Soon after the launch of the Western Ghats book an idea was born to produce a similar book about the Rio Grande Valley. This region, stretching from Falcon Dam to the Gulf of Mexico is one of the most bio-diverse parts of the United States, yet little is known or written about. When we first conceptualized the book, we realised that it would have to be bilingual – as the book covers topics that stretch across both sides of the river. The next challenge was to get someone on board to take on the challenge of documenting not only the biodiversity but also the many human elements that make up the landscape … enter – Seth Patterson – A talented young photographer with a passion for natural history. Over the subsequent two years Seth worked hard at capturing the images that were necessary to tell the story of the Rio Grande. The full story though wouldn’t be complete without touching on the history of the people who came to inhabit the region and shaped the land that we see today… enter – Lawrence Lof – President of the Gorgas Science Foundation and an ardent historian interested in all things cultural. This combination along with inputs from many contributing authors has now resulted in: El Valle – The Rio Grande Delta,  a 284 page English / Spanish coffee table book of the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

A first of its kind, El Valle takes the reader on a visual journey through the Valley, from Falcon Dam to the Gulf of Mexico, exploring the rich biodiversity and cultural legacy that has taken root along the banks of the Rio Grande.

If you would like to learn more about the book, scroll through a few pages and learn about the authors who contributed to the book click here: http://riograndebook.com/

The book is all set to be launched on September 18th 2010 – 7 PM at the Historic Alonso Building in Brownsville, Texas. Please do attend if you are in the area and meet the authors!

Congratulations to my good friend and colleague Seth Patterson for a highly commendable job in compiling the entire book and my best wishes to Lawrence Lof and the whole team at the Gorgas Science Foundation who some how or the other raise the resources to make sure that such projects come to life. I am glad to be a small part of it!

A few months back I posted a short video clip with the introduction to North-eastern Diaries. I’m pleased and excited to announce that the first chapter titled: Kaziranga – Land of the Rhino and the Tiger has been nominated for a Green Oscar Panda Award at the Wildscreen Film Festival which happens once every two years in Bristol, UK.

The Wildscreen Festival is internationally acknowledged as the most influential and prestigious event of its kind in the world. Its aim is to celebrate, applaud and encourage excellence, and responsibility, in wildlife and environmental filmmaking – films which increase the global viewing public’s understanding of the natural world, and the need to conserve it.

The short documentary is about 20 minutes in duration and captures unique aspects of tiger behaviour. At the same time that this documentary was completed, it was announced that Kaziranga supports the highest density of tigers in the world – nearly 32 tigers for every 100 sq. kms. But this doesn’t mean that seeing a tiger here is easy! The dense grassland combined with the secretive habits so inherent of tigers, makes them nearly invisible.  With the use of camera-trap technology and patient waiting in the hide I was able to document first-hand not one, but several different tigers coming to feed on a rhino carcass. Here’s a short video compilation of my days sitting in a hide and being a spy in the jungle…

The Team: Working on documentaries usually involves a small crew of people in the field and another group of people sitting and working in the studio, editing the rushes. In this case, we had what’s called a micro-crew, which involved mostly Chinmay Rane, Lahaan the forest gaurd and I working in the field to get the shots during the day, and spending the night editing the footage. It was no doubt a difficult process, but the rewards have been more than satisfactory.

The Equipment: Another unique aspect of this particular documentary is that it was all shot on the new breed of HD-DSLR Cameras. The cameras I used on this project include the: Canon 5DMarkII, the Canon 1DMarkIV,  Canon T2i, Canon 450D and the tiny but excellent, GoProHD Cam. More information and reviews about these cameras can be found in their respective linked pages on Amazon.  We did use a Sony Z1 camera for one of the sequences that was shot late last year, but that only comprises a flashback sequence about 2mins in duration.

The advantage of using this equipment, apart from the fact that they’re smaller, more versatile, and higher quality than my High-Definition Panasonic AJ-HDX900 camcorder is that they allow me to film late into the evening, when even with my naked eyes, I can’t see what’s going on. The Canon 1DMarkIV allows you to film with reasonably little noise even up to 12000 ISO. I mean the camera does allow you to go upto a 100,000 ISO, but in the tests I made, the results were best when kept within the limits. Okay, before I digress and go on about equipment, I best stop and save that for a different post.

Other Panda Award Nominations from India:

In the same catogegory as mine, which is Wildscreen’s Award to promote filmmakers from developing countries is The Wild Meat Trail by Dusty Foot Productions (India) Filmmakers – Rita Banerji & Shilpi Sharma

In the Animal Behaviour category is Krupakar & Senani’s  Wild Dog series titled – The Pack, produced for Animal Planet International (USA).  I just had the opportunity to watch the five-part series last night and it’s simply brilliant!! Some amazingly rare moments captured on camera, a testament to the two years of patience and dedication it took to produce the series.

A few months back I made a mention that as part of the documentation project I am working on I’d be presenting a series of short films that covers different topics primarily intended to be in the book. So we’ve (Chinmay and I) been thinking of different ways to develop the story-line that doesn’t stray too far from the coffee-table book, but at the same time encompasses all (well, almost all) of what we intend to cover for the book. So we broke the video stories into story-book chapters and we’ve now completed the first of the series -
Chapter 1 – Kaziranga: The land of the rhino and the tiger.

Initially it was only – Kaziranga: Land of the Rhino, but after spending nearly a month here and capturing not just the rhino but an amazing amount of Tiger behaviour in a habitat that’s not really conducive to proper tiger observation, I decided we had to change the title! Not only that, Kaziranga now has the uniquely distinct position of having the highest density of tigers in the World! Previous studies had put the density at about 17 tigers per 100 Sq. kms., but recent studies suggest that the tiger density is at a whopping 32 tigers per 100sq. Kms. Sighting one, of course, is a totally different story. Kaziranga’s tall grass and thick woodland, makes it one of the most difficult places to see a tiger, although signs of their presence – scats, scrapes and claw marks on trees, makes their presence very evident.

Another unique aspect of these short films, is that they were shot entirely, well almost entirely, on the new breed of HD-DSLR cameras that allow us not only to take a high-resolution 16+ mega-pixel image, but also allows the user to record HD video in full 1920x1080P resolution the quality of which is outstanding! Not only that, the high-ISO capabilities of cameras like the Canon 1Dmark4, allows for filming late into the evening, when previously sequenced would have to be canned before they were put in the can. So armed with these new tools in my toolkit I went out with a small team of people consisting mostly of my field assistant, Chinmay and Lahaan the forest gaurd, to shoot the first chapter in the series.
For now I’m just posting a short intro, as I’m still in the field with painfully slow internet connections and frequent power cuts. We are now getting ready to head out to Arunachal Pradesh to shoot some of the little creatures that make a living in the foothill forests of the Himalaya.

Please keep an eye on FelisTV on Youtube for more videos and shortly – the full version of what you see in the Intro piece.

http://www.youtube.com/user/feliscreationsindia

What’s the origin of the word Hurricane? How do they form? Where do they come from?! If you want to find out the answers to these questions – then don’t miss watching these videos!

Brownsville, hardly ever makes it on the US map, except, when there’s a hurricane brewing in the Gulf of Mexico. Sure enough, tropical storm Alex which should be upgraded to a hurricane pretty soon has brought Browntown back on the Map. Click on the image to see a larger map.

A few years ago I put together a series of videos for Gorgas Science Foundation and NASA focused on the biodiversity of this region.  The first in the series, presented by Guillermo Aguilar of UTB/TSC is about Hurricanes. This is probably the perfect time to be putting up this video. It’s broken into 2 parts as Youtube couldn’t handle a single long video file. The first part primarily focuses on the history of hurricanes in south Texas and the second part goes into the science behind hurricanes and how they are tracked. There’s some pretty cool NASA footage in there with Graphics designed to tell you all about Hurricanes so we can better understand this mighty weather phenomenon.

To watch the second part – Click Here.

Last week an image I captured while shooting in the North-east garnered the top spot in the category – Community at Risk at the 2010 ICP Awards in Seattle, Washington. It was quite an honour to receive the award and have the image displayed at the Burke Museum of Natural History. If you are in the Seattle area please do stop by the Burke Museum as the display will be up until the 6th of September. The other highlight of my trip here was an opportunity to meet several of my photographer colleagues, Chris Linder, Jon Conforth and renowned photographer Art Wolfe – the founder of the ICP awards and an incredible photographer! If you want to learn bits and pieces of photography visit their websites and be inspired by what you see. Amazing Stuff!

I was lucky that my return trip to Texas coincided with the opening night, so I took a bit of a detour on my way back to Texas. Stopped in Seattle, took a quick trip to Mt. Rainier National Park courtesy my host Raja, Deepa and Rushil. Thanks guys!

Canon 5D Mark2 with Canon 500mm f/4 lens; Gitzo Mountaineer Tripod; Kirk BH-3 Ballhead f/4@ 1/250 ISO 100

About the Image: I had always heard how relatively common the Greater Adjutant Stork Leptoptilos dubius- a critically endangered bird was at the garbage dump near Guwahati and I wondered how a bird so commensal with man and dependent on human garbage could be so endangered. Upon visiting the landfill I saw how patiently they awaited their turn at the garbage table – every time a fresh truckload of rubbish entered the landfill people rushed to it first, and once they were done with their pickings the storks moved in filling their gullets with rotten meat. I still wonder how this species living so calmly in an urban environment can be so endangered… I later found out that it’s not because of a lack of food resources that this species is dying out, but because of a lack of nesting trees. These large birds need relatively large trees to build their nests and with the expansion of highways and lack of protection of nesting trees, the future of these birds seem very bleak indeed.

This piece was produced by iLCP for the Global Environment Facility as their celebration of biodiversity in the International Year of Biodiversity 2010. It premiered on Capitol Hill, DC on April 13, 2010.

The United Nations declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity. It is a celebration of life on earth and of the value of biodiversity for our lives.

Biodiversity 2010 from iLCP on Vimeo.

I’m happy to have contributed a few of my images to this visual presentation by the ILCP.

It’s been two months since I’ve left home base – Bangalore. The first stop (after Guwahati) – Kaziranga.
Spent two weeks in this landscape before the rains.
The highlight – Tigers!
Filmed some amazing natural history and behaviour of tigers in Kaziranga. Short film coming soon about that.
For now, here’s a picture:

Soon after, Chinmay and I headed to the remote region of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. We were here looking for Munzala – The monkey of the Deep Forest. This is one of the most recent primate discoveries. More in detail about that later – but here’s an image for now.

Then after that crossed over to Nepal to look for what is, without any argument one of the cutest little creatures of the Himalaya – The Red Panda…

It was an arduous climb up and down the Himalaya at the foothills of Kanchendzonga. But it was all well worth the effort. Now in Sikkim to photograph the Rhododendron flowers which are in full blossom at the moment.
here’s an image of what they look like in Sandakphu – with a background of the snow-capped Kanchendzonga mountain range…

More about everything later…
Another month of travel to go before heading back to Bangalore

I was all set to write a blog report of just how awesome this last month of travel across the Eastern Himalaya had been… How amazing the wildlife of Kaziranga had been and how we’ve managed to finish editing a short wildlife film shot entirely with HD DSLR Cameras… But all that will have to wait until next time I’m in Internet zone.

For now – quick news update -
Mountains of the Monsoon is all set to release on Mutual of Omaha’s – Wild Kingdom shown on Animal Planet US – Sunday 18th April 7PM. Do spread the word…

Here’s a link to the trailer:

If you’d like to learn/read more about the Western Ghats – the region where this documentary was filmed and also the inspiration behind getting this film commissioned check out – Sahyadris – India’s Western Ghats – A Vanishing Heritage.

Now I’m off to look for a species of macaque that was very recently described as a new species. It’s called Macaca munzala – Monkey of the deep forest.
More about that when I’m back…

- Sandesh

One of my favourite forms of photography using DSLR’s is to produce timelapses of everyday scenes. What’s timelapse?

As wikipedia says, “ Time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby each film frame is captured at a rate much slower than it will be played back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing. Time-lapse photography can be considered to be the opposite of high speed photography.

Processes that would normally appear subtle to the human eye, such as the motion of the sun and stars in the sky, become very pronounced. Time-lapse is the extreme version of the cinematography technique of undercranking, and can be confused with stop motion animation.”

So here’s a compilation of timelapses produced on various models of Canon DSLR’s over the various projects and years that I’ve been working in the western ghats.

Visit FelisTV for more videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/feliscreationsindia

That’s right – the title does indeed read correctly. Better still, it’s his home too!! And he’s a far worthier resident of the property than I am.
Let me begin with a little history. The year was 1995. My father bought a parcel of land in the Singara region at the foothills of the Nilgiris range, deeming it to be a valuable investment. The property serves as an abode for a multitudinous array of flora and fauna, many species of which represent endemism. The estate was christened Anekaadu or “Forest of the Elephant”.
Although I always knew that tigers would thrive in such a suitable environment that consisted of a large prey base, I never made an effort to consciously track one down for 15 long years. True, I did visit the estate numerous times; however, I never looked for signs and tracks that would give me a clearer picture of a tiger’s whereabouts.
The last few months saw intensified tiger activity within the estate. The cat was almost asking me to track him down. My close friends Phillip, Vinay and Siva joined me on this expedition, and we were later joined by Sandesh and Srikanth. Nights were spent listening to the awe-inspiring call of a male tiger looking for a mate and the silence of dawn broken only by the sawing call of a leopard. It is in these winter months that big cat activity is at its height, and we were here to see what we could document.
On January 24, 2009, the four of us (Phillip, Vinay, Siva and I) were on a morning safari in Anekaadu. The sun had risen a fair amount, throwing golden light onto the land. The Nilgiri hills provided a resplendent backdrop. When, right there on the middle of the path stood a massive male tiger, golden light shining on him and providing his coat with a glistening luster. Within a split second, he got down on his haunches and went into stalk mode, staring at us with eyes that paralyzed me, causing me to surrender to him instantaneously. An apparent striped necklace draped his neck. He filled me with an awe and wonderment that’s indescribable. He stared at us for a good six to eight minutes, after which he decided he could calmly go about the rest of his day. Thus, he disappeared into the lantana bushes.

Believe people when they tell you that sighting a tiger in the wild is a monumental experience. Believe the poems and stories that put tigers on an elevated pedestal. Believe me when I say that having a wild tiger at your home is an ordeal that can provide you with goosebumps that refuse to leave you for a long, long time.

Camera traps showed that the male tiger had female companionship. A litter is inevitable. Happy mating, guys. May the Anekaadu tiger heritage become illimitable in the years to come!

Siddarth Reddy is an ardent birdwatcher and a keen naturalist with a passion to learn about the natural world around him. He enjoys writing about his travel and escapades and is a Felis Associate.