King of Grassland

[Mohan Matang]

At Naliya grass land, Kutch.

Nikon D90, Sigma 150-500 OS
ISO 200, F 6.7, S.S.- 1000

[Sabyasachi Patra]

From this pose it is tough to get the back as well as head covered by depth of field (unless it is a large crop). How many of these are present there? Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Mrudul Godbole]

Its nice to see the 'Great Indian Bustard'. The habitat displayed is nice. Did you get images with the side profile? You could have tried a narrower aperture. Look forward to more. Thanks for sharing.

Some information about this species from Wikipedia -

The Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) or Indian Bustard is a bustard found in India and the adjoining regions of Pakistan. A large bird with a horizontal body and long bare legs giving it an ostrich like appearance, this bird is among the heaviest of the flying birds. Once common on the dry plains of the Indian Subcontinent, it was considered excellent sport by hunters. Less than a three hundred survive today and the species is threatened by hunting and loss of its habitat, large expanses of dry grassland and scrub.

The body is brownish with a black patch spotted in white. It stands at about a metre high(39 in) and is a large, brown and white bird, the male is about 122 cm (48 in) in length, its weight is 18–32 lb (8–14.5 kg) and the female 92 cm (36 in) in length, its weight is 7.8–15 lb (3.5–6.75 kg). The male is deep sandy buff coloured and during the breeding season has a black breast band. The crown of the head is black and crested and is puffed up by displaying males. In the female which is smaller than the male, the head and neck are not pure white and the breast band is either rudimentary, broken or absent.Weights are usually in the range of 21 pounds (9.5 kg) but extremely large males have been claimed up to 40 pounds (18.1 kg). Males have a well-developed gular pouch which is inflated when calling during display and helps produce the deep resonant calls.

Great Indian Bustard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Indian_Bustard)

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Good to see these species, nice shot
Mrudul thanks for the info

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Every feather,every feather...It is a beautiful photograph of 'Hukna' or Great Indian Bastard.Please post a photograph if taken sideways or facing you. SAKTIWILD

[Amit Kalele]

thats wonderful shot man. Love the overall setting, light and BG. Only wish for a good HA.