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Pallas's Fish Eagle is large brownish sea eagle. It is also known as Band Tailed Sea Eagle.It is Partially Migratory bird in central Asia. My first siting of Pallas's Fish Eagle Or Pallas's Sea Eagle at Corbett National Park in 2014 while I am participating Canon Wild Click organised by naturewanderers. Color of Pallas's Fish Eagle is light sandy brown. It face is white in color. Its Wings are darker than body color. Juvenile is dark brown in color.

About Pallas's Fish Eagle :

• It is known as Pallas's Sea Eagle Or Band Tailed Sea Eagle
• The length of Pallas's Fish Eagle is  70 to 85 cm .
• With Wingspan length is 180-210 cm.
• Male Eagle weight around 2 -3.3 kg and Female weight around  2.1 - 3.7 kg. 
• Main Diet of Pallas's Fish Eagle is Fresh fishes.
• It also hunts water birds, small mammals, frogs and reptiles too.
• It breeds in Russia, Mongolia, India, Kazakhstan, China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan etc.
• Pallas's Fish Eagle is Endangered spices and listed in Endangered on IUCN Red List.
• Golbal population of Pallas's Fish Eagle is around 2500 approx.
• Pollution and overfishing lakes by humans is main reason for putting in endangered to Pallas's Fish eagle .
• A reason for low count in India is spread of water hyacinth so difficult to find fishes in lake water.

Killing experience of Pallas's Fish Eagle :

To see kill of pallas's fish eagle is awesome experience. It standing on a tree and below 100-140 ft down a river goes and i saw that eagle stand for while then just down in fastest speed n catch a fish OMG what a scene that was . I just sow his speed n accuracy is fantastic.

I m not lucky too much that i shoot that action but a kill n feast i can capture.

Here below picture u can see his neck can turn 360 degree. That specialty makes him perfect for kill , watch, and be accurate .

Location : Corbett National Park, Near Dhikhala , During safari ride.

Canon gears : Canon6D , Canon 100-400mm 

Asiatic Lions are only in Gir national park located in Gujarat near famous Somnath Temple. It is also known as Sasan Gir. The park made in 1965 . It cover 1412 sq km area. At the 19th century only few of Asiatic lions were survive and all of them only in Gujarat's Sasan Gir. It is the only area in Asia where Asiatic lion live. In 2015 lion census conducted and the population of lions has been count around 523  upside then 2010 . There are 109 male, 201 Female and  213 cubs. Gir national park is only a park in India where you can see Asiatic Lions aka lions of Gir. The park has also approx 300  species of birds, 38 types of mammals , 37 spices of reptiles and more than 2000 spices of insects.

Things to know about Asiatic Lion / Gir Lions :

• Asiatic lions surviving only in India And only In Gujarat 
• Asiatic lions found in Gujarat only in Gir National Park.
• Asiatic Lion is one of the pantherine cats in India.
• North and west African Lion genetic are closer  to Asiatic Lion.
• The post orbital area of Asiatic Lion is shorter than African Lion.
• Adult male skull length is around 340 mm. and female skull length around 300 mm.
• Mane is less developed of Asiatic Lion in compare to African Lion.
• Gir and Girnar hill systems are comprise for  Asiatic Lion habitat.
• Gir Sanctuary, Gir National Park, Pania Sanctuary, Mitiyala Sanctuary and Girnar sanctuary are five areas are to save and protect Asiatic Lions.
• Barda Wildlife Sanctuary recently established for second home for Asiatic Lions.
• Male and Female lions are associate for few days while matting. Male and Female Lion rarely live and feed together.
• Lion can live 8-10 years in wild also they may live more than 25 years too. It depends on weather, ecology, Health of lion, Critical illness etc.

Lions of Gir : Gir Lions 

Gir lion also known as Asiatic lions are found only in India and in Gujarat only. So Sasan Gir is the only place where you can see Gir lions Or Asiatic Lions. You can go to Gir safari via online booking and enjoy the jungle safari . The jungle itself beautiful even you can not find Lions during safari. Most Trees found in Gir National Park are Teak wood tree . There are also Banyan tree, Jamun, Kalam, Amli and many more trees found at Gir Forest. The Gir Lions mostly eat by Hunting Chital , Sambar , Deer etc . Also Gir Lions Hunts local Cow / Cattle and Carrion . 

How Many Lions are there in Gir National Park : 

As per letest in 2020 there are more than 650 Asiatic Lions in Gir National Park. The numbers are increase almost 28 to 30 % from 2015 counting. The lions are one of the five pantherian cat in India. It is also known as Indian Lion. Asiatic Lions population is increasing but still you can say Asiatic lions endangered spices because their area are restricted only in Gujarat. Population growing is good but still Asiatic Lions are in endangered spices in IUCN list.

Gir Safari Booking online : Gir Lion Safari

You can book only online safari for Jungle trail in Gir National Park. You can book from girlion.in .  Two timings for Gir safari  morning and evening. In morning safari timings are 6 AM to 9 AM and 6:45 AM to 9:45 AM and 8:30 AM to 11:30 AM. and in evening safari timings are 3 PM to 6 PM and 4 PM to 7 PM.  Price for safari is approx 4000 INR per Jeep. It depends on members too.  More member (max 5 per jeep ) is cheaper for per person safari. Safari price includes Jeep, Driver, Guide and permit charges but may be some convenience fee extra charged. 

Asiatic Lions vs African Lions :

Main differance between Asiatic Lion vs African Lion is the male Asiatic lion is shorter then African lion. Also Asiatic Lion hair color is darker then African Lion hair. Also growth of hair (mane ) in African Lion is more than Asiatic Lions.

HOW TO REACH GIR ::

Nearest airport from Sasan Gir is Diu ( Domestic Airport ) but Nearest International Airport is Ahmedabad. Nearest railway station is Junaghadh . Lots of Hotels near Gir u can stay. Also some farmhouse can give room for rent. When u want to visit book safari online. Safari booking done online only so plan accordingly ur visit. Also take morning and evening safari as i prefer bcz no one lucky as first time to see lion in first safari. Also Devadia is reserve park for those who didn't see lions in safari in jungle. Here sure 100% to see lions and leopards. For resident of Gujarat people best way to go by own car. Find some good hotels and loudge near safari entrance.

Lions Breeding :

During breeding period you can not mess with lions. Also in monsoon the National park is closed but it not necessary that only in monsoon they breed. In Junaghadh Sakkarbaug Zoo made as breeding center. So it helps to study about lions behavour . And the sakkarbaug zoo successfully breeds 180 lions and more than 120 lions have been given to zoos in India and also in Foriegn.

Devaliya : 

Devaliya is an iterpretation zone where all habitats are covered in some area with fenses and also from entry gate. Here you can have half hour bus safari with 100 % sure see major animals like Lions and Leopard. It will promote nature education and also reduce some rush for jungle safari too. 

About Gir National Park : Flora and Fauna of Gir National Park

Gir National park is a wild life sanctuary and it also known as Sasan Gir. Asiatic Lions in India only here you can see. So the sanctuary is very important for wildlife and also for Asiatic Lions. There are also other mammals found here like Indian Leopard, Jungle Cat, striped Hyena, Golden Jackal, Fox etc. Also some reptiles like Cobra, Crocodial , Monitor Lizard and tortoise too. Also found more than 280 spices of birds here too so Gir national park is good for birding too. Some times Gir forest faces some cyclone and jungle fire too but its depends on ecology and nature so its not in human hand. So at end i must tell you that visit Gir National Park atleast once. Also Gujarat Tourism will helps you a lot in visit Gir forest and give more informations what you need. Gujarat tourism also promote to visit Sasan Gir as Khushboo Gujarat Ki. But i must say enjoying a Jungle ride even you cant see any animal is also a superb experience. Just enjoying nature.

KUNO Palpur in Madhya Pradesh may be the second home for Asiatic Lions in future. I am not sure about it i just heard some news about it. 

Note : All above photos are taken at Gir Forest none of above image is from Devaliya interpretation zone.

Gear Used : Canon 6D and canon  100-400 mm lens, Canon 1000D with 18-55 mm lens

About abstract photography : Abstract photography is like an non objective photography. Sometimes it is experimental sometimes its conceptual so abstract photography means depicting a visual image that does not belongs to a subject or object of the world. Abstract photography is all about your creativity. You can make and convert any object or subject as an abstract image. Abstract images are more attractive in water images. Water drops , running water, Water oil combination etc. are the best option for abstract photography. Also there are lots of objects in your kitchen which you can use as abstract photography ideas at home.

How to shoot abstract Photography with oil and water : Well in abstract images I shoot water drops, Running water and also pen pencils abstract images before and I also write a post on it so check it on my blog site.  

• I take a plain glass which has no design no color only plain glass I take. 
• Put some water in a glass and take some oil drops on water. You can take any oil like hair oil or cooking oil for this experiment. 
• Oil is floating on a water you can see bcz its natural science. Oil drops are in different round shapes. More oil you drop more round bubble floater on water you get. 
• First take some pictures from top of glass with white background. 
• For background put white paper below glass. Result is good but you need to use tripod and flash light for better result. 
• After that black and white image put some color paper and take some different color shots. 
• One more thing you can do take your mobile with multi color wallpaper on it and put it below glass which I do. This is amazing because you can get different layers of color in one image with different oil bubble colors. 

Now you can move oil bubbles with some stick and make a good angle of bubbles and take a shot. You can combine with color and bubble size too as I give you some sample images of color oil and water abstract. Take different colors and black and white pictures of these creative abstract photography at home and enjoy your photography. Abstract images are more attractive in black and white too so don't forget to take photo in black and white. You can also post process color abstract images into black and white in a software too.

Gears used for oil water abstract photography : Here I use Canon 80 D with 100mm macro lens. I don't use tripod in this photos but still get good images. You can use 50mm prime lens in this is also good lens for these abstract photography. Also i use a plain transparent glass, water, coconut oil and mobile with colorful photo for background.

At the end try to get more and more sharp images until you don't get much sharper image. Because abstract photography is looking attractive when your images are sharp. So use tripod at least and flash light for better results. 

Cheetah is the fastest animal on earth. It is a large cat of subfamily Felinae. This type cat find in Africa and Iran. It has slender body, spotted coat, deep chest, long thin leg, rounded head, and long spotted tail. Cheetahs are active during day time for hunting. By 2016 global cheetah population reaches 7100 approx.

Several African countries take many steps to improve population of cheetah. In Masai Mara sometimes Cheetah climb on safari van or car. I found cheetah in Amboseli National Park and also in Masai Mara/ Maasai Mara. Unfortunately i cant shoot at Amboseli National Park because its too far form us. Cheetah is not include in Big 5 Africa animals.

Facts About Cheetah :

• Cheetah body length is around 3.5 to 5 ft. 
• Cheetah can reach 112 Km/h in short time.
• Height of cheetah is around 25-35 inch at shoulder.
• Cheetah has three groups : Female cheetah and cubs, Male and solitary male.
• Cheetah mostly active on day time. 
• Cheetah hunts small size  approx 35-40 kg mammals.
• Breeding season of Cheetah through out a year.
• Cheetah cubs are highly attacked by large mammals like Hyena and Lions.
• In Hindi Cheetah called Cita ( चीता ).
• Cheetah also called hunting leopard.

Is African Cheetah Endangered ? : 

After survey and counting of African cheetah there are only 7100 Cheetah left. From Africa only cheetah vanished 90% of its population. In Africa Kenya has large population of cheetah around 1200 adults. Namibia has the largest population of Cheetah around 3500 till now. Due to lost of habitat and vulnerability to humans cheetah populations going down day by day. One interesting thing about wild cheetah is there is no record of cheetah killing humans. 

Masai Mara Safari : During my trip to Masai Mara Kenya day 1 first safari and within 5 minute v got couple of cheetah on road. They are looking for hunt and v stay for some time to see kill but v r not lucky that much. but v see some beautiful moments of cheetah. From my van cheetah family just some feet's away. Both cheetah helping each other to clean their skin. I don't know either they male or female but that moment I see is beautiful. We do one day half half morning and evening safari and another day we go for full day safari and went to mara river side where we see crocodiles, Hippos too. There is an option of Lunch or breakfast in the middle of Jungle at extra cost if you want. That is unique experience but its expensive too. Also balloon ride in masai mara national park is at 450 $ per person approx. Also direct chartered flight options available who do not want to go by road. 

Park fees in Masai Mara national park for foreigners : Well for non resident or foreigner park fees are 80 $ for adult and 45 $ for child. If you stay inside masai mara national park then fees are 70 $ per adult and 40 $ for child.  

Both cheetah in photo looking for hunt for a long. We are waiting for their hunt and waiting for live kill of cheetah but unfortunately we are not lucky much. But its thrilling experience for me.

Masai Mara Hotels : All resort and hotels are really good at masai mara national park. For migration time some resorts are giving fantastic view from room so book accordingly while travel to masai mara migration time. For cheap trip to masai mara go in January to March. All hotels and resort hospitality is awesome and price worthy. I stay in Mara leisure camp resort. Resort is very good and neat and clean tent. Also big size tent too. 

Location : Masai Mara National Park, Kenya.

Camera : Canon 6d with 100-400mm lens

Plumeria flower generally in white and pink color. Most of i seen in white color. Plumeria is related to Oleander,Nerium Oleander and both possess and irritant. Plumeria flowers are most fragrant at night in order to lure sphinx moths to pollinate them. Plumeria species may be easily propagated from cutting of leafless stem tips in spring. Plumeria is named in honor of the French botanist Charles Plumier. In Penataran Temple shows a plumeria tree with flower petals. In east India plumeria flower considered as a variety of Champak Flower. The Champaka flower had in home of Lord Krishna. The Champaka flower mean Golok Chapa. Champa flower plant is also available for sale online at many places.

Some Plumeria tree may reach a height of 30' to 40' and half as wide. They have widely spaced thick succulent branches, round or pointed, long leather, fleshy leaves in clusters near the branch tips. Sensitive to cold, leaves tend to fall in early winter since they are deciduous

Popular Champa Flowers :

• Plumeria Rubra
• Plumeria Obtusa
• Plumeria Alba
• Plumeria Pudica
• Pink Champa
• Champaca Magnolias

Things to know about Plumeria flower Plant ( Champa Flower ) :

• Plumeria is a genus of flowering plant.
• Plumeria flowers are most fragrant at night.
• Human pollination or insects can help to create new varieties of plumeria flower. 
• Most common name is plumeria frangipani.
• Plumeria rubra is the national flower of Nicaragua and Laos.
• In India plumeria known as Champa Flower plant.
• Plumeria spices have milky latex which irritate skin and eyes.
• Plumeria alba spices have narrow leaves.
• Plumeria pudica spices have dark green leaves and aslo glossy. 
• Plumeria is endamic in Mexico, Central America, Brazil and Florida.
• Champa flower tree is common in south Asia. They are associated with Hindu, Buddhiest and Jain temple. And peoples also believed that Champa tree provide shelter to Ghosts.
• Champa Plant or Plumeria plant known in English as Magnolia Champaca.
• All part of plumeria plant is toxic but there are no cases of plumeria poisoning.
• Champa plant or frangipani plant blooms are considered as a sign of Good luck in the world.
• Plumeria or Champa flowers not offered to Lord Shiva.

In India Plumeria tree or Champa flower plant are widely used in Garden. Many farms and home garden plant plumeria for nice fragrance at night. Also Champa plant flowers are white in color so it looks very beautiful in monsoon seasons. The bloom of champa flower looks like a bookey. Plumeria or champa plant easily grow up. There is no additional care to take for Plumeria plant that's why it is widely used in gardening. The plant of plumeria is cheap so easily anyone can buy. Also once it grow up you can cut plumeria plant branch and plant somewhere else it also grow up. So plumeria cutting plant also works.

Thrush bird found at low to mid altitude of Himalayas. Generally it found in Himachal pradesh , Uttarakhand, North East Himalayas in India. It also found in Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet areas. In manali trekking there are lots of thrush bird spices you can find. Some spices found at 6000 ft and some of them found at 10000 ft. So there are more Birds of Manali in my checklist too.  I found  spices of Thrush named :

• Whistling Thrush
• Blue Cap Rock Thrush 
• Streaked Laughingthrush 
• Variegated laughingthrush 

About Variegated Laughingthrush :

• Variegated Laughingthrush is medium size bird and its size arround 16-24 cm lenght and 55-80 gm weight.
• Its overall olive color and black stripe down the center.
• Tail is large and grey subterminal band with white tip.
• Its feathers are yellow in primary and black primary coverts.
• Beak to eye area is black in color. It has white eye ring arround the eye.
• Variegated Laughingthrush is least concern in IUCN bird list.
• Variegated Laughingthrush is endamic in Northern region.
• It is a spices of family Leiothrichidae.

About Blue Capped Rock Thrush :

• Male Blue capped rock thrush has blue head.
• Upperparts are blue and black
• White patch on wing.
• Underparts are chestnut brown.
• Female color is brown with white and brown underparts.

About Blue Whistling Thrush :

• Male Whistling Thrush is blue and female is blue or brown.
• Blue Whistling Thrush found in hilly areas. 
• Blue whistling Thrush is specialize in feeding of snails.
• They build their nest near water with pices of  rock and boulder.
• They lay 3-4 eggs with grey color and maked with speckles.

About Streaked Laughingthrush :

• It generally found in Northan region of India.
• It color is brown with Streaked of white. 
• It lays 2-4 eggs in a cup type nest.

Manali Trekking : 

Manali is located in Himachal Pradesh in India. Lots of people go to manali for trekking and for leisure in summer. Best way to explore manali is via trek. Chandrakhani Pass trek starts from Dobhi is one of amazing trek in Himachal Pradesh. Trek also managed by YHAI and it managed very well. During trek there are more than 25 spices of different birds i found. So for bird lovers manali trek to Chandrakhani pass is amazing. Chandrakhani pass trek is easy to moderate trek so it is most favorite trek for begineers. Trek start from Dobhi.

Birds of Manali : 

In Himachal pradesh manali is most visited tourist place in summer. Also for trekker its most favorite place. Different treks in manali are most attraction in summer. For bird lovers manali is heaven and found lots of different birds spices like Magpie, Jay, Flycatchers, Bulbuls, White eye, Barbet, Russet Sparrow, Himalayan Vulture, Redstart , Laughingthrush, Warblers, finches,  Tits, Himalayan Monal etc. Birders can stay more days in trek then they get more birds. 

Leaf-Toed Gecko are reptiles. It is a spicies of lizard in the Gekkonidae family. This spices is native to east Asia. They are lizards but now a days they are endemic. They generally found in jungles and low grass areas. In Gujarat i found it at Jessore Sanctuary and also near to Narmada river dam at Pratij. They are camouflage in color so you can not found them easily. Small in size and in grass it is difficult to find them. Generally found them at night and in light when they are coming out for eating insects.

Generally some lizards found at everywhere. We can find lizards at home also. The house lizards are widespread everywhere. Some spices of lizards are found in jungles and they are difficult to find. Indian leaf toed Gecko is endangered spices of lizards. Leaf toed gecko is one of the endemic spices of Lizards or Reptiles.

Things to know Leaf Toed Gecko :

• Adult Leaf Toed Gecko feed every other day and Juvenile feed everyday.
• Gecko lizards are insectivorous. It means they need live insects to get nutritions for their body.
• Leaf Toed Geckos are shy reptiles and they does not like handled.
• Leaf toed gecko color dark brown with black spots on body. 
• They have camouflage skin so not easily to see them.
• Leaf toed gecko lizard is cold blooded reptile.
• Most spices of lizards do not have eyelids but have corner very thin and transparent membranes for covering surface of each eye.
• Geckos are differant from other lizards in terms of their living , eating and physical charateristics

I found Leaf Toed Gecko lizard first at Jessore Sanctuary Gujarat when i was with my friends for trail to Kedarnath temple of Jessore sanctuary. One of my friend is good naturalist who find snakes and reptiles easily. Unfortunately i could not capture image of Leaf toed gocko lizard. But second time when i was going for full moon photography on Sharad Purnima day i found it at Narmada river dam near Pratij village. I was shooting double exposure photos of full moon and suddenly my friend told me about lizard. I wondered and found Leaf Toed Gecko which is endangered spices of Lizards found here. Luckily at that time i have another camera and aslo a canon 100 mm macro lens with me. I capture good macro image in  a short time because it running faster then i capture it. But my luck is with me and i capture eye close up of Leaf toed Gecko . I also capture full body photo too. Not more than 3-4 images i capture but still got good images of that lizards.

In small words abstract means the object create a conceptual image or some kind of experimental images that is Abstract photography. I really love to shoot at home or indoor photography with my canon 80D and 100 mm macro lens. I always wondering in spare time for subject of Abstract photography. This time I use some artifacts, Kitchen instruments and also my son's decorative materials. I will explain you in details how i shoot .

A tooth pick image looks beautiful. Well this image is not so good as i am very new to shoot in a macro. But definitely i try again for better result as shown below.

The motion Abstract photo :

The above image is of a tiny and thin about 0.5 cm paper roll of red color. My son use it for decorative art. You can make it urself or buy it from store its easily available. I put my camera on tripod and the roll moved IN front of camera by my son . For this you set your aperture above F/10 and set shutter speed min 2-3 second . More long exposure need more aperture so set it accordingly. The result is good with motion red color of roll and make a good abstract images at home.

Another example of motion abstract of my home door chain movement capture in sunlight so maximum aperture to set.

Playing with paper :

This shows you how you create an object for abstract photography. Take a plain white paper , fold it in any shape like below image and put it on a black glass that reflect in black color. Make different paper objects and improve your creativity.

I also using camera motion blur for paper abstract photography. For motion blur images you just set your shutter speed below 1-2 second and during your shutter open move your hand in any direction before shutter closed. The result shown in below image.

How to shoot abstract photos ?

Start Abstract photography at Home

Some Topics to try for abstract photography : 

For abstract photography you don't need any experience to shoot. Just know about your camera and some DSLR camera settings for capturing good images. Abstract photo you can shoot everywhere like at home abstract photography, At nature abstract photography, At kitchen abstract photography etc. Also you can take photo of sand dunes, some formations of Mountain range, Night landscapes, Water droplets , textures, bubbles, macro of peoples, also long exposure of water and light trails, camera blur, river valley, sea waves, urban photo, shadow and my favorite black and white photography. These all topics you can shoot as an abstract photography.

The above and below image is of gift wrap paper. I use non color side of paper means the other side of color wrap paper. I squash the paper and give some external light from different sides like left and right. That image is really awesome abstract photo beyond my imagine.

Objects i use for this blog article for abstract photography :

I use red decorative paper roll, a chain of my door lock, Bluetooth speaker , Tooth pick, oil paint in water mixture, Kitchen shredder , artifacts of masai lady face , artifact of flower the spiral the first image , a gift wrap paper with directed light, some paper design with mirror images on glass.

You can try any object for an abstract photography at home. Try something new everytime for photography. Improve your skills with any type of photography at home. Canon 100mm Macro lens is good for abstract photography. I used it mostly for indoor photography and also canon 50mm prime lens is too good because both lenses are good in low light.

Gear Used : Canon 6D, Canon 80D, Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon 50mm Lens.