When I started my track, I saw a beautiful White breasted kingfisher atop a dry tree. I decided to put my tripod down to take a couple clicks of this kingfisher.
On 09th December, 2012, Just after I had procured my Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-400mm f/4G ED VR II Lens, I went for testing the same along with my Old and Trusted Nikon D300s body to Sultanpur Bird sanctuary. I started my day early but when I reached there, it was bright and sunny with no traces of fog. I was relieved to have good light, although it also diminished my chances of dreamy landscapes which I had wished to capture in case there was fog.
I started my track, with this heavy lens mounted on my camera and the set-up in turn was mounted on my tripod. This was the first time, I was taking this heavy gear for a field trip and I almost got exhausted as I was not used to carrying such heavy equipment and there was no one to assist me.
When I started my track, I saw a beautiful White breasted kingfisher atop a dry tree. I decided to put my tripod down to take a couple clicks of this kingfisher. When I was taking pictures of this kingfisher, I saw some movement on the top of trees in the back ground and these trees were very far. I decided to hike a little further and after moving about 250 meter forward, I was under a tree and there was a vast span of deep water in front of me and I could go no further. So I decided to settle my equipment as there was no way to go any further. The tree-line was still a good 600 to 650 meters away. As I looked through the viewfinder, I realized that there was a nest of black necked stork. I had never seen a black necked stork in it's nest earlier. The black stork flew away perhaps to get/ fetch some food. After some patient waiting I saw it flying back to the nest and as it landed in the nest, I could see some movement on the base of the nest. I saw first one brown head supported by a long neck prop up from amongst the twigs and branches collected to make the nest and immediately after that the second head popped up. There were two chicks in the nest. I was thrilled like a child and almost laughed to have seen chicks of this beautiful bird. I took a few shots and then the mother crane looked in my direction, as if to assess whether i was a threat to its chicks. Its at that time, I clicked this particular picture. After scanning me for a few seconds, she appeared to have decided that since I did not have any wings, I was not a threat, and she started tending to its kids.
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