A couple of weeks ago, I posted Oriental scops owls. This species is called the Indian scops owl. It was taken on the same night — when we were able to locate four different kinds of owls in one relatively small area. By being so close to the owls (as well as by getting the flash off the top of my camera with a synch chord) I was able to get these shots without any red eye issues.

It was fun to watch the peacocks displaying while in India’s national parks. Although I was impressed, none of the peahens seemed to be, as they went about their business plucking insects and seeds from the ground. Eventually the peacocks would give up and continue foraging themselves. Just so we’re all clear, the male is the peacock, the female is the peahen, and both are peafowl.

I realize that these two shots aren’t much photographically, but what I wanted to show was just how powerful the male tigers are, and how bulky their upper arms are compared to the females (all the tiger shots that I’ve posted so far have been females). This guy was walking along a ridge and kept his gaze forward, for the most part. In a future post, I’ll upload a more interesting shot of this guy.

Also known as the Indian bison, the gaur is the world’s largest species of wild cattle — even bigger than the African buffalo. They can grow to 7.2 feet at the shoulder and weigh as much as 2200 pounds. The gaur is listed as vulnerable — mainly due to illegal poaching. This particular gaur was one of the largest males that I saw while in India.

This is the other  species of monkey that I saw in India — the rhesus macaque. I didn’t see as many of these guys as the langurs, but they are much more common and widespread. In fact, this is one of the most common monkeys in the world and there is even a wild population living in Florida — non-native, of course — that took hold after a tour operator released them in the Silver River State Park area to enhance his tour experience. I would see these monkeys a lot in the little towns that I drove through on my way from one park to the other, but rarely saw them in the actual parks.

It’s always nice to see an owl in the daytime. This little guy is called a barred jungle owlet and I spotted him/her in Bandhavgarh in India. There seems to be some confusion as to why certain smaller owls are called owlets and not owls. The best explanation seems to be obvious — they are smaller than the average owl. This owlet, in fact, wasn’t much bigger than a softball.

Here’s another of the baby hanuman langurs that were all over the place in India. This one was in Bandhavgarh National Park. Is it wrong to say he looks a bit like Michael Jackson?

Not the most attractive animals in the world, but according to the tigers in the area, quite good eatin’. This guy was photographed late in the day in Kanha National Park in India.

This was the third tiger that I saw in India. Unlike the first two that I viewed from an open air jeep, I had to get on top of an elephant to see this one. She was resting in the shade of some bushes and I couldn’t really get a good look,  but then she suddenly lifted up to scratch her chin and I was able to get this shot.

I’ve photographed quite a few jackals in Africa, mostly the black backed jackal, but also the side striped jackal. This is the Indian version, the golden jackal (although it is a very common and widespread jackal and is also found in Africa, central Europe and the Middle East). Oddly, the golden jackal is more closely related to grey wolves and coyotes than to other jackals.