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Monday, December 26, 2011

The Winged Beauties

Winter is the perfect time to pass by the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary and have a look at the long legged pink & white beauties in the middle of the hustle & bustle of Dubai. Its not just the flamingos but the sanctuary acts as a stopover for around 67 species of migrating birds of the East African–West Asian Flyway. More than 500 species of flora and fauna and is one of the best-managed arid zone wetlands in the region.

I have come here thrice in last 2 years, and finally managed some shots of few birds pretty close. There are two Ramsar sites (wetland reserves) properly fenced and monitored by cameras with birding hides open for the public viewing. Hides are equipped with binoculars & telescopes for better viewing as the hides are quite far from the birds. If you are lucky enough and the water is closer to your hide, the birds would be closer too, making it easier to capture them. Secondly, clicking the perfect shot would mean having huge cameras like the ones the National Geographic or Discovery guys carry! Twice I have returned unhappy, wondering whats the point if you can see the beautiful birds through the binoculars but can not capture them in your camera just because they are too far. Luckily this time on this particular hide water was closer and it was their feeding time. Fishes were left in the water for them. So we spent some time trying to capture the best I could. I would not mind going there again, for more and better shots now :)


The Great Egret flapping hard
Eyeing the fishes
Catwalking!
Get,
Set,
& off I go!
Catwalking again!
1, 2 & 3.
Got it, finally!
Punished are you?
A call to the rest
A Reef Haron


All take a bow..




13 comments:

  1. Got to go there soon! Lovely photos.

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  2. Simply Wow, I can say work of My classy sis :)
    One last gadget left Tripod.

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  3. Thanks bhaiya, thats really sweet! and I already have a tripod.

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  4. All the images of the long legged beauties are superb! Reading about the sanctuary makes me think about the flamingoes in Rann of Kutch:-)

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  5. @ Anu - never been there, I m sure it would be a worth visiting place!

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  6. Wonderful photos. I always want to stop and take a look at the beautiful flamingos too, but so far haven't :-(

    Nice to find another Dubai blogger. Thanks for visiting.

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  7. @ Shalini - well you should definitely give it a try one day

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  8. I am in love with your pics :)

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  9. Thanks Sudha but as I mentioned, I finally got lucky in the 3rd attempt!

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  10. All the images of the long legged beauties are superb! Reading about the sanctuary makes me think about the flamingoes in Rann of Kutch

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  11. wow very nice pic.I will get,set go ...thanks for sharing..Prachee

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