The Steppe's @ Dabhla

This magnificent raptor is the reason i decided to do wildlife photography(instinctively) and took an plunge. The Steppes come to India from Eurasia and are migrant Species. They readily take to carrion and are thus found easily on carcass dumps and waste dump sites around cities. Generally hang around Dabhla and surrounding till March... Me and Reshma thus had some opportunity to shoot them in birding season of 2005. I enjoyed shooting them thoroughly as with little patience they allowed close proximity to shoot full frame images. My joy new no bound. Like a child possessed with a newly gifted toy.. i would go around religiously to Thol come every weekend. Weekdays were spent at looking at those images and admiring them...Also whole lot of time was spent in making them more beautiful by Post Processing. This meant i had to learn new software...

Meanwhile the vulture crisis was getting serious and serious and i used to take some solace due to the fact that the birds still used to abound near Dabhla.. Thanks to the cattle camp and regular fresh supply of dead cattle which were dumped outside.. Humans(never to let anything go waste) would rip of the skin and flesh and leave the internal organs for the birds... No wonder we used to see some 110 odd vultures during winter of 2005...Those were the days..

Shall post thol images in the next post