By this time of the year, that is September, a few birds arrive at the Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary, located about fourteen kilometres from Gurgaon. Located on the Gurgaon-Jajjhar road, the best time to visit the sanctuary is seven in the morning. To do some serious bird-watching, you need a carry a decent camera, tripod – if you are not very steady, I prefer a monopod although I have rarely used it. My favourite camera is the Canon 1100D (Rebel) DSLR and my lens is the 55-250mm lens which gives you a decent range. A note of caution, remember to remove the polarising filter and instead, use a UV filter on your lens. I also carry a bridge camera for emergencies, namely, a Nikon L-100, which gives you decent snaps and can give you some wonderful pictures if you play with the white balance and the exposure compensation. For the DSLR, my favoured mode is the Manual mode and my aperture/f-stop would be anything from 5.6 to 7+. I don’t suggest going beyond a ISO figure of more than 1600 although I prefer an ISO range of 200 to 800. I am sure you will like some of the snaps pasted below. In case the reader is interested in full-sized version for the snaps pasted below, he or she is welcome to contact me through the comments section of the blog.
This is a snap of The Indian Roller Bird which can be found in a few numbers in the park at this time of the year.
The Kingfisher is another bird seen commonly at the bird Sanctuary.
The Indian Hoopoe, the woodpecker is equally comfortable on the ground as it is drilling holes in tree-trunks.
The Heron, another regular visitor at Sultanpur can be seen perched on branches or even sitting on the ground for a long time.
The pink-tailed stork or painted stork is another regular visitor found flying in groups. These rather graceful birds can be found in close pairs, male and females working together, building the nest, bringing the raw materials required to make the nest comfy.
The Cormorant is a common sight at the Bird Sanctuary. This snap of the cormorant was taken before it was driven away by a couple of crows.
The photograph pasted above is that of a Bristled Grass bird. Interesting because of the sharp stripes on its underside, I was not able to get a better shot as it was perched on a branch above me.
Ducks arrive by September and they stay till the end of the winter season. Most of these can be seen flying in groups. They are very shy by nature and the slightest footfall will scare them away from the edge of the lake. These are spotted ducks.
Best place to enjoy bird watching and a photography session on a sunday morning. thanks for sharing this amazing post with us. Here are a fewmore places to visit in Manesar.
ReplyDeleteHi Nick, thank you so much for sharing the information!
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