A Season's End Visit to the Bharatpur National Park - Taking the RF-F/11 600mm STM Lens through its paces

A sudden late-night decision to visit the Bharatpur National Park resulted in my brother and me waking up early the next morning for a one-day visit to the Keoladeo National Park. We left Gurgaon at 3:15 a.m.,  on the last day of February, took the Mumbai Vadodara Expressway, took a left turn into the Yamnua Expressway, took a U-Turn from the Mathura Highway onto a narrow road leading to the National Park. Surprisingly, the route was clear, and we reached the national park at 6:06 a.m., barely three hours after leaving Gurgaon, having travelled 193.6 kilometres! For the return journey, however, we took the Alwar bypass road, avoiding the Mathura Road and parts of the Yamuna Expressway, and instead joined the Mumbai-Vadodara Expressway. We left Bharatpur at 1:06 p.m and reached Gurgaon at 5:00 p.m. Since it was a Saturday, there was less traffic.

Unfortunately, the sky on the 28th of February was overcast and cloudy, and it would soon rain. We hired an E-rikshaw (number 6) owned by Mr Raghubir Singh. Initially, I was disappointed when it started to rain, but then soon things changed, and the sun peeped through the clouds. We were guided by Mr Raghubir Singh as he knew the lay of the land. He took us through all the lanes and knew the hiding spots of animals and birds. It is often a good idea to hire an E-rikshaw driver who can double down as a guide. Interestingly, most of the e-rikshaw drivers owning rikshaws in single digits are veterans.

My desire to make a second visit to the Keoladeo National Park was also driven by my desire to test my Canon F/11 600 mm STM  RF lens mated to a Canon R-7 Camera body. Being an F/11 lens, the 600 mm STM lens needs a good amount of light. I therefore carried a tripod and a monopod, I did not use them and took photographs handheld. Amazingly enough, the photographs came out pretty well!

It was a joy to be able to spot so many birds and wild animals, including Wild Boar, Spotted Deer and a pack of Jackals. The Canon RF 600 mm STM lens did not let me down. The photographs of the Scops Owl came out quite well despite the challenging lighting conditions near the hollow cavity in the tree.

The visit to the Bharatpur National Park led to us being able to spot quite a large number of White-eyed Pochards and Red-crested Pochards, a special moment for me as I had rarely spotted these birds from so close at hand!

It was a joy to spot a Partridge while driving along the pathway. While Partridges are rather shy and difficult to spot, this one, however, gave me enough time to photograph it. Partridges in the wild are easily scared and rather difficult to photograph because by the time one lifts the camera to photograph them, they are gone with the wind, disappearing into the scrub!

Spotting a pack of Asian golden Jackals was a treat, while spotting a Brahmini Starling enjoying an early morning scratch was funny enough. Spotting a Cotton Pygmy Goose was a rare sight.

Of course, how can I forget sharing a photograph of the most knowledgeable guide and E-rickshaw driver, Mr Raghubir Singh. He knew each nook and corner of the park, and he had his favourite trees that were the residents of spotted owls, and other residents. He can be contacted at his mobile number: 7742635159, and his vehicle number is 6.