Mumbai and her Phoenixes

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Lesser flamingos in flight over the Airoli creek in Mumbai | Jan 2017.

My attempt at showcasing these charismatic visitors in their natural habitat, with the concrete jungles and human elements included. Please pardon the inclusion of the boat and buildings here - we generally refrain from including such elements in images on this forum, but I specifically wanted to compose this image with them.

Canon 760D, Canon 100-400mm L IS USM
FL 100mm
SS 1/2500
Av 7.1
ISO 200
EC -0.3
Wide crop

Even after having used long zoom lenses for quite a while, 100mm is probably my most used focal length for all kinds of subjects. :)

Thanks, C&C welcome.

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Nice picture, Abhishek. You got me nostalgic, I used to live just by the creek and would see the flamingos from my balcony. Looks like there are a good number of birds at the creek this year...declaring the area as a marine biodiversity park has worked in making the birds return every year. Thanks for sharing.

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

It certainly has, Murugan. This is a tiny fraction of the total number of greater and lesser flamingos present there right now. The next challenge is to protect the Sewri-Uran stretch.

[Mrudul Godbole]

The tall buildings are part of the habitat of this place, so I don't mind including them in the composition. A very similar shot is also part of the film 'Jewels of Thane Creek' :). I think in Sewri the number of flamingos visiting might be even more than in Airoli stretch. Hope it comes under the protected area soon. Thanks for sharing.