Wildlife photography is a challenging hobby given the many constraints of government regulations, habitat density, chance sightings and finally the wild animal or bird itself, which does not necessarily pose for you. However, it is these constraints that actually make it an exciting hobby, given the need to be in the right place at the right time and with a cooperative wildlife subject, to get your best shots.
Talking about cooperative wildlife subjects; there are times when they are very bold and literally don’t care about our presence and provide many photography opportunities. The courting season is one such crucial time when the wildlife subjects are most cooperative for photography. And, when the subject is an endangered species, it makes the opportunity all the more important.

We sighted a Grey-headed Fish Eagle perched on a a tree on the banks of the Brahmaputra river in the Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary. Though normally a shy subject, this time it did not seem to fly away, but instead kept calling as we got closer.

It was only when another Grey-headed Fish Eagle reciprocated the call, did we spot it on a higher branch on the same tree. It became clear that this was a courting pair, which were fishing together. We have never seen a Grey-headed Fish Eagle this close, leave alone two in the same frame.After about five minutes, one of the birds decided to take flight and took off in a jiffy. We were sure that it’s mate would soon follow suit and we kept our camera trained on it and were rewarded with some cool flight shots.