A tame session of wildlife photography

During my first trip to India, I was able to go on a bird photography walk at the ICRISAT headquarters in Hyderabad. This time, once again with my Canon Powershot SX720 HS, I went to four cities (Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Agra, and New Delhi) with Matty, Arindam, Jhoanne, and Suva... and I tried to capture photos of urban wildlife when I had the chance.

In Bhubaneswar, Odisha, I was able to see some ducks at the Mayfair Lagoon. Matty spotted a red iguana lounging in one of the chaises longues (why my camera was dangling by its lanyard on my neck that time, I do not know), and Jhoanne and I were startled when a Hanuman langur (the largest uncaged monkey I've seen) jumped on the café's roof while we were having breakfast there. I was quite upset that I didn't bring my camera to breakfast and had to use my phone's camera to take a photo of it... at least I got it. I've only seen cows in farms, either in cattle farms or free-range in pastures. But in Bhubaneswar, it was my first time to see cows roaming the city streets. It was such a foreign concept to me!

Ducks

Iguana

Hanuman langur

Cow (Bos indicus)

In Kolkata, West Bengal, Jhoanne and I were able to visit a few of the historical sites of the former capital of the British Raj, which allowed me to take photos of a few birds. I took photos of an Indian house crow and a house sparrow at the Queen Victoria Memorial. I saw the oriental magpie robin at St John's Church. I observed a bird of prey looming above us while we were traversing the Maa flyover en route to Arsalan, so I followed it until it landed on a tree along the Mirania Lake. It's one of those times when I felt happy that we were stuck in traffic and my camera had 80x zoom. 

Indian house crow (Corvus splendens)

House sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Oriental magpie robin (Copsychus saularis)

Black kite (Milvus migrans)

In Agra, Matty, Jhoanne, and I went to visit one of the most famous of Indian landmarks, the Taj Mahal. The rain that we got caught in, however, provided us with a different experience from what those who visit in the summer got: we were able to see birds hunting in the gardens straight after the thunderstorm passed. It's the first time I've seen a cattle egret that isn't white (and I think that it's all about the bird's diet). And then there's this bird which I haven't identified yet. I'm guessing that it's some species of raptor; I'm still trying to identify it.


Cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis)
Back in New Delhi, Matty, Jhoanne, and I were billeted at a hotel in which my room's window looked out towards the garden. Out there, I was able to watch a lot of rock pigeons flocked by benches, and the occasional squirrel. On the road to the IRRI country office in the city, Matty spotted a macaque crossing the road and quickly whipped out his phone to take a photo. Apparently, the macaque is quite a common sight because the pedestrian walking on the opposite side of the road and our driver didn't even flinch... while the three of us passengers were so excited to see it.

Rock pigeon (Columba livia)

Macaque

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