Black-headed Ibis on a Rocky River

Low water levels in the river in Bera expose the rocky landscape, but still provide pockets of water for a black-headed Ibis – a large wader with a white body and bare black head and neck. Males and females look similar and both have grayish tail feathers.

A Rocky River
Black-headed Ibis Reflections

A Crouching, Moving Leopard

The Indian leopard has strong legs and a long well-formed tail, a broad muzzle, short ears, and small, yellowish-grey eyes, light grey ocular bulbs. Its coat is spotted and rosetted on a pale yellow to the yellowish-brown or golden background. Leopards are elusive, and solitary animals. They are active mainly from dusk till dawn but in some regions, they are nocturnal. 

 Here is a leopard on the move, crouching low to the ground as if stalking something in Gir National Park.

Leopard Crouching

King Vulture

The King Vulture is an uncommon, large, and spectacular bird of lowland tropical forest, mainly in wilder areas and not around human habitation. Most often seen soaring overhead in mid-late morning, often fairly high up; rarely seen perched. Striking adult has a colorful head and neck, piercing white eyes, and mostly white plumage with a black trailing edge to the wings and tail. Here is a captive, perched vulture at Carolina Raptor Center, North Carolina.

King Vulture 

Red-shouldered Hawk Female Fluttering Wings

The red-shouldered hawk is a medium-sized hawk. Its breeding range spans eastern North America and along the coast of California and northern to northeastern-central Mexico. With large, broad wings with long tails and heavy bodies, female red-shouldered hawks are larger than males. Here is a female fluttering its wings at Carolina Raptor Center, North Carolina.

Red-shouldered Hawk Female Fluttering Wings

Red-shouldered Hawk Female Fluffing Wings

Eurasian Eagle Owl

The Eurasian eagle-owl is a species of eagle-owl that resides in much of Eurasia. It is one of the largest species of owl, and females can grow to a total length of 30 inches, with a wingspan of 6 ft. 2 in, with males being slightly smaller. This bird has distinctive ear tufts, with upper parts that are mottled with darker blackish coloring and tawny. The wings and tail are barred and the underparts are a variably hued buff, streaked with darker coloring.

Here is a male Eurasian eagle-owl at the Carolina Raptor Center, North Carolina.

Eurasian Eagle Owl Male

Eurasian Eagle Owl Male Piercing Eyes

Eyes of the Lanner Falcon

Outstandingly maneuverable, Lanner Falcons use their large tails and relatively low wing loading to perform exceptionally to the lure and can take a range of small birds as prey. The piercing eyes of a Lanner Falcon at the Carolina Raptor Center, North Carolina.

Eyes of a Lanner Falcon Male

Lanner Falcon Male Closeup

Trio of Horses

“Mares of Diomedes” by Gutzon Borglum at Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina.

Horses race forward, bodies pressed together. All are wildly excited, ears laid back, nostrils distended, and mouths open gasping for breath. The bodies are truthfully modeled without insistent detail to give a dynamic sense of rushing movement, enhanced by the rhythmic play of muscles and the backward flow of loose masses in the manes and tails.

Trio of Horses