, #EF600f4LISIII, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #Wildlife, #WildBirds, #naturephotography, #your_best_birds, #planetbirds, #earthcapture, #photo_pond, #earthpix, #naturyst, #TelanganaBirds, #HyderabadBirds, #YenkathalaGrasslands, #Enkathala, #EnkathalaGrasslands, #Mominpet, #wildtelangana, @save_yenkathala, #MontagusHarrier, #montaguharrier, #pallidharrier, #paleharrier

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

Yellow-billed Blue Magpie

I return again to the Singalila Ridge, in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal, at an altitude of more than 7000 feet above mean sea level, in search of a colourful long-tailed corvid - the Yellow-billed Blue Magpie. Similar in coloration to the Red-billed, the Yellow-billed is a paler blue overall, with a small white patch at the back of the crown instead of an extensive white stripe, and a bright yellow bill instead of a scarlet one. Primarily found in Himalayan hill forest, with disjunct populations in northwestern Myanmar and northern Vietnam.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #Wildlife, #WildBirds, #naturephotography, #your_best_birds, #planetbirds, #earthcapture, #photo_pond, #earthpix, #naturyst, #conservationphotography, #yesbbcearth, #indian_wildlifes, #indianwildlifeofficial, #wildlifeonearth, #bbcearth, #natgeowild, #natgeoindia, @awpc.hk, @globalcapture, #singalilanationalpark, #corvid, #yellowbilledbluemagpie, #tumling, #firefoxexpeditionsindia, #magpie

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

Ultramarine Flycatcher

The ultramarine or white-browed blue flycatcher is a small arboreal Old World flycatcher in the ficedula family that breeds in the foothills of the Himalayas & winters in southern India. The incandescently beautiful male is resplendent in electric blue and snowy white. The female is a dull gray-brown with paler underparts. It breeds in hill and montane broadleaf & pine forests descending into the lower foothills in winter. 

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#wildartworks, #Canon, #PromediagearTR424L, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #Wildlife, #WildBirds, #naturephotography, #your_best_birds, #planetbirds, #earthcapture, #photo_pond, #earthpix, #naturyst, #conservationphotography, #wildlifeonearth, #bbcearth, #natgeowild, #natgeoindia, #animalsofinstagram, @globalcapture, #DoiSanJu, #DoiLuang, #DoiPhaHomPokNationalPark, #DoiPhaHomPok, #Thailand, #ultramarineflycatcher, #flycatcher, #oldworldflycatcher

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

Tickell’s Leaf Warbler

It was a pleasant morning with a nice breeze & beautiful diffused light. We were photographing the Ultramarine Flycatcher when I noticed a small warbler foraging in a mimosa tree in the background. I took a few photos and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a Tickell’s/Alpine Leaf Warbler, a very rare bird in Thailand! These are some of the photos of the rare Tickell’s Leaf Warbler I took that morning on the slopes of Doi AngKhang.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #PromediagearTR424L, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #Wildlife, #WildBirds, #naturephotography, #your_best_birds, #planetbirds, #earthcapture, #photo_pond, #earthpix, #naturyst, #conservationphotography, #wildlifeonearth, #bbcearth, #natgeowild, #natgeoindia, #animalsofinstagram, @globalcapture, #DoiAngkhang, #DoiPhaHomPokNationalPark, #DoiPhaHomPok, #Thailand, #tickellsleafwarbler, #LeafWarbler, #Warbler,

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

Indian Grey Mongoose

Noted for their audacious attacks on highly venomous snakes such as king cobras, the mongoose are any of nearly three dozen species of small bold predatory carnivores found mainly in Africa but also in southern Asia and southern Europe. The 33 species belong to 14 genera with the most common and probably best-known being the 10 species of the genus Herpestes, among which are the Egyptian mongoose, or ichneumon (H. ichneumon), of Africa and southern Europe and the Indian grey mongoose (H. edwardsii), made famous as Rikki-tikki-tavi in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book.

#wildartworks #canon #Wildlife #wildlifephotography #telanganawildlife #natgeoindia #conservationphotography #indian_wildlifes #indianwildlifeofficial #wildlifeonearth #planet_untamed_magazine #bbcearth #natgeowild #animalsofthedeccan #grasslands #yenkathalagrasslands #EnkathalaGrasslands #Yenkathala #Enkathala #IndianGreyMongoose #Mongoose

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