Where have all birds gone?

Birds - that are supposed be my main subjects are ironically absent from my posts. I keep saying I photograph birds primarily and keep posting everything else out here. While my diversions to macro world may surely have played a role in why I dont see many birds, but I think even otherwise, migratory birds are not seen this season. even early flycatchers and warblers seem to have gone away.

As if sympathizing with me, some local birds tried to pose for a shot or two.

Best of them was this Indian Robin Male. Though now I have photographed him and family few times, they had maintained their shy state so long in past that now every time I am able to get a shot, I am thrilled. and on this particular occasion he sat there just 15-20 feet away and allowed me pointing camera to him.

okay, not that there wasn't ANY migratory bird. but even a single sighting is enough to say that. Saw a black winged cuckoo-shrike once (last year was the first time I saw them here) but couldn't manage a shot and other than that, there are couple of most usual ones. Such a stark contrast to last December that had brought unusual number of first ever sightings with it. I wonder if its weather. This December is unusually pleasant so far and cold weather which is usual here but makes surviving more or less the only activity while it lasts for a more tropical being like me hasn't yet set in- or probably its not as much to do with temperature itself but wind pattern which also affects temperature? I should google and try to find out.

Chiffchaff enjoying the Sun

as you might have guessed, its a perch I like to photograph with any bird on it. okay, wish those distracting bamboos were there, but still fine.

and this immature white wagtail. They are usually found in very good numbers and here too, that was the case. They were happily calling and playing along the mustard plants that have started flowering.

Camera is a great tool to capture what you want as it offers option to capture only what you want. and to the camera, flowering mustard plants currently offer good opportunities to capture beautiful patches of surroundings. here it is with a background slope covered with coral vine and other plants. If I haven't missed the coral vine at its peak flowering, this should get better when the slope turns mostly dark pink.

Some insect shots

My most preferred description for my current way of living is that its somewhat similar to a four year old. a huge proportion of things encountered are never seen before and those that appear somewhat familiar, arent still for which I possess much knowledge. a state where everyday you seem to know more than you did yesterday and yet in absolute terms or compared to those around you, you seem to be not knowing anything at all. All that apart, most striking difference that this state has from a grown-up like state is, information and its relevance/context are not yet required to be tightly coupled before they are paid attention by brain.
In grown up state, where most of the things encountered are well understood and its important to be in control of the things, I think it makes more sense that information is classified as relevant/irrelevant important/non important based on why/how etc and we automatically focus only on what is found relevant/important. Conversely, if we do find something important and if we don't understand it, its not a nice feeling and usually we readily supply more resources to try and understand. In this child like state however, one neither has enough knowledge nor can afford to mark new information coming in way as important or otherwise. its more like keep collecting pieces of jigsaw puzzles and independently let it get solved. result is that when new information is encountered, there is both less excitement (oh, such an important piece of information) and less neglect (I don't care for that information) but a lot more wonder - which I guess helps remembering new information till its importance or otherwise is decided in direct or indirect way.

I often photograph various different looking insects I find with sense of wonder. Few photographs below.

It wasn't very unfriendly so not very sure why I couldn't manage a better shot. probably it was very small and refused to come on top of the grass.

Found in good numbers. I really like to watch this insect feeding on nectar and pollen of macro sized flowers.

One of those shots I am happy with myself that I could take given the size and movement of this insect. it was very very tiny and was feeding on this plant. Some kind of Ant?

Below ones look similar types.

This last insect was hanging in strong sunshine and appeared either like exoskeleton or dead insect to unaided eyes. I took the shot anyways and it came out quite nice after adjusting for overexposure. (I think it was one of the rare cases where both camera and human eye failed to meter / deal with dynamic range of the scene correctly. i.e. camera often fails but eye making same mistake with similar magnitude is interesting.)

Rather poor shots but even being able to get this spider in frame feels great. It is without any doubt the smallest insect I have watched and photographed if I may say so. Its highly energetic red spider and getting it in frame even with its outline visible was difficult.
P.S. as per comments below, this is a mite and not spider.

Below insect is probably a moth?

This I think is a weevil.

yet another tiny - probably 2-3mm in length, that I have seen few times feeding inside the flowers. I really like its decorative design.

and finally, some beautifully arranged eggs of unknown insect.

Wasps

My Sum total knowledge about wasps was that they make nest from the mud which have multiple compartments, one for each offspring with some food inside. Many years ago wasp nests were commonly seen in/outside house, but dont remember when I saw the last one. I saw below structure on a tree few days back and thought it was a wasp nest. It looked very beautiful, different from nests in the home I knew. Wikipedia tells me its potter wasp nest. Wonder what's the purpose of the opening at the top.

unfortunately, it wasn't there next day, probably some predator noticed it?

Actually, I wanted to share a recent Wasp shot and started writing this and in process learn few things about Wasps like their variety go well beyond the mud nest building wasps and there are others who build colonies from paper like material, some control plant tissue growth to form gall that serve as nest and yet some more don't bother of building nest but deposit eggs on a host whom they parasitizes. Given they pray/parasitizes pests, wasps are also considered important in agriculture pest control.

Had noticed above but individuals there appeared not doing much and construction stage remained much the same for many days till one day post effect of Phailin bought winds and rain which I think this budding colony didnt survive.

Dont know which insects have caused this Gall, but both gall and below very very small insects that appear to me like gall wasps were seen.

Black variety was seen only once or twice but the other was seen quite frequently. it was incredibly small and looked amazing as it kept flapping its wings while remaining stationary. I must have spent countless time trying to photograph them, but never imagined they could be wasps! (as applicable generally, pls do correct me, if I am wrong and they are something else.)

Some more easy to recongnise wasps.

Couple of shots which are less about Wasps themselves and more about their expressions.

I started this post saying there was a recent Wasp shot to share. Here it is.

How many ways to photograph the Moon?

If I have to name a single subject that I compulsively keep photographing, its probably Moon. Attraction to moon feels almost hardwired and as I try to justify that, it doesn't seem too difficult. Moon not only influences a large set of things around us but also makes it easy to see its influence. Tides or life, astronomy or astrology, festivals or something that can inspire poets, there are thousands of ways to see Moon affecting us and no wonder human mind finds it fascinating. I was trying yet again (and again largely unsuccessfully) to take a moon shot and thought can share a collection of Moon shots so far. first, its moon as seen most usually. Illuminated by direct sunlight. While it looks most common shot, its still rarely repeating shot except when its full moon. every time I get a moon in my frame, its illuminated differently - phase, side from which Sunlight is coming etc highlights terrain differently and so having a shot or two of the moon is absolutely no reason to ignore it next time.

Illuminated by direct sunlight during an eclipse (10 Dec 2011).

Capturing back filtered and refracted Sunlight illuminating eclipsed part of moon.

and putting it by hand in the frame where its not actually a moon shot - Crescent Venus with Moon for scale.

okay, this shot is about venus, not moon. moon exists here only for scale and to make the picture interesting. Venus exhibits phases like moon. Currently its waning and crescent will become thinner in coming days culminating in Venus Transit on June 6. Venus transit occurs at intervals of 8-121.5-8-105.5 years and after June 6, next one will be in 2117. This rare event was of interest in earlier days to determine distance between Sun and Earth. This great interest in the event even resulted in unfortunate story like that of Guillaume Le Gentil.
Its actually lot brighter than what one may think of a planet. (I learned it after so many shots failed to show the crescent). Above Venus is taken at f/8, 1/60s, ISO 100. Shot is taken at 400 mm but I have stretched the size to make it more convenient to view.
And, below is the shot I tried for the nth time few days back. I have been trying a good Earthshine shot for quite long now and think unless I get below the sky with less air and light pollution, may not be possible to better it :-(.

Telling time by flowers

Came across this Hibiscus mutabilis flower few days back. It starts the day as pure white and slowly turns pink to end the day as dark pink.

Morning

Around Noon

Afternoon

While this was a new way of being able to say time looking at flower to me, I was learning for few weeks now that flowers do tell time. There are Morning glory and day flowers that you can see in the morning, some prefer Sun at its best and some wait till nightfall. I found diamond flowers and few others display only if Sun is shining well. One flower that I found showing such tendencies was below. Dont know its ID though. (and probably it wasnt wild plant here but existed as decorative plant.)

 

Overall, while I haven't yet managed to know and remember flowering times of different flowers around me but have learned one basic thing about taking a flower photo. If you see a flower but don't have appropriate lens for it, either go back and get the lens immediately if you can or note time you are seeing it and come back around same time. It has happened few times that I noticed a flower at one time and when I went back in few hours with appropriate lens, it has wound up its display for the day. and what is worse, for those macro sized weeds, its sometimes difficult to see closed flower and that leaves you wondering if you remembered location right. (ok, I should be able to identify plant and not just flower, but right now, it seems too much too fast.)

As I watched flowers, got curious about them and some googling gives me hint of how complex decision making based on lots of parameters must be employed by a plant to decide its flowering attributes - season, time of the day, colour, smell etc. manipulating which it strives to attract its pollinators and achieve best reproduction results. and it may not be as simple as "okay, my pollinators are moths, so my flowering time should be night when they are active, and let me not bother much about colour as in the dark its not going be visible anyway so simple white is best but fragrance can be helpful so give more weight to it, and that's it. I am done." There could be more complex strategies employed that may promote flower constancy among its pollinators or more dynamic decisions like whether or not to participate in synchronised flowering. And, these all are just for one of the life event - flowering. When I try to think of all the things they must be doing to optimise- starting from when to germinate to how to make best of light and water, how to react to changing temperature, humidity, predator attacks, how to forge co-operative alliances and what not, I remember Asimov's 'Each an explorer' - One of my favourite short stories from him. though of course, there are many Asimov's stories that fall in that category. 

P.S. If you haven't read the story, I recommend you don't read wikipedia or other other spoiler text giving out story outline. Asimov is best read in his own words.

P.P.S. I am aware that some well meaning visitor here may want to suggest I understand evolution a bit before talking like in last para. at this point however, I just want to apologise for his/her irritation and clarify that its not that I don't understated what 'the theory of evolution' says, its just that I don't believe in it. Someday I may come back to it and for now, take this as just representing how awestruck I am as I look at life.

P.P.P.S I actually managed to talk about this 'evolution' thing three years after this post - here.