Three tips for Photographing Dragonflies in Flight

One of the greatest joys in wildlife macro photography is that of photographing insects in flight. Dragonflies and butterflies make for interesting subjects to photograph. While no doubt it is easier to photograph them while they are still, perched on a twig or a leaf, it is however a very difficult task photographing these insects while they are on the move! 

The greatest challenge lies in tracking Dragonflies and Butterflies while they flying around. In most cases, you need to sort of predict their flight patterns. The narrow field of vision of a zoom lens (as opposed to a wide-angle lens) will restrict the amount of area you can see through the lens. In any case, you would need a zoom lens to photograph moving insects. I use a 55-250 mm and a 70-300 mm lens to do this.

The second greatest challenge is, of course, the amount of ambient light. An excess of light will give you washed out photographs while too little light will give you rather dark ones. The best time, for me to photograph these flying insects is usually in the mornings from 7:30 a.m. to about 9:00 a.m. My favourite shutter speed setting would be anything above 1/2000th of a second and above till about 1/4000th of a second. I generally prefer an ISO setting of 400 to 800 and an f-stop number varying from f-6.3 to f-8. A zoom lens with a focal length varying from 200mm to 300mm should work fine.

The third greatest challenge while photographing flying Dragonflies and Butterflies lies in getting the focus right. I prefer the centre focusing zone out of all the focusing zones. I often use a mix of manual focussing and autofocusing zones. Since these are particularly small insects, compared to birds, it is always a good idea to have solid backdrop to the subjects you are photographing. Having a solid backdrop helps you focus on the insects. By backdrop I mean, probably having a thick screen of reeds or other thick vegetation will help your camera focus better on the Dragonfly. Similarly, it is a good idea to pre-focus on an object that you deem will be closest to the Dragonfly's flight path and then switch over to manual focus to fine-tune the sharpness. In some cases, if the dragonfly is flying too fast, then I try to focus on a leaf or twig closest to the insect's flight path.

Choices-A Poem

 

Choices,

Are like the winds of change,

Capricious temptations that pull you either way!

While one pulls you North, the other pulls you South.

Both loaded with possibilities and hidden risks, sweetened

With the promise of prosperity and success, fame, power and 

A fan following. Family, children, peace of mind, and health

Might for others be for another day according to some.

They tell me, they'd rather have the money and power,

Family, children and peace might wait a while.

But who'll tell which to choose?

Power,

Peace, fame, family, money or children, what 

Would to choose? That, none might tell, for choices are one's

Own and none can tell which to choose. The sages will advise wise

 Choices and luck thrown in, for success depends on what one chooses.

They might lead to corridors of power, but who'd see through layers of

Illusion? Wisdom, alas, comes so late. Till then, family and peace can

Wait as fame and wealth stand knocking on the door. Certainly, you'd

Need a lot of wealth to sit back end enjoy life? Choices. alas, are

Flirting geese, that call  out to each other, only to

One on a wild-goose chase!

Luck,

They say, favours the few, and silver spoons are

Hard to find. As for me, I'd rather slog than wait for favours few

And silver spoons. I'll wait for my moment to choose and let luck's

Choices wait a while. Gladly will I choose the path I wish and if luck

Does favour, then a good choice will make. If not then wait a moment!

Should luck be a caprice, then a tango we'll dance, till I get my chance.

If silver spoons that drop from skies are rare enough, I'd rather slog

Than wait for one moment of choice, gladly choosing the path I

Like. If luck does favour, then a good choice I'll make,

If not then wait for another day.

Destiny's

A beggar's choice, for lazy minds to rot! The

 Great flirt with games of dice while gamblers surrender peace 

Family and wealth. Some blame poor choice, loaded dice and 

Destiny. They do nothing but surrender all, blaming the willfulness of

Fate for their loss. The great do flirt with destiny's dice making their own

Game, as fools play a  game of blame. They curse a fate written in style.

Blaming misfortune on fate. They drown in a morass of grief and pity,

While others wander in a fog of grief (having stopped making choices).

They blame destiny's loaded dice for failure, an excuse to quit striving.

All this while the great make their own destiny with verve.

 

Humanity in Times of Crisis - A Poem

The footsteps of a homeless man ring loudly on  empty streets,

Even as  all humanity retreats in fear, to its homes,

 Deserted shops and malls, restaurants and bars, bear a haunted look!

Once bustling cities and towns fall finally silent.

 

The wailing sirens of  ambulance rent the air

Carrying lone passengers gasping for a breath of fresh air.

Once proud and boastful about health and wealth, now brought

Down in one fell swoop, bragging turned into whimpers!

 

Cowering before a scourge of tiny organisms, proud mankind

Before a pestilence bows its head! If only a lesson of some kind

He would learn, Alas! His lessons he soon forgets. To destroy

Nature be his want, as he pollutes his water and poisons the air.

 

The once crystal clear stream now muddied does flow,

The once scented sweet air now pungent does blow!

The greedy profit as bottled water and canned air are sold.

Foolish man, to have preferred the bottle and the can over the real.

 

The hiss of air and beep of monitors sound loudly in the room

Where he lies gasping for breath, lonely and helpless in the room,

Son and daughter refusing to come, lest they from him, catch the bug.

Self protection and greed rule their lives till it cost one so dear.

 

So all now wear face masks and stay at home, those who partied late

At night, refusing a hug, embrace or shaking of hands, wiser of late,

But, alas, a bit too late. Those that of health and wealth did boast,

Now, before a pestilence cower and quake, sporting a smile so grim.

 

And as humanity settles into its new normal, staying

At home, waving greetings from far instead of shaking

Hands, pollution levels drop, trees turn greener and birds

Chirrup as nature celebrates life. Oh! The harm we did to Nature.

 

A greater pandemic before mankind is the pandemic of insensitivity,

The pestilence of arrogance and the illness of egotistical greedy

Minds. Unfortunately, has man fallen prey to divisiveness and

Deviousness, letting a pestilence rampage a world of possibilities.

 

The world is now a lonely place, each one in silence suffering the

Grief of loss. And sad eyes greet one another, each carrying the

Guilt of shame. A stitch in time would have saved a dozen,

But very little did they heed the advice of the wise!

 

NGOs. like the Hemkunt Foundation serving Humanity in times of crisis

During these difficult times of the Pandemic, help comes from unexpected quarters. While Doctors Nurses and Paramedics contribute their share, NGOs like the Hemkunt Foundation offer free Oxygen refilling, free Oxygen Cylinders, and beds equipped with Oxygen supply via Oxygen Cylinders and Oxygen concentrators in situ. The organisation offers 'seva' or free service in keeping with their philosophy of serving mankind.

For those living in Gurgaon, the services are offered at the Covid Camp located on Golf -Course extension road near Pratiksha Hospital close to sector 62. Their Covid-19 24X7 helpline number for residents of Gurgaon is 9990691313.

Today when I visited the Camp to get some Oxygen for my mother who will be under post-Covid treatment at home after being discharged from the hospital, I was able to tour the place. I was also able to talk to the volunteers who have been at the centre for days. Fortunately,  enough, today was a lean day in terms of patients at the centre signs, probably a sign of the dwindling number of cases of those affected by the virus.

Besides providing Oxygen refilling services, the Hemkunt organisation has a large number of ambulances at their disposal. These ambulances are on standby and are offered to patients affected by the Covid virus.

I am sharing some of the phone numbers of the Covid care centres in Delhi NCR as under:

Gurudwara Rakabganj- Delhi 011-23712581

Sardar Patel Covid Care Camp- Radha Soami Satsang Beas Delhi- 011-2665547-48,49

Burari Sant Nirankari Ashram Delhi - 011-47660200

Noida Stadium, Noida - 9625676944, 9354835239

Ramlila Maidan Opposite Guru Tej Bahadur Delhi- 9625900725

Yamuna Sports Complex Delhi - 8287311222

The Winds of Change - A Poem about the New Normal

 

#20_21

The winds of change begin to blow, slowly, softly at first, working

Up the sky and the clouds into a roiling mass of chaos, churning

The blue sky into a gyre that gathers speed dizzying the mind, yet

Unseen by those that pass below, unsuspecting, unaware of changing

Times and a new normal of face masks and social distancing. All this

  While a deadly host waits to stop the world in its tracks even as they

Celebrate, party, shop, dance and drink, throwing caution to the winds.

 

The blast that flattens a skyline, leaving untold suffering,

While nations stage economic wars and wars with bombs, even

The greatest dams cannot the ravaging floods arrest! The new world

Order arrives but few see it, fewer still, a spinning gyre that swallows all,

 Unleashing a terror on all humanity to tame it of its arrogance and pride.

The vain boast of science, but before a germ bow down with shame.

 

Schools close, students struggle, focus on flickering screens, while

Teachers tackle technology and forget the lesson. Even the best can

Merely create a virtual world out of a film! Not even history could see 

A world of screens and bleary eyes. As cameras blink and voices crack,

One wonders if one would into the void be sucked! As you call out into

The screen none respond, and you wonder if you're going mad.

 

The jobless wander, straggling lines of despairing humanity, trudging a

Thousand miles to be with kith and kin, only to be struck by illness and

Hunger. Even then, others who lead, recession, depression 

With inflation doing the rest. Alas! Those who lead live in ivory towers

Refusing to accept the reality, to unlearn pride and stubbornness

As people become mere statistics in a quagmire of data.

 

The world teeters on the edge of a precipice, a chasm that sucks

Away all humanity. Sons and daughters refuse to tend their parents

Leaving them to die, others hoard Oxygen cylinders not share them.

A world in fear abandons its loved ones lest it is stricken. Greed 

And selfishness watch as humanity struggles before an unseen host,

 An unseen host making the pain all the more intense and harsh.

A man holds his head in his hands, how often, how often

Will he have to start anew? At an age when they thought he should

Retire, he keeps resetting his life. He started with garments to suffer loss

Shifted to electronics, suffered loss, imported stuff and suffered loss,

A victim of lockdowns and market forces intent to destroy livelihoods.

Yet, now he needs to go to a counsellor to tell him what to start.

 

The chaos sucks all into a gyre, that spins faster and faster. 

Whole worlds whirl, whirlpools spin  faster as lives flash by

Even as those that pause to watch grow dizzy by what they see.

Now, this is the new world order, where AI is a new religion,

That has algorithms as its acolytes - each one of us  a mere

Yoked data point, an ingredient to be whipped, into a  soup.

 

The winds of change have arrived, at last, they bring with

Them confusion, chaos and perplexity, while children and

Teachers, businessmen, doctors and nurses stare with surprise

 Into virtual worlds, waiting to be sucked into hungry, gaping

Maws to be turned into a virtual soup to feed hungry, invisible

Machines that crunch bones and flesh into data points.

 

The new world order teeters on unstable feet, threatening

To topple all into a dusty heap. Eliot would have recognised

The wasteland that we've created. Not even the gods of Rome

Can help us find a way out of a mess we made as they're

Replace by one that feeds on data and spawns algorithms, turning

All into nothing but digital data to be stacked and stored!

 

There is something even worse coming, an entity that feeds

When we sleep, a succubus, on the  human spirit, even Einstein

 In his wildest dreams wouldn't have thought that science in all its

Glory could be stopped from turning into  a competitor that would

Turn a man into poverty and helplessness. You know-how 

Businesses have failed, and factories have shut down..

 

There is, something weird about planes falling, ports exploding

Waters roiling, oil spills spreading and forest fires spreading.

Even countries turn enemies eye-balling  each other hatred

Nurtured by desire and gain, of other's lands and resources.

Times have changed, people drift apart, humanity is forsaken.

Years squeeze into minutes, memories compressed into bytes.

 

And then the virus strikes, innocuous at first, but gaining speed

Like an avalanche that gathers boulders, trees and people in its

Wake. Young and old, women and men, newly married, strong and

Weak, politician and peasant, all felled in one swoop by death's scythe

That knows no distinction! As people gasp for air, siren sounds rent

The air, with their wailing - nation brought to its knees by a calamity.

As each family is struck by a pestilence that defies all treatment,

The sense of gloom looms overhead like dark brooding clouds

Ready to strike at hapless victims, the strong and young, wise and

Naive, all alike. The fear festers on  hapless fear-struck minds, the

Centre loses control over a maelstrom of chaos, a gyre the whirls faster

 And faster, drawing everything, inexorably into its ever gaping maw.

 

And we all share each other's grief, sending out condolences and

Platitudes that now sound virtual and hollow. The mind numbs, and

Hope becomes rare even as the numbers grow, those that are stricken

And those fearing to be struck. Every day one wakes up to a new world

Order, a world bowed down with grief, wise with the knowledge of life

 Tired, exhausted, confused, tending to the many only to lose them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nature Heals but also Exacts Revenge!

Anomalies in Climate Patterns and Environmental Conditions are forcing a change in Migratory Patterns of Birds at the Basai Wetland in Gurgaon

The last of the Bar-headed Geese spotted on the 8th of May, 2021

When I visited the Basai Wetland recently, I didn't expect to see the last of the Bar-headed Geese. They generally leave by the month of March. It was surprising, indeed to see that last pair so late in the month. What I was seeing were stragglers, probably just matured ones that had separated from the rest of the flock. The summer months are too warm for Bar-headed Geese so they return to the colder climates of the Northern regions of Ladakh or even Central Asia and Mongolia. Fortunately, when I returned to the wetland today, they had left.

A female Bar-headed Goose spotted on the 8th of May, 2021

Bar-headed Geese are known to nest in the higher regions of Tibet where they lay a clutch of three to eight eggs. In the months of April and May. The presence of this pair of Bar-headed Geese is clearly an anomaly since they should have been elsewhere, the plateau of Tibet, Central Asia.

Pair of Lesser-Whistling Ducks spotted on the 8th of May, 2021

Another surprise spotting was that of a pair of Lesser Whistling Ducks. I have rarely seen these ducks at the Basai Wetland in Gurgaon. Though they are native to the sub-continent, their presence is probably in response to changes in weather patterns and availability of water. Strangely enough, spotting them in the almost dried up environs of the Wetland might be yet another anomaly linked to the limited resources in the surrounding areas. It was either a stopover for them or else, they had been forced to abandon their traditional nesting grounds due to a shortage of water and other natural resources.

Lesser-Whistling Ducks spotted on the 8th of May, 2021

Yet another surprise spotting was that of a pair of Sarus Cranes flying in to land on the remaining stretch of water at the Basai Wetland. I have not spotted Sarus Cranes for almost two years at the wetland, probably because of the unfavourable conditions prevailing there. Rampant construction, draining out of the water from the ponds and lakes and the dumping of construction waste and debris to fill up the catchment areas has made the wetland inhospitable for most migratory birds, and even the native species of birds. I have never seen Sarus Cranes flying so high in the sky, and although the lighting was unfavourable, I managed to click a few passable snaps.

Surus Cranes flying into the Basai Wetland on the 8th of May, 2021

The presence of the Sarus Cranes like that of the Bar-headed Geese and the Lesser-Whistling Ducks could be yet another anomaly caused by climatic and Geographic changes in their habitats. Migratory birds now stopover at the Basai Wetland en route to other better habitats. This is indeed a wake-up call for all of us to mend our ways since the damage caused to the Environment could have a ripple effect on us too.

A Sarus Crane at the Basai Wetland on the 8th of May, 2021

One of a pair of Sarus Cranes preening its feathers.

One of the more hardy native species of birds is the Pied Bushchat. Even this resident species of bird might soon be robbed of its habitat thanks to all the development activities taking place in the wetland. The Pied Bushchat that I spotted had alighted on the branches of a bush to have a hearty breakfast of a fat and juicy worm!

A Pied Bushchat having a hearty breakfast of a fat and juicy worm.

The stripping away of the green cover and the drying up of the Basai Wetland will rob the Bushchats of their worms and grubs. As a result of this, even these native dwellers will be forced to abandon the wetland in search of better feeding grounds. The story of the Basai Wetland is a tragic story unfolding before our eyes. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do unless the Forest Department, the Green Tribunal and the Government wake up to the situation before it becomes worse. Wetlands are like the kidneys of the body. When the kidneys stop functioning, life ceases!

A Pied-Bushchat spotted at the Basai Wetland on the 8th of May, 2021

Pied Bushchat

To add insult to injury is the manner in which the wetland is being steadily destroyed. The draining out of the water from the ponds, dumping of construction waste and debris and rampant construction of residential buildings have taken a toll on the wetland. Sometimes I wonder if nature might not be claiming its pound of flesh by unleashing a dreadful Pandemic on all humanity. For these migratory and native bird species, we human beings (who are steadily destroying their habitats) are not less than the virus that has brought all Mankind to its knees. It is high time we did something about saving the environment and the animals and birds that it supports before they take their revenge on us. I would like to end this post with a photograph of what is happening at the Basai Wetland in Gurgaon.

Debris and construction waste being dumped at the Basai Wetland in Gurgaon