This was the greater spotted eagle that ultimately consumed the northern shoveler that you see in my waders and waterbirds section.

This was our first sighting of a steppe eagle. The gape of a steppe eagle extends beyond the centre of its eye—as you can clearly see in these photos.

This steppe eagle along with a painted stork and a black-necked stork were busy feeding on the carcass of a spotted deer in the shallow banks of a waterbody. I never knew that storks feed on carcasses.

Desaturating the colours in Adobe Lightroom emphasises the pattern of its feathers.

We saw this crested serpent-eagle just moments before our final safari in Sariska and departure for Bharatpur. This part of the jungle looked like the scene in the movie “The Jungle Book” where the hyenas dwelled. It was a panoramic view of about one hundred bare trees just like the one the eagle is perched on. We didn’t recognise this bird at first because it looked different from all the crested serpent-eagles that we had seen before. Our guide had no doubts that it was indeed a juvenile crested serpent-eagle. It looks rather big to be a juvenile—it could even be an adult female.

When I see a bird or an animal that I want to photograph, I don’t know for how long it’s going to sit there. So I make a few photos—then ask to be taken closer to it—make a few more photos—and continue doing this until I’m as close as I can get to it (this is when I’m on a jeep or a boat). This turned out to be the day when I got closest to any eagle—the steppe eagle from the previous pictures. I was within fifteen feet of it—and it didn’t seem to mind. This greater spotted eagle was the first eagle that we sighted that afternoon—this photo and the next were the first photos that I made from further away. It flew away before we could go any closer. I love the furniture, and the mild winter afternoon light falling on the leaves in the background. It always helps to have a shorter lens—such as 300 mm—so that we can include some of that magic in the background.

The peregrine falcon is the fastest member of the animal kingdom—it can reach speeds of over 300 kilometers per hour.

The cheetah—the fastest land animal—comes twelfth in this list. I was surprised to learn that the rock dove (common pigeon) ranks seventh!

If you visit Kumbhargaon in November or December you’ll most certainly come upon this peregrine falcon perched on this tree every morning and evening.

I’m always tempted to spend more time looking for it hoping that one day I’ll get a photo that’s different from all the quarter of a million photos that other people have made here. I’ve spent over twenty hours so far—making the same photo over and over again.

I’m still hopeful that the next time I’ll see something out of the ordinary—I don’t know—perhaps it’ll fly in with a motorbike gripped on its claws.

The osprey is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey.

The kingfisher is a piscivorous bird—its diet consists largely of fish and other aquatic foods such as aquatic insects and jellyfish. The river kingfisher is one of the smallest species of kingfishers—still, we will notice them even from a long way away because of its spectacular colors. This kingfisher is perched on a branch overlooking the Jatoli Canal—waits patiently for the next fish to arrive. The brahmani starling in the foreground is probably waiting for its next meal to show up.

Egyptian vultures high up on the rocks along R.Chambal in Madhya Pradesh—close to the state border with Rajasthan.

There are four ranges to explore in Kaziranga: Eastern, Western, Central and Burapahar. We spent our first morning in Kaziranga at the Eastern Range, a paradise for birdwatchers which for a bird photographer like me is heaven on earth. There were birds perched on almost every branch throughout the trail! This himalayan griffon vulture was perched on a branch of a mature tree, directly above the jeep trail—looking straight at us—as if to tell us, “look what you’ve done...left us on the verge of extension!”

Our first safari at the Eastern Range that morning stands as one of my top five wildlife experiences. So I was very eager to visit Kaziranga again. In October 2017 I called our naturalist in Kaziranga, telling him to keep his dates free for us when we come in December. He tried telling me that perhaps this December will not be the best time to visit Kaziranga National Park. Assam had heavy monsoons in 2017. He was of the opinion that the arrival of migratory birds will be delayed as a result of all the rains.

Still, we went ahead with the trip. I was excited to explore the Eastern Range again—expecting that this vulture will be waiting for us exactly where we’d last seen it, in 2015. There wasn’t a bird in sight anywhere! At the exact same time two years earlier the park was teeming with birds. How unpredictable is nature! Our naturalist was correct, and we should have delayed our trip by a couple of months.

Himalayan griffon vultures typically roost in higher parts of the Himalayan Mountains. So they are less prone to poisoning and dramatic declines as compared to other vulture species in India. Since 1990, the vulture population in India has declined by over 96%. Nation-wide counts conducted in 2015 estimated that only 6,000 oriental white-backed vultures, 12,000 long-billed vultures, and 1,000 slender-billed vultures out of a total of tens of millions remain.

Vultures perform a vital service to farmers and the ecosystem; they dispose of cattle carcasses. If carcasses are left to rot, infections and diseases spread to animals and humans through flies and maggots that come in contact with the rotting carcass.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) administered to livestock and used to treat inflammation, pain, and fever is believed to be toxic to vultures who feed on carcasses of dead animals treated with NSAID such as diclofenac, aceclofenac, carprofen, flunixin, and ketoprofen etc.

While diclofenac has been banned for veterinary use in India and other countries, other NSAID are still used.

Just after the great white pelicans disappeared (you would have read about my encounter with over a hundred and fifty pelicans in the waders and waterbirds section), I saw a pied kingfisher and a white-throated kingfisher perched together. Have you ever seen different species of kingfishers perched on the same branch?

I wonder how many spotted owlets this tree has sheltered over the years! I wonder who has the oldest photo of a spotted owlet sitting on this tree. Won’t that make an interesting series of photos—spotted owlets sitting on this very tree over the decades?