Wildlife - animal/insect/bird Photography

Some of my favorite pictures taken by me, for more visit
http://www.flickr.com/photos/minmaxmim/















































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Turahalli - Forest Reserve

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“Turahalli is located in south of Bangalore off Kanakapura road nearly 8 kms from Banashankari temple. It is a dry deciduous forest with lot of eucalyptus trees and other wild shrubs and trees. It has often been observed existence of many wild animals like jackal, hare, monitor-lizard, mongoose etc. Also, this happens to be one of the favorite places for bird-watchers as many rare species of birds are found in this area. Bird watchers have long frequented Turahalli and list of species sighted at Turahlli compiles as a lengthy one. Some of the birds such as Great Horned Owl treasures up as very important sightings.”.....

This is what I had heard about the place, before I decide to visit the place, my BIL an avid bird watcher took me to the place a mere 15 minute drive from the Banashankari temple, we reached an off beat road and parked the car under a tree and got out to climb the small peak out there.

My first impression was that - it’s a very nice place so close to the city yet having some undulating peaks , empty lands, unpolluted air and fairly green scenery. I tread up taking pictures of the sun rays and the other varied flora there, while my BIL more interested in the birds walks away in search of them. A fairly decent walk up the hill takes about 60 minutes, stopping in between for taking in the visual scenery mentally and mechanically(through the camera). Me being interested in photography stop and take few pictures of the rocks and the various shrubs and vegetation, and upon reaching the peak take some pictures of the lovely horizon pictures of the city. Then on the top of the mountain, there’s a Hindu temple, as we walk beyond that point we are greeted by more dense vegetation and more dense forests. This is where my lucks runs real high and I spot a pea fowl, a bee eater, a pied bush chat or an Indian Robin and a white Brahminy kite. Just imagine if a non bird watcher like me can see so many birds so easily, then the bird watchers are really in for a mega treat. Then we decide to walk down through the more unbeaten up track, which proved to be more difficult than climbing up but worth the difficulty as I happen to come across a flock of peacocks and peahens which looked very beautiful.

Then as we were nearing the base of the hill, we were in for the treat of the day as we happened to see a great Indian eagle Owl , a beauty, quite huge –it sat for a while to pose to us and then it flew with such grace that it was treat for us. Then we reached the car to see the rear windscreen broken by some miscreants-so that’s some thing to watch out while parking your vehicles.

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Moi Garden at Bangalore home...

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Save the environment

A page from one of my official newsletter...

Please click on the picture to read the interesting facts and tips to conserve energy.

For a detailed analysis and tips to save the planet click below

do or die , prevail or perish

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Dual Roles

Played around with the shutter speed...





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mera Article in the Hindu...

1) ...dated 21/02/2007

check the below link and have a glance.....


Mera_article..1


For older articles in the Hindu click here

http://minmaxmim.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_archive.html


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Solpaa egXtra egXciting RIDE and finally taken for a RIDE…

Prerequisite (must read): C.K.Meena’s article ‘the velvet touch’ under the section CITY LIGHTS in the Hindu supplement MetroPlus dated 7^th (Wednesday) of February about the guys who drive the auto rickshaws – the life line of namma Bengalooru.

(http://www.hindu.com/mp/2007/02/07/stories/2007020700880400.htm )

Having read this article in the morning of Wednesday, I tell my roommate in the evening that these guys in Bengalooru are much better when compared to their compatriots in Chennai, and that having read this article we can anticipate their smart antics and was getting ready to leave to take the night train to Chennai and had to board it in the Majestic railway station.

Got ready and left home at 21:15:00 to board the 22:45:00 train, I wave for a auto rickshaw and for my great luck, the days hero – a young guy turns up without a fight and I ask him if he can come to ‘Majestic railway station’ and he says Yes Sir with such josh that I am left wondering whether a trip to the station is like a annual vacation for him.

I keep my bags inside and he asks me whether he can start, which sort of gave me the feeling of those rally cars waiting for the seconds countdown to end to give the final rush of fuel to tear away, the feeling came true as he very rudely snapped the gear to first and threw the clutch back and trust me the auto was in ‘take-off’ mode with complete acceleration and no deceleration in spite of signals being against him.

My worries against missing the train due to traffic holdups were replaced by the worry of my bags flying out of the spacious dual exits on either side of the auto caused by the artificial gravity pull backwards due to his brilliantly worrisome driving or rather flying, which made me clutch my bags with care.

The Bajaj’s and the Fresco’s aren’t really customer/auto guy friendly, if they were Can they explain the audacious reason why the drivers seat is situated right in the center of the front rather than the left or right of the auto? This poor guy was forced to sit in the left most corner of his seat and was driving with a particular angled view of the road and had to literally stretch out to hit the brakes (maybe that was a reason why he braked so less!).

Having seen the state polices advice in several mediums of information, I search for the license board which is supposed to be displayed behind the driver’s seat I find it to be missing adding to my misery.

As we neared the church on JC road, the signal finally gets the better of him and makes him slow down and stop, but to hurt his ego another auto guy decides to challenge his line position and squeezes his vehicle in front of him which leaves our hero angry and murmuring under his breath rather under the roar of the silencer less vehicle. As the signal countdown starts to end 6..5..4..3..our hero is revving up on the first gear ..2..1..and zoooooom he makes his back right wheel to go over the pavement to overtake the other guy and he has won the 5 meter race which me makes me want to ask him whether his auto alone has “Dual Hydro Jet Engines and Disc Brakes”. I also had this doubt whether the aero show was giving him such motivation and whether he wanted to put the Russians with their new Mirages to shame with his super old yellow autooo.

As we near Majestic, am more than happy as I near my end point, but there’s more to this story. He goes straight to Majestic bus terminus and parks and says that Sir thank you, I tell him ‘boss nammey Majestic railway station challna hai’ (in my broken Kannada – Hindi mix) and he says O…and he starts and explains a long one way route due to the bad traffic police policies in the city and takes me to the railway station.

I notice the meter reading is 59.xx while getting out, so I give him a 100 rupee note and a 10 rupee note so that he can return a 50 rupee note back to me, then immediately he says Sir one and a Half, so I put my head again to check the fare and by the time am done say in 15 seconds he replaces the 100 rupee note with another 10 rupee note and tells me that I have given him only 20 rupees, am Shocked and I say NO, I gave you a 100 & a 10 rupee note for which he holds his neck, similar to taking a oath and says ‘amma promise sirrr’ ….traffic piling, horns blaring, loneliness for company I am forced to shell a new 100 rupee note and he says thanks and leaves maybe to have a drink courtesy me. And as I walk in I count the money left in my purse to obviously notice that I have been cheated as I had taken a fixed amount from the ATM during the day, maybe that’s the egXtra charge for riding in a supersonic craft without seatbelts with a locally trained pilot.

UPDATE : My fate made me meet the same auto guy on 29th November 2007 and he attempted the same trick, his name on the display board is CHETAN D hes thin, dark and speak a bit of tamil too, sits on the left corner of the seat and is a very rash driver...beware of him.

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moi Flickr Badge

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Nice Videos.....

1) http://monish.youaremighty.com/





2) http://www.212amovie.com/ - An inspiration video




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Graphical inter.....

A different type of signature, that I came across in an email.



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Caught the sun

This is one of my pictures taken in Dubai posted in flickr getting a nice number of views....





http://flickr.com/photos/minmaxmim/342087925/
Click above to view the picture in various sizes


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Nandi Hills

Nandi Hills - a good 2 hour peaceful drive on NH4 takes you there, a good drive, a silent serene place with not too much buzzing activities really promotes the place, good for a early morning drive for photographers overall I would say its worth a visit.

Details:

65 Kms from Bangalore,
1478 meters above sea level.

Attractions:

Rivers Pennar, Palar and Arkavati orginate from this hill,
Tipu Sultans - summer retreat place/palace ,
1175 steps from the base of the hill to the top,
Tipu's drop - 600 meter cliff from where the prisoners were dropped to death,
Yoganandishwara temple at the top ,
Fresh grapes direct from the fields are sold enroute,
birds and wildlife ,
and overall greenery and silence

Temperature:
Summer: Max: 29°C Min: 23°C
Winter: Max: 21°C Min: 11°C


The trip pictures

http://tinyurl.com/2nomxy

Wikipedia Info About The Place

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandi_Hills%2C_India

m.I.m