K.I.R.A.N Photography

Great horned owl just after the sunset getting ready for its hunting ground- the night hours. While we waited from 5:30 on a cold and windy evening, this came out and landed quickly at 6:30. By then lighting was dark with couple of minutes of left over colors from a gorgeous sunset. This was shot at 840m at f/5.6 12800ISO and 1/100 sec handholding. Even the latest technology of camera couldn't be squeezed any more :) :)

The Showoff -- Couple of frames earlier it was white/grey stones in the background and couple of frames later its the blue sky. This was the only patch of greenery that was available in the entire trajectory of the Osprey catch & take off. Luckily the pose, the pause and the light were spot on in that right moment. Anticipating and positioning yourself at right spot was critical to get this shot. #2024 # LLELA

Blood bath ---This scene with an Osprey catch is not uncommon. As you can see with the splash of water with raise of Osprey from water, there are also blood droplets from its catch. This is first of the many painful blows the prey had to go through before it becomes a meal for the Osprey. This is was first glimpse of the prized possession as a continuation to earlier image. #2024 # LLELA

Ospreys back in action and so am I :) :) After last year spectacle of Osprey and Eagle hunting on the waters of LLELA, Ospreys have happily returned. With the time I have spent with these species I was better prepared to notice their behavior and anticipate their next move. This time, the jump was successful but right across bushes. I still managed to get them in focus while it emerged out of water after the catch. Will share more of the prized possession in next few shares. #2023 # LLELA

Maverick Top Gun in action -- This is the moment Osprey was its peak speed during high elevation dive with razor focus on the target. Reminds me of the spectacular scene from the movie Top Gun: Maverick

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Water Art by Osprey

Lets see if you can crack this for me :) A body mass of 3lbs, traveling at an average speed of 35MPH for a distance of 50Feet what would be level of impact at collision??

I cannot arrive at a number, hence captured this image to visually reflect it for you all to experience it :) :)

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Osprey algorithm mid air. When mobile cameras introduced 2nd lens it was meant to deal with depth of field. Especially mobile app that we use for measurements are using these 2nd lens. Ospreys have mastered these technique centuries back. When they are 50-100 ft above water they can estimate the depth at which their targets are inside the water. Based on the depth of the target they stop (like the picture ) and do a quick calculation to adjust their elevation before they take that plunge into the water. With this kind of a complex algorithm their hunt rate accuracies are commendable. Should we call it O.I. - The Osprey Intelligence :) :)

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[View on fullscreen] Isn't he/she gorgeous ? After early morning feeding frenzy the flow was abut to take off to the larger lake. I moved and positioned at right spot on their take off path with right background. I was hoping for one of them to fly closer to get a shot of their stretched body and wings. Managed to get this one inn flight with eye catchlight.

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[View on fullscreen] Michael Osprey Phelps in action for the fish of honors :) :)

While other raptors like bald eagle only picks up fish from top of water, Ospreys can see and pick up fish upto to 3 feet deep in the water? They also jump with their talons first to get the required depth into the water and also surprise and grab their target with no chance to escape. More to come on their hunting strategy and documentation through my pictures.

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Eye to eye with the hunter. Ospreys are one of the few birds with true color vision and can see ultraviolet light. This is because they have four types of cone cells in their eyes, which allow them to see a wider range of colors than most other animals on Earth.

The osprey’s sense of sight is crucial for hunting fish, because they can see blood in the water. These raptors have four types of cones, three different photopigments that sense short wavelengths (blue), medium wavelengths (green) and long wavelengths (red).

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Fresh catch, for the Osprey and me. This was captured on the Oklahoma side of Texoma river. While waiting for 4 hrs and walking through the banks of the river saw them diving far away with no luck capturing them with their catch, I finally decided to move. I packed my tripod and gears and got into the car to leave. As always, I did a final scan into the far end of the river and saw some movement in the sky. I had little hope, but the osprey kept moving towards me and at one point was hovering over my car. I decided to just unpack my gear and was hand holding. Just when I got out of the car and half positioned, it took an aggressive move towards the water. With the heavy gear I was trying my best to track them and it jumped right in front of me and surprise :) :) came out with this big catch. Have this entire story captured, but it was noon and the heat haze was in full effect. Will share them soon to see the entire launch into the water.

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[View on fullscreen] Early morning territorial conflict - Great Egret Vs Wood stork. While from a size perspective great egret looks taller (55 Vs 36 inch) , wood stork is at least 2's body mass of the egret. It was no wonder just after this conflict pose from the great egret, it ran for cover in no time. I am not sure if it was an intentional landing from wood stork. It started off from one end of the lake and took multiple rounds before it came closer to landing on the egret. Nevertheless was a surprise moment that I watched in awe and am glad was able to capture and share with you all.

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The savior of Dallas Wetlands, the pose that it strikes just before a big take off

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White faced ibis and its “sidekick” 😃😃

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Landing of the giants from the sky even rocks the earth. With the feathery giants - The Wood Stork, they just make a big splash in the water. As much as possible, my preference is to include as much habitat as possible and bring the viewers closer to the experience I had through my lens. Intention here is to capture their magnanimous wingspan (closer to 5.5 ft) and how they are positioned well for smooth landing into the waters. Will keep sharing more of their take off and landing behavior and show off their beautiful white & black feathers.

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Wood stork in flight with just right amount of sunlight on him while the trees in the background are still surrounded by shadows. Believe me, the night before going to the preserve I was visualizing this scene and was hoping to create something like this. While my plan was create a portrait in this setup I do not mind walking away with this Storkish paragliding adventure :D :D

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The gorgeous White-faced Ibises and its half twin trying to check who is real and who is illusion ;-)

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Portrait of the Black & White warriors - The wood stork. That is a LIFER, seeing them for the first time and what best? Got to see them in Dallas with less than an hr drive. Had an amazing time with this flock and it warrants a separate album with so many great moments of flight, fight, and fishing. This was taken on extreme low level to capture its height and this was the only one that posed for few secs while rest of them were busy feeding on the fishes.

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The gorgeous White-faced Ibises showing off its beauty. It is normal to walk away with complete dark image of this beautiful bird if you not position low enough and do not have good light. I positioned myself flat on the mudflats of hagerman to get this shot. In order to supplement natural light used flash as a fill light to get the color and details.

Their color pattern look dark, almost blackish, at a distance. Close up and in good light, breeding adults are glossy maroon with metallic green and bronze tones on the wing. They typically have red eyes with pink legs and facial skin. The face is highlighted by a narrow band of white, absent in Glossy Ibis. Immature and nonbreeding adults are more matte brown, without the white facial outline and with duller legs.

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[View on fullscreen] Playful American Avocets, having some Funtime chasing around.

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Little Blue Heron and its twin watching over each other on a serene morning at Hagerman

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American avocets resting in the foliage of waters while foraging for food. One thing that really struck me was the balance in this frame and I prayed nothing moved and allowed me to capture it. The balance across the frame, the vertical and horizontal balance was striking and powerful. What do you think?

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Greenjay enjoying delicious bark butter for lunch. Doesn't it looks yummy?? :D :D

[VIEW ON FULLSCREEN] Raise with the sun, skim through the water, a toast to the sky and up you go gliding through the wind to safely reach your destination, To the pinky friend from a secret admirer

Composite image of 9 images taken as a sequence of the take off of the spoonbill at sunrise

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Roseate Spoonbill take off at Sunrise - While seeing them at sunrise in my favorite location was not good enough, was thrilled to capture its take off at Sunrise with a reflection in the waters. #2023

First drink at sunrise by Roseate Spoonbill with beautiful golden light surrounding it. This was a dream sequence to see these pink feathery beauty in golden light and capture it in action. This is the first time I am seeing them in my favorite spot- The Hagerman NWR.

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Female/Immature Wilson Warbler - For anyone who has not seen these little ones before, compare them to the size of the leaf in the picture. It so easy to get them mixed up with foliage. But they do not stay still and gives away their presence but very challenging to capture them in focus in right background. Also they are in lower parts of the shrubs and bushes where lighting will range from extremely dark to mixed fill. Overall a challenging species to capture :) :)

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Warbling Vireo - One more new bird to my list. Was trying to recognize it without help of online tools, got it somewhere closer to vireo family but was a new vireo that I have not seen before. What a day to return back to field and getting to capture this beautiful Warbling vireo peaking through the tree leaves.

Some more info - Across their wide range, Warbling Vireos differ from one population to another in several characteristics, including overall size, bill shape, plumage coloring, molt patterns, wintering areas, and vocalizations. The differences are significant enough to lead ornithologists to recognize six separate subspecies of Warbling Vireo, and at one time divided them into two species

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Female/Immature Wilson Warbler - Wilson’s Warblers are one of our smallest warblers and can be spotted on the lower parts of the bushes and shrubs. These are extremely quick and sneaky and likes to jump in and out of bushes. For getting an eye level shot like these you need be sitting on the ground and keep looking for them to pop out and get your focus and other settings right. This little one was so close to me it was difficult to get their whole body in focus but got the ones that is needed to be sharp :) :) #2023

Mississippi Kite sitting on a tree top with the early morning sun hitting through the trees behind them. Getting ready for yet another long day of gliding and chasing the dragon flies around the ponds of Colleyville Nature Center