I was in Bandipur for the past 3 days to observe the forests and try my luck with any cat sightings. In a matter of 3 days we undertook 7 safaris in the hope of sighting a tiger.

We were a big team of like minded avid photographers. The eyes were exploring all bushes on way to identify the striped cat. The interest was not merely that for me as I seem to have started enjoying the ecosystem and understanding the natural habitat as a whole.

The lure of sighting a tiger is definitely thrilling but at what cost? Giving animals enough space in their habitat is extremely i

Tiger pumarks fresh in Bandipur

mportant. The sighting included a large Tusker. I can now easily decipher the differences in the physical appearance from its African counterpart.

The gaurs are massive animals but shy. Do not mistake them for their shyness as they are heavily built and can cause big damage. The mongoose and peacocks were present for us to capture them.

The big sighting for the team was a female tigress which seemed like pregnant due to its sagging belly. A trip to be remembered and cherished for a long time. No clicked images but time just went by observing the grandeur of the cat walk in its own backyard.

This week has been really good with sightings as around 8 were reported by forest guards and 3 by fellow travellers during the 3 days. The forest guards and rangers sighted a family as well. The park seems in safe hands at the moment until we hear any bad news.

The sightings were not only on land as we saw many birds in this lush green landscape after the monsoon season.

Canon has a plethora of announcements for digital still photographers with a successor for EOS 50D, L series lenses and next generation extenders.

Canon 60D

1. 18 MP APS-C CMOS sensor
2. Vari-angle 7.7cm (3.0”) 3:2 ratio LCD with 1,040k dot resolution
3. Full HD movies with manual control
4. DIGIC 4
5. ISO 100-6400, H:12800
6. 5.3fps shooting for up to 58 JPEGs
7. 9-point cross type AF System
8. iFCL metering with 63-zone Dual-layer Sensor
9. Integrated Speedlite transmitter
10. In-camera RAW processing

Luxury lens series announcements

70-300 F/4.5 – 5.6L

1. An eight-blade circular aperture also offers excellent bokeh ideal for portraiture, producing a more pleasant background and creatively isolating the subject.
2. As part of the L-series range, the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM is supplied with a lens hood ET-73B and lens case LP1424 as standard.
3. With a minimum focusing distance of 1.2m (3.9ft) throughout the zoom range, photographers can achieve sharp results, even when close to the action.

8-15 F/4L

1. Ghosting and flare caused by strong light sources can be a particular challenge when shooting at such a wide angle, and, in order to counteract these artefacts, all lens elements have been covered with Canon’s Super Spectra Coating.
2. To maintain optimum image quality, the front and rear lens elements also feature a Fluorine Coating which actively repels water.

300L 2.8 IS II and 400L 2.8 IS II USM

1. Each features a completely redesigned optical system and the latest iteration of Canon’s original Image Stabilizer (IS) technology.
2. A 4-stop advantage offers greater image quality during hand held shooting, allowing users to shoot at speeds up for four times slower than normally required with minimal additional blur.
3. All-new magnesium alloy construction and titanium components ensure the designs are both robust and lightweight.
4. Both lenses feature 16 elements in 12 different groups, using high performance fluorite lens elements that correct chromatic aberration to deliver high resolution and high contrast shots of the best possible quality.

500L f/4 IS II and 600L f/4 IS II USM

1. Each will include the highest quality components, featuring high specification Image Stabilizer technology.
2. Optical materials such as Fluorite, to correct aberrations ensuring high resolution images rich in detail and contrast.
3. Redesigned, lightweight bodies will provide added mobility alongside enhanced protection against dust and water, making them ideal for the toughest shooting conditions.

The new lenses will be displayed for the first time in Europe during Photokina 2010 in Cologne, Germany.

EXTENDERS

Extender EF 1.4x III and Extender EF 2x III increase the focal length of a lens by a factor of 1.4x and 2x respectively while still delivering superb image quality.

1. The Extender EF 1.4x III features three lens groups of seven elements, and the Extender EF 2x III features three groups of nine elements, ensuring improved optical performance.
2. A new Fluorine Coating on the front and rear elements makes marks, such as spots left by water or fingerprints, much easier to clean than standard coatings.
3. To facilitate the accurate transfer of imaging data between the lens and camera body, both models feature an integrated processor which ensures all focusing, metering and ID information is available.
4. For convenient transport, the 225g Extender EF 1.4x III and 325g Extender EF 2x III are supplied with a soft case (LP811) and Extender Cap EII.

All of the new equipment especially the lenses come at a steep price and have been manufactured with true professionals in mind.

“Canon has announced it has developed a 120 megapixel 29.2 x 20.2mm APS-H CMOS sensor – the same size used in its EOS-1D series of professional DSLRs. The sensor, for which Canon has announced no production plans, has a pixel count nearly 7.5 times larger than the company’s highest pixel count commercially available sensor. It offers full HD recording (using 1/60th of its surface area) and can deliver 9.5fps continuous shooting.”

More information of this announcement can be read at dpreview.com

It was the first time I was meeting the people of BngBirds yahoo group which meets every 3^rd Sunday of the month for a morning tour to sight birds. There were about 25 interested folks of different ages who were keen to sight birds and some like me were keen to photography them.

The place decided was Nandavana Layout around 7 km from Bannerghatta National Park. It is a residential society outside the city limits nestled in green surrounding. The overcast sky with slight drizzle in morning made the 4 trail chase no painer.

Some of the birds which we spotted were:

1. Pied Wagtail
2. Rose ringed Parakeet
3. Common Myna
4. Crow
5. Indian Bush Lark
6. Red Necked Falcon
7. White eye
8. Prinia
9. Dove
10. Lapwing
11. Green Malkoha
12. Swallow
13. Kingfisher
14. Robin
15. Chestnut Headed Bee-eater

1. Pied Wagtail
2. Rose ringed Parakeet
3. Common Myna
4. Crow
5. Indian Bush Lark
6. Red Necked Falcon
7. White eye
8. Prinia
9. Dove
10. Lapwing
11. Green Malkoha
12. Swallow
13. Kingfisher
14. Robin
15. Chestnut Headed Bee-eater
16. Green Bee-eater
17. Red-necked Falcon
18. Oriental Honey Buzzard
19. Black Kite
20. Rufous-tailed Lark
21. Baya Weaver
22. Scaly-breasted Munia
23. Black-headed Munia
24. Indian Silverbill
25. White-browed Bulbul
26. Red-whiskered Bulbul
27. Red-vented Bulbul
28. Red-rumped Swallow
29. Grey Francolin
30. Oriental White-eye
31. Great Tit
32. Purple Rumped Sunbird
33. Little Cormorant
34. Indian Robin
35. Greater Coucal
36. White-breasted Kingfisher
37. White-browed Wagtail
38. Plain Prinia
39. Ashy Prinia
40. Black Drango
41. Blue-faced Malkoha
42. Rose-ringed Parakeet
43. Red-wattled Lapwing
44. Laughing Dove
45. Spotted Dove

Also we sighted a baby scorpio which was caught aware by all of us to take a closer look at it and the budding fangs.

The images captured by me have been placed at my travel photo section.

The August month of 2010 has an interesting observation. The number of sundays, monday and tuesdays is same as 5. This is a unique phenomenon which happens once in 823 years.

With just few more days left for the month to get over, feel privileged of living the moments of this month.

EDIT: The entry has been edited to remove the fact of 823 years occurrence. Thanks Chavi for pointing it out.