Nesting Stories: Bird Photography Adventures During Breeding Season

It is 4:30AM and the alarm goes off, but I am awake, gear for my camera spread like surgical implements on the table next to the bed. In the Indian forests it is the season of digging nests and today it holds the prospect of the sort of wild life photography that gets an amateur into the game at a lifetime investment.

The Magic hour starts

In the rays of morning in Bharatpur, I can already hear the orchestra as it starts playing. Birds lose their ordinary prudence In breeding time, which extends In India, in most regions, March through June, and substitute quite another power--the primeval urge to generate life. This behavioral shift makes it the golden period for wildlife tours India offers, especially for photographers seeking intimate glimpses into avian family dynamics.

My first objective: painted stork colonies of Keoladeo National Park. Supported by a three feet height, these beautiful birds build huge stick nests in tree-rim communities with congested habitats. I observe with my telephoto lens a male bird taking special pains in arranging a number of twigs while the mate stands over, with the critical eye of an interior designer. The morning sun drinks in his breeding plumage those curious pink tertials and yellow bills appear to us like emeralds against the canopy of green wood.

Where Patience Wins

It is at the kingfisher colony on one muddy bank where the actual drama is taking place. The common kingfishers dig tunnels on nests with a length of up to three feet into riverbanks. I have been recording this specific couple as they dig through them, and give them a photographic record of the excavation, over a good deal of weeks. It is the first time that I see them land and deliver successfully today. The male turns up with a silver fish, does a wild courtship cupping with the fish and then dives off into the tunnel. Soon little sounds of peeping are heard a few minutes later- their chicks have hatched.

Wildlife tours India during nesting season require different strategies than typical safaris. Rather than gallivanting around large areas tracking down sightings, more successful photographers hunt down places which, they already know, nests are built and sit and wait. The payoff is stellar: the sexual intimacies not generally seen unless it is breeding season.

The Knots of the Weaver

I get to know why the baya weavers are the architects of nature at Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary in Karnataka. One male builds several pendant nests and they are complicated weaving of wire that would be beyond the skill of human artisans. In my camera, he is seen in the last minute preparations of his masterpiece- a flawless teardrop of perfectly intertwined grass fibers. Ladies will also examine these structures as prospective house purchasers and end up choosing their husband/partner depending on their architectural skills.

Regeneration With the Lens

These nesting season adventures reveal why wildlife tours India has become crucial for conservation awareness. The great humiliation of these species is exemplified by taking photos of a family of Indian rollers which are feeding their babies. The habitat destruction not only influences the single birds, but also the whole generations of them. All photographs turn into a history of conservation, that captures laws that would not see the light of day anymore.

The sun starts to rise and prime photography hours are finished. However, my story cards are already full: the precision of needle-like nesting by a sun bird, the pre-historic looking craning of the necks of the egrets towards their parents and the precious minute when a coppersmith barbet caressingly turns her eggs.

Designing Your Trip

For photographers considering wildlife tours India during breeding season, timing is everything. The best months to nest are the period between March and June, with each species and region timing, differing. Become familiar with your target species, purchase the best available telephoto gear and finally be careful not to disturb nesting birds by ensuring that you keep the proper distances.

With these nesting season escapades, we get reminded that wildlife photography is not just about taking pictures but about recording an ongoing process; that process that maintains life on Earth as we know it, one composition at a time.