Mudbath

My home town Moodabidri hosted its 10th annual buffalo race also called Kambala at Kadalakere Nisargadhama on Saturday January 21. The Kambala or the buffalo race is unique to Udupi & Mangalore districts.

Mudbath

Historically Kambala was the event when farmers paid tribute to their gods for protecting their crops. There used to be lot of celebration and games as part of this festive atmosphere. Some say Kambala also marked the beginning of sowing operations for the second round of crops. Traditionally, there were two types of Kambalas, Pookere Kambala and Bale Kambala. Pookere Kambala is the only variety which survives now.

Mudbath

Kambala is traditionally a simple sport. The Kambala track used for muddy field filled with slush. The contest generally takes place between two pairs of buffaloes, controlled by a racer.

Moodabidri Kambala 2012

Kambala today has become an organized, professional sports. People place massive amounts of bets on the winning buffaloes and one can witness more than 20,000 spectators in a well organized Kambala, egging and cheering the buffaloes to complete the race. As of now, more than 45 races are held annually in Coastal Karnataka. Nearly 18 Kambalas are held under the banner of Kambala Samithi and the rest are held under the auspices of temples, political patronage and aristocratic Bunt households. Kambala still remains a hugely popular sport in Coastal Karnataka.

Moodabidri Kambala 2012

Being the 10th year this large rain water fed track was to witness record number of 200 pairs of Water Buffaloes. On that Saturday huge crowd had gathered to witness this folk sports. I was able to reach the venue only in the late evening and for 2 hours I took the pictures you see here. Nearing Sunset is best time in my opinion for shooting Kambala. Later most of the light will be from the overhead halogen lamps which light up the whole Kambala venue.

Moodabidri Kambala 2012

I used my Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM fitted to Canon EOS 1D Mark IV. This one lens & body combo is so perfectly matched for the low light situation and fast action sports. All the photos here are taken at f/2.8, shutter speed at 1/500th of second. ISO was kept on Auto and varied with light condition.

Moodabidri Kambala 2012

Kambala races take place in several different categories.

• Negilu: The runner will hold the plough ( it is not actual plough which is heavy and bulky, it is just a representation of which is tied to pair of buffalo. This type is mostly for the Junior buffaloes or entry level buffaloes. But there is again a junior , senior rounds in this race.
• Hagga : A rope is directly tied to the buffalo pair. And this is for Senior buffaloes as the speed is more here and the participating buffaloes are well experienced. This also has a Junior, senior levels.
• Adda halage : A cross wooden plank is tied to the pair and the runner stands on it while racing. This is just for the senior category.
• Kane halage: A round wooden block where the runner stands on it on his single leg. There will be two holes in the block out of which the water forces out while running. The height of the water forcing out is measured to choose the winner. The more the speed is more the water height is. And this is only for senior most category.

Kene Halage

Kene Halage and Adda Halage are 2 forms of the race which has very few contestants participating and is a vanishing from most Kambala races. Fortunately on this race we had 5-6 participants from both category. All the extreme water splashed photos you see here are from that category of race.

There is no fixed rule for size of the track which mostly depends on the availability of the space on the locality. Normally it is between 120 meters to 145 meters long and 8-12 meters wide. There is a thick layer of mud and then water on it. The thumb rule is water is filled in the track so that it completely contains about a feet deep mud. The tracks are called by name so it is easy for communication. In the middle of the track there are two strips of white cloth tied across the track which are used as height measurements for Kane halage races. One gauge is at 9.375 meters which is the highest and the other one is at 8.125 meters. This year 8.125 meter mark was breached after a long time, You can see this in the last but one photo here.

Kene Halage

Kambala is conducted in several parts of two districts Udupi and Mangalore from November to March. It is conducted always on a weekend so that it is possible for most spectators as well as participants all the Kambalas. The race starts usually Saturday morning and goes on all night and finishes Sunday afternoon. The final winners will be rewarded by the officials during the Kambala closing ceremony conducted in Sunday afternoon. It is watched by, on an average 20,000 spectators in a day.

Moodabidri Kambala 2012

Moodabidri Kambala 2012

Moodabidri Kambala 2012

Kene Halage

Moodabidri Kambala 2012

Moodabidri Kambala 2012

Moodabidri Kambala 2012

Moodabidri Kambala 2012

Moodabidri Kambala 2012

Moodabidri Kambala 2012

Moodabidri Kambala 2012

Moodabidri Kambala 2012

Moodabidri Kambala 2012

It is a hit among the tourists and lot of people from different part of city, country travel to see this race. My good friend dynamic realist artist Abbey Walmsley from England was there for this Kambala to photograph along with her friend Stefen. You can see her taking photograph in this photo crouching near the edge of Kambala Track.

Photographing Kambala

It is not always all that fun to take photographs of Kambala. If you are careful you may be gored or trampled by charging Buffaloes. I was able to catch one such situation where excited pair photographers met charging pair of Buffaloes near the finishing track. Trying to get that head on shot you might be risking your life. Then you have a risk of mud bath with splashing dirt soaking both you and your camera gear. My advice is better to be safe than sorry.

Kambala is Hazrdous to Photographer's Health

Chestnut-tailed Starling

That Saturday, there was a cacophony of birds in my garden. As I went out I saw a White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis), a paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi) and a pair of Chestnut-tailed Starlings (Sturnus malabaricus) were having their own private hunting party. So I picked up my Canon EOS 1D Mark IV fitted it with Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM & Canon EF 2X II Extender and climbed the top floor of my hospital from where I could get a good canopy view of these birds. Daylight was harsh and through the tree canopy there was patch of dark and bright light sprinkled all around these birds.

Chestnut-tailed Starling

As I waited for these birds to come near me I was also worried of blown out highlights and very dark shadows of the canopy making a proper exposure a very big hurdle. Fortunately the longer magnification I gained using the 2x convertor on 300mm gave me a better reach towards the birds. After about half an hour of waiting I gained the confidence of these birds so that they could approach me closer. I used ISO of 800 to 1250 as the dark areas were not lit well. My aperture was wide open (when using 300mm & 2x extender) at f/5.6 and the speed was above 1/250th. I was supporting this rig using carbon fiber Monopod.

Chestnut-tailed Starling

I found a Chestnut-tailed Starling (Sturnus malabaricus) reaching close to me and I took several photos. Most pictures had bad light sprinkled all around the bird, so had to reject it. This harsh light resulted in over exposing part of the bird and those under shadow were underexposed creating a unusable mosaic pattern. No amount of post processing can salvage those photos. Bright mid noon sunlight was really a bad time to take good photos.

The Chestnut-tailed Starling or Grey-headed Myna (Sturnus malabaricus) is a member of the starling family of perching birds closely related to Myna’s. It is a resident and partially migratory species found in wooded habitats in India and Southeast Asia. Even though the species name Sturnus malabaricus refers to the bird from Malabar region (western coast of India), It is a resident of north-eastern India and migrates to south only during the winter. The sub species Sturnus malabaricus blythii is resident in Malabar region and is often treated as a full species, the Malabar Starling (Sturnus blythii) thus increasing confusion.

Chestnut-tailed Starling

There are three subspecies of the Chestnut-tailed Starling:

• Sturnus malabaricus malabaricus: It is the nominate species. North-eastern India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and north-western Burma.
• Sturnus malabaricus nemoricola: Southern China (incl. Taiwan), Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.
• Sturnus malabaricus blythii: Western Ghats in India.

The bird I had on that day was Sturnus malabaricus malabaricus. It is resident in North-eastern India and sometimes migrates to south India during winter during its non breeding season.

Chestnut-tailed Starling

Sturnus malabaricus blythii is sometimes considered a valid species, the Malabar White-headed Starling or White-headed Myna (Sturnus blythii), instead of a subspecies of Sturnus malabaricus. As Sturnus malabaricus malabaricus only visits the range of blythii during the non-breeding period of winter, the two are not known to interbreed.

The adults have a total length of approximately 20 cm (8 in). They have grey upperparts and blackish remiges, but the colour of the remaining plumage depend on the subspecies. In the nominate subspecies and blythii, the underparts (including undertail) are rufus, but in nemoricola the underparts are whitish tinged rufus (especially on flanks and crissum). The nominate and nemoricola have a light grey head with whitish streaking (especially on crown and collar region). In blythii, the head and chest are white. All subspecies have white irides and a yellow bill with a pale blue base. The sexes are similar, but juveniles have whitish underparts and just chestnut tips to the tail feathers.

Chestnut-tailed Starling

The Chestnut-tailed Starling’s nest is typically found in open woodland and cultivation. The Chestnut-tailed Starling builds a nest in hole. The normal clutch is 3-5 eggs. Like most starlings, the Chestnut-tailed Starling is fairly omnivorous, eating fruit, nectar and insects. They fly in tight flocks and often rapidly change directions with great synchrony.

Micronia aculeata

That night coming home for dinner I spotted this moth on our kitchen floor. Being a pretty common moth around my house I assumed that I will get lot of information about this white moth. It was sitting on the vitrified floor tile which I have used in my kitchen. Dark clay color of the tile was a great contrast to the white, grey moth. Unfortunately the profile picture of the moth was impossible to get as it was sitting as though it was firmly stuck to the tile. That is why you see the picture from one angle here. I used Canon EOS 5D mark II with Canon EF 100mm F2.8L USM Macro lens illuminated with Canon Speedlite 580EXII fitted with ExpoImaging Ray Flash Adapter.

Micronia aculeata

When I searched internet for the information about this moth, I drew blank. Even thoughit is so common we hardly know anything about it. This Micronia aculeata moth belongs to Uraniidae family of moths. Unfortunately I could not find any common name for this moth. Some have called it Wayanad greystripe moth. It is found throughout India, China, Taiwan, SriLanka, Burma; Andaman, Java and Borneo. The adult moths of this species have speckled pale brown wings with two faint darker submarginal bands. Each forewing has a hooked apex, and at the tornus of each hindwing there is a short tail with a black spot.

Micronia aculeata

Like many moths in the family Uraniidae, the moth has its wings open and flat in its resting posture. It is also a day flying moth. Thanks to Haneesh K.M we have Life cycle of Micronia aculeata on Flickr. Host plant for its caterpillar is Green Milkweed Climber Wattakaka volubilis.