Birds from the lens of a cricketer

Shashank Nag, a former State Indian cricket player has to his account around 17 First class matches that he played for Hyderabad between 2004 and 2010.

His cricket profile – http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/player/33971.html

One article where he was declared man of the match in one of the matches that he played – http://www.mumbaichamps.com/news/news-8.html

We had walked into each others life, 4 years back, when he became my co-brother. I have known him to be an avid photographer, apart from his passion of using the wood to push the white\red leather into the boundaries. His main area of photography lies in capturing the wild life moments through his sophisticated Canon 7D DSLR camera, which translates the colorful world life moments on paper.

I have decided to color my blog devoting a part of section covering articles around the birds that we rarely get to see and which happen to have fallen on the eyes of his camera. There are many birds that have already made their home in his account but I would like to post them at random regular intervals.

Here goes the first two birds  :

I would like to thank Wikipedia wholeheartedly as even I learnt about the existence of these birds today researching for this post 🙂

1. Grey heron – This predatory long-legged bird is largely found in the wetland areas like lakes, marshes, ponds, rivers and sometimes on sea coast. These birds have their homes in Europe, Asia and Africa. They feed mostly on aquatic life – stalking and catching its prey through their shallows, which they do decently standing quietly in a stationary position in the water. They measure around 100 cm long and weigh around 1 to 2 kgs and their life span is about five years. They have a white head and neck with a broad black stripe that extends from the eye to the black crest. The long, sharply pointed beak is pinkish-yellow and is long, straight and powerful. Their usual call is a loud croaking “fraaank” but they do send out a loud, harsh “schaah” for driving other birds from the vicinity of their nest. When they are afraid they sound a soft “gogogo” to expresses anxiety, when a predator is nearby or a human walks past their colony.

   

   Courtesy – Shashank Nag

   

   Courtesy – Shashank Nag

   

   Courtesy – Shashank Nag

   

   Courtesy – Shashank Nag

2. Red Munia or Red Avadavat – Also known as strawberry finch, this is a sparrow-sized bird found mainly in the open fields and grasslands of tropical Asia, mainly on flat plains, in places with tall grasses or crops, often near water. The species name of amandava and the common name of avadavat are derived from the Ahmedabad city in Gujarat, India. This one is a popular cage bird given to its colourful plumage. These bids are usually found in small flocks and fly with rapid wing beats. They are quite hard to notice when they descend into grass clumps. These birds produce a distinctive low single note pseep call that is often given in flight. They feed mainly on grass seeds and termites.One point to note about this bird is on the changing color of its beak. The beak begins to turn red in May and darkens during November and December. The beak then turns rapidly to black in April and the cycle continues. Quite interesting!

   

   Courtesy : Shashank Nag

   

   Courtesy : Shashank Nag

   

   Courtesy : Shashank Nag

   Long live the animal planet….

   Thanks Shashank for introducing them to us!